Several people have asked for my Mac & Cheese recipe, so here it is. I have to warn you, it feeds 50 hungry people. But if you need comfort food for a frat house, this is your recipe!
Mac for a Mob
5 pounds macaroni, uncooked. (I use a mix of rotini, farfalle, and radiatori, but elbow macaroni
will work just fine.
1 3/4 pound (7 sticks) butter
3 cups flour
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot curry powder
1 teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 ½ gallon whole milk, heated almost to the boil
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 ½ pounds grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 large bag potato chips (or more -- you can always eat the rest, right?)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two full-size aluminum hotel pans and set aside.
Cook macaroni in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water to al dente as directed on the pasta packaging. Drain, rinse, and drain again thoroughly. Divide between 2 prepared pans.
In a large pot, melt 1 ½ pound (six sticks) butter. Add the flour and salt and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Add the curry, mustard, cayenne, and pepper and stir for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the milk in a steady stream, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Add the Worcestershire sauce and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and let the sauce cook at a slow boil for 3 minutes to fully cook out the starchy taste of the flour. Taste for seasonings.
Add 3 pounds of shredded cheddar. Stir until cheese is melted and incorporated. Pour half over each pan of pasta, stirring to make sure pasta is throughly coated. Don’t worry if the sauce seems thin. It will thicken.
Melt remaining stick of butter. Sprinkle each pan with 1/4 pound shredded cheddar. Crush the potato chips and sprinkle generously over the top. Drizzle each tray with half of the butter. Sprinkle with paprika to garnish. Bake at for 45 minutes until heated through.
Bon Appetite!
Note: I often make this up all the way up to sprinkling on the extra cheese on top, then refrigerate or freeze. When I am ready to bake it off I top the (defrosted) mac and cheese with the potatoe chips and butter and bake in the oven. From a refrigerated state it will take at least an hour, maybe even 1 1/2 hours to heat.
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5 comments:
Thank you for the recipe, it sounds fantastic!
I made this yesterday. It was good. But even with the amounts in front of me I really didn't appreciate the sheer quantity of dinner this would be.
It's a good thing we liked it because I have enough in the freezer of 10 meals and I made BIG pans of it.
Thank you!
Can I bother you for the Knit in Public Day cookies recipe? Those were wow and you said they were easy.
This sounds like it could be useful for a youth meeting at our church. Got to try it - and I'll let you know. Thanks!
Ooooh...so glad I was cruising through your older postings. This Mac & Cheese was FINE (and I mean FINE in the "this was some of the best I have EVER had kind of way"). Can't wait to make & freeze some.
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