Baked Macaroni Cheese with a Crunchy Crumb
By Joe
Source: Serious Eats — Daniel Gritzer, Classic Baked Macaroni and Cheese Casserole.
A classic baked macaroni and cheese casserole recipe for 8 servings, written from a single tested source, with times and temperatures kept as the source set them.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Bake. Heat oven to 175°C. Of salted boiling water, cook elbow macaroni till a little short of al dente, around 2 minutes less than time given on the packet in a mid-sized pot. Tip off the liquid, next move pasta to a big mixing bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons (30g) butter till butter is melted and pasta is uniformly coated. Keep to one side. Melt 3 tablespoons (40g) butter over a medium-high flame (don't let it brown) in a big saucepan. Add flour and beat to form a paste. Carry on cooking, mixing, till raw flour scent is gone, around 1 minute. Beating the whole time, add milk in a thin steady trickle, beating the whole time and well plus getting in all corners of the pan in order to maintain one homogeneous texture. Sauce will initially become very thick, next get very thin when all the milk is added. Heat, mixing, till sauce comes to a simmer and begins to thicken a little. Reduce heat to medium-low and, a little after another, beat in cheddar cheese till a smooth, emulsified cheese sauce forms; don't let sauce come to a boil once cheese is tipped in. Beat in hot sauce, salt, mustard powder, plus garlic powder. Scrape cheese sauce in pasta plus blend till uniformly coated. Leave till it is cold a little, next tip in grated Gruyère plus blend well. Scrape pasta in a greased 9- by 33 cm baking dish and smooth surface into an even layer. Tip in panko to a little mixing bowl. Melt leftover 3 tablespoons (45g) butter, next add to panko and mix till uniformly coated. Add salt till it tastes right. Strew panko all over surface of mac and cheese so it sits level. Bake on top rack of oven till browned and bubbling, around 35 to 40 minutes (ovens differ; check often to prevent top off burning). Let mac plus cheese rest 15 minutes, next serve. Leftover mac and cheese can be chilled for up to 5 days; it warms through rather well in the microwave or oven.
Storage
Keep covered in the fridge and use within a few days.
EU nutrition claims
- Source of protein: 4.1 g protein per 100 kcal, about 17% of energy (needs ≥ 12%)
- Low sugars: 4.9 g sugars per 100 g (limit ≤ 5 g)
Per 100 g of the finished dish, worked out from the nutrition per serving and the lowest likely cooked weight (about 104 g a serving), so the true values are, if anything, lower. Thresholds from the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
Free sugars
0 g per serving
0 % of the 50 g daily maximum · 0 % of the ideal 25 g
Free sugars under 50 g a day, ideally about 25 g, based on WHO free-sugar guidance (not endorsed by WHO). The share shown is the share of one serving. WHO
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- scales
- baking tin or tray
- saucepan
Nutrition per serving Calculated from USDA FoodData Central
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 600 kcal |
| Protein | 24.8 g |
| Carbohydrate | 50.9 g |
| of which sugars | 5.1 g |
| of which free sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 32.8 g |
| of which saturates | 18.9 g |
| Fibre | 2.1 g |
| Salt | 1.14 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
4.1 g High protein needs ≥ 5 g per 100 kcal (20% of energy) and ≥ 10 g per serving
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
