This video and article are part of Cooking 101, our series on kitchen fundamentals. Every episode covers a different technique, with tips and recipes from guest hosts who are experts to set you up for success.
Credit…Adam Centrella
My kids like to insist that I have a favorite child, but I swear I don’t. I love them all equally, of course, and each is a favorite in a different way. So it is with mac and cheese.
The freezer aisle pan is pure nostalgia, all soft, salty and traffic-cone orange. The blue box was the first taste of independence, the stiff straight noodles a reminder of bright college years. The white Cheddar variety in the purple package? Salvation, feeding all those favorite children in desperately tired times.
Of the from-scratch options, the Southern-style baked trays answer the question of how food can feel like a hug. Often set enough to slice, the pasta and sauce meld into one under a crisp top. Stovetop sauce and noodles swirl together but stay distinct with creaminess and chew. Over decades of cooking endless varieties, I’ve landed on this version, which combines an extra-silky sauce with a crisp, buttery top — without the extra step of baking.
This mac and cheese feels alive the way a crashing wave does, each mouthful crackly and silky as the crunch of toasted crumbs slides into the riptide of cheese sauce. To get that pairing of creamy pasta and crunchy top, this recipe starts with a classic French sauce and ends with a quick run under the broiler.
It’s not as effortless as store-bought options, but it doesn’t take that long, and its creamy real cheesiness is incomparable. It’s also a great way to learn how to cook because the methods for the sauce can be applied to all kinds of dishes, whether casseroles or cream puff. The tricks below will not only give you truly impressive mac and cheese, but also teach you more foundational techniques. I’m not saying this is my one-and-only favorite mac and cheese, but it is my favorite creamy-crunchy version that’s also fun to cook. Here’s how to do it:
Rinse your cooked pasta
Rinsing the pasta right after draining removes its surface starch.Credit…Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
When hot just-boiled pasta meets hot sauce, it soaks up the liquid and thickens it. This is what you want sometimes (think: bold tomato sauce), but cheese sauce is already quite thick and somewhat mild. If the cheese sauce soaks into macaroni, the whole dish risks ending up dry and bland. To keep the sauce flowy and flavorful, rinse the pasta right after draining it to remove the starch on its surface. The sauce will still cling to the noodles’ curves but will not be absorbed, keeping the whole dish saucy with perfectly tender noodles. This method, often used in Chinese noodle dishes, works beautifully here.
Choose the right cheeses
A mix of cheeses, like extra-sharp Cheddar and either Gruyère or Comté, is ideal for this recipe.Credit…Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Cheddar originally comes from England, but it’s a must for that classic American mac flavor. Extra-sharp has enough savory oomph to carry through the mellow milky sauce. To round out Cheddar’s tangy finish, I add Gruyère for its toasty nuttiness, which comes from the grasses the cows graze on in the Swiss Alps.
As for quality, aim for above average. Blocks aged for an especially long time develop tiny savory crystals and don’t melt well. Save those cheesemonger specialties for a fancy cheese plate.
Grate the cheeses yourself
Grating on a piece of parchment paper helps curb mess.Credit…Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Packaged shredded cheese comes coated in starch, which makes it taste bland and prevents it from melting smoothly into sauce. There’s a lot of cheese here, so cut it into smaller blocks and run each over the large holes of a box grater set on a big sheet of parchment. None will spill off the paper, which can be slung to easily pour the cheese into the pot later.
Nail your sauce
Credit…Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
To make this base sauce is to learn three foundational techniques, and to make it well simply takes steady stirring. It starts with a roux — flour whisked with melted butter until it’s no longer raw. This golden toasted paste thickens the sauce, and here, mustard powder bloomed in the butter first adds a warmth and later sharpens the cheese’s savoriness. Stirring in milk turns the roux into béchamel, and that cream sauce becomes a Mornay when cheese is melted into it. Continuous whisking keeps the sauce smooth and, when you master this transformation once, you’ll find it easy to make again for this dish, chicken potpie or any other creamy casserole.
Choose the right pasta
When it comes to mac and cheese, don’t feel limited to macaroni, but do stick to short pastas like fusilli, rotini or large elbows.Credit…Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Mac is right in the name, but other short, cut pasta can also hold the sauce well. Look for varieties that have curves to cradle the creaminess, like fusilli or rotini, or thin tubes, like large elbows or cavatappi.
Broil for a crunchy top
Broiling a buttered crumb top keeps the mac from overcooking.Credit…Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Typically, you only get the pleasure of crisp crumbs over mac and cheese when the whole casserole has been baked. That stiffens the mix, sometimes so much so, it ends up sliceable. But if you broil a buttered crumb top, you get both a crackly shell and a silky base — the best of both mac and cheese worlds.
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