Alton Brown's Baked Macaroni and Cheese

"This is in reply to a request for mac and cheese. I copied this from Alton Brown "Good Eats" from the food network. Does take a bit of work, but well worth it. You can add tuna, hot dogs or any other kinds of additions you want."
 
Download
photo by unebo1 photo by unebo1
photo by unebo1
photo by 2Bleu photo by 2Bleu
photo by 2Bleu photo by 2Bleu
photo by Marie Nixon photo by Marie Nixon
photo by Marie Nixon photo by Marie Nixon
Ready In:
45mins
Ingredients:
14
Serves:
6-8
Advertisement

ingredients

Advertisement

directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
  • While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes making sure it's free of lumps.
  • Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
  • Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
  • For the topping, melt the butter in a sauté pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Questions & Replies

  1. I have just found this mac & cheese recipe - sounds wonderful. When do you add the Kosher salt; it calls for salt twice - once when cooking the pasta & another when tempering the egg?
     
  2. Hi! Ive been making this for awhile now and love it! Im just wondering if anyone would think I could put this all together the day before and refrigerate till its time to cook? How do ya think that would turn out?
     
Advertisement

Reviews

  1. it's great. my wife said that it was the most labor intensive mac and cheese recipe she's tried, but i think it was the best too... Plus we used a sweet white onion instead of a yellow union and forgot to put the last 1/4 of chsse on top before the panko. Still great! So many bad recipes being posted and reposted on the internet. It's always a safe bet to use on that has Alton or Julia or Emeril's name on it.
     
  2. "The purpose of cooking the roux".. ( flour butter mixture) is to cook the flour taste out of it).. as well as to make the perfect lump free sauce!..<br/>I made this per Alton's directions.. I grated my onions and gave them a quick rise with water..before adding to the milk..( rising removes that onion odor)..I also added a 3 oz of cream cheese...PERFECT!...will make this one for my family cook book!
     
  3. This has been my goto mac-n-cheese recipe for several years now and having shortcut it a time or two because I was in a hurry I can attest that the methodology is the most important ingredient of all. Varying and/or combining different cheeses can yield interesting and very tasty results (ricotta/mozzarella, cheddar/colby my fav variants)
     
  4. I do not like baked mac and cheese. Let's just get that out there right now. Having said that, I first tried AB's baked mac and cheese about 2 years ago. I haven't made it any other way since. LOVE THIS RECIPE TO DEATH.
     
  5. Really great. I love it. However try adding about 3 tablespoons of blue cheese to the sauce pan and just a very little on topping just before baking. It is great!!!!
     
Advertisement

Tweaks

  1. I've made this probably 20 times now, I always bump up the roux to 4 tablespoons butter/flour each and less milk, usually 2 cups. Bump up the cheese to 1 pound instead of 12 oz. Use a 1/3 Mild Chedddar, 1/3 Smoked Gouda, 1/3 Colby Jack blend for the cheese. If I'm making it for kids I leave out the onions and use 1/2 mild cheddar and 1/2 velveeta. Also nothing wrong with a splash of hot sauce when you're simmering. Speaking of, I like to move the roux around on medium-low heat for 10 minutes instead of 5, and then kick it up to medium-high after I incorporate the milk, keep it moving until the mixture starts to steam, then kick it down to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes after the steam starts, not just 10. Really helps make more of a custardy mac and cheese vs a creamier. Simply add 2 cans of Tuna and (imo) swap Macaroni for Penne and you have the best tuna casserole ever made.
     
  2. Nice texture and "held" together just like moms! I didn't have any panko bread crumbs so I used crushed club crackers and I used Velveeta instead of cheddar cheese (in doing this I only used 2 cups of milk instead of 3). Came out wonderful! Next time I'll grab some cheddar and panko to try the original!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

My spousal unit and I live in Mesa Arizona and love the heck out of it. I was trained in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management but due to disability am unable to pursue that career. I enjoy cookbooks, cooking websites, cooking magazines (Taste of Home, etc.). I have many cookbook gleaned from the shelves of used book stores and from church bake sales. I have also placed all my recipes on a disc and probably have 1000s myself. My wife is GREATLY disappointed that I wont let her cook. (She says I let her cook...I just won't eat anything she makes!) The picture on my icon is of my Great Zeyda "Wolf" Ginsberg who was known as the "Rabbi of Des Moines". This was a very old picture taken with a camera using flash powder for lighting. The couple in Renaissance garb is me and my DG. This is our wedding picture and the "wench" sitting down is "My Yiddishe Mama"
 
View Full Profile
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Find More Recipes