Baked mac & cheese
America's answer to the melted-cheese canon: elbows bound in a clothbound-cheddar béchamel and baked until the crust shatters and the edges catch.
Ingredients
- 300 g Elbow macaroni
- 250 g Cabot Clothbound Cheddar
- 120 g Monterey Jack
- 550 ml Whole milk
- 40 g Butter
- 40 g Plain flour
- 50 g Panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp Mustard powder
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F. Boil the macaroni two minutes shy of tender in well-salted water; drain and set aside.
Make a béchamel: melt the butter, whisk in the flour and cook a minute, then add the warm milk slowly until it coats the back of a spoon. Off the heat, whisk in the mustard powder and most of both cheeses until glossy.
Fold the macaroni through the sauce and tip into a buttered baking dish. Scatter the reserved cheese and the panko across the top.
Bake 22–25 minutes until the top is deep gold and the edges bubble and catch. Rest five minutes before serving — it sets as it cools.
Featured cheese
Cabot Clothbound Cheddar
United States · cow milk