Today I did some snuggling with our houseguest, Shu. Two Shih-Tzus are even better than one. While the furry babies had their afternoon naps, Alan and I did some cooking together. Since one of us has a degree in culinary arts and the other one is me, Alan gets to be executive chef while I play the role of his sous chef. That means he stands around importantly while I do the grunt work like chop the onion, grate the cheese and put his mise in place (that's a culinary pun - mise en place). Today I had to grate 12 ounces of cheddar, which is one entire Kraft block and half of another one.
Look at the mess we made! Well, this is actually all the pots and pans after I'd cleaned up the mess. I don't think a Very Important Sous Chef should have to do that, but we don't seem to have any kitchen peons around here like in a real restaurant, so I did the washing up part too. With all those pots and pans necessary, guess what we were making? That's right! Mac-n-cheese!
Actually, it was Alton Brown's macaroni and cheese, so a number of steps were required to achieve Good Eats. First we had to make a roux which was the basis of a bechamel sauce which eventually became the cheese sauce for the macaroni and cheese. Of course, I have an innate inability to make a recipe "as is", even one from Alton Brown, so I had to add my own touch: Alton tops his casserole with Japanese panko flakes tossed in melted butter. I added a couple tablespoons of grated Parmesan to the panko flakes and it made a lovely crispy crust.
I'm kinda torn about this - on the one hand, this was a fair amount of trouble, steps and mess to go through to get a casserole dish of mac-n-cheese. On the other hand, this was some DAMN GOOD macaroni and cheese. I mean really damn good. The dry mustard and the chopped onion really makes it a fabulous dish.
I should add that baking the mac-n-cheese was merely a preparatory step because what my sweetie really wanted was to make Alton Brown's fried macaroni and cheese; once the casserole cools, it will be cut into squares, dredged in flour and egg, and deep-fried in peanut oil. I won't tell Alan's cardiologist if you don't.
Shu is not particularly interested in macaroni and cheese, AB-style or not. She just wants some Pupperoni, so I've gotta go.
Look at the mess we made! Well, this is actually all the pots and pans after I'd cleaned up the mess. I don't think a Very Important Sous Chef should have to do that, but we don't seem to have any kitchen peons around here like in a real restaurant, so I did the washing up part too. With all those pots and pans necessary, guess what we were making? That's right! Mac-n-cheese!
Actually, it was Alton Brown's macaroni and cheese, so a number of steps were required to achieve Good Eats. First we had to make a roux which was the basis of a bechamel sauce which eventually became the cheese sauce for the macaroni and cheese. Of course, I have an innate inability to make a recipe "as is", even one from Alton Brown, so I had to add my own touch: Alton tops his casserole with Japanese panko flakes tossed in melted butter. I added a couple tablespoons of grated Parmesan to the panko flakes and it made a lovely crispy crust.
I'm kinda torn about this - on the one hand, this was a fair amount of trouble, steps and mess to go through to get a casserole dish of mac-n-cheese. On the other hand, this was some DAMN GOOD macaroni and cheese. I mean really damn good. The dry mustard and the chopped onion really makes it a fabulous dish.
I should add that baking the mac-n-cheese was merely a preparatory step because what my sweetie really wanted was to make Alton Brown's fried macaroni and cheese; once the casserole cools, it will be cut into squares, dredged in flour and egg, and deep-fried in peanut oil. I won't tell Alan's cardiologist if you don't.
Shu is not particularly interested in macaroni and cheese, AB-style or not. She just wants some Pupperoni, so I've gotta go.
5 Comments:
It looked really delicious. I wish I lived next door, just in case you had some leftovers, by chance.
By
Anonymous, at 5:19 AM
We do indeed have leftovers, so come on over! Or we could make a fresh batch, in honour of your visit.
By
Helly, at 8:44 AM
Funny... Shu really likes basic Kroger mac and cheese. Her taste is hard to predict sometimes -- she has to carefully contemplate roasted garlic and sesame chicken, but chicken lunchmeat will usually be consumed immediately.
By
Anonymous, at 3:21 PM
Kroger Mac 'n Cheese is quite good, except for the odd super orange color. Its price is terrific at 50 cents, or that's what we paid for it a couple of weeks ago.
I'm going to request the Alton Brown mac 'n cheese special when I come to Georgia to visit the fireflies in the Nancy's back yard (and prevent Anthony from having a proper boyhood experience of pulling the wings off) and maybe take in a Thrashers/Leafs game - one hopefully full of fights.
By
Anonymous, at 1:42 AM
I'll make anything you want, if you'll come visit!
By
Helly, at 8:31 AM
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