Favorite macaroni and cheese - bechamel or custard?

[fldhkybnva]

Wow, I must have been living in a cave for several decades. Macaroni and cheese is a family favorite and it's so good that I rarely eat it unless someone in my family's hands have touched it. We had a potluck today at work and I was encouraged to try the "best ever macaroni and cheese" and it was completely different from what I'm used to though of course, my sample size is fairly small. It was very tasty but the texture was completely different. When she shared the recipe, I realized it involved a bechamel sauce with a roux base to my surprise considering our custard-based (I think traditional Southern) recipe. A google search has now made me aware that there are in fact two methods of mac and cheese - bechamel and custard. Out of interest, is there a method you prefer?

[eperdu]

My favorite is actually sour cream and mayo mixed with raw onion and cheeses. It's folded into the cooked noodles and baked. It is amazing. It is best served hot and not re-heated. It came from Elaine Corn of the amazing book, "Now You're Cooking"

Everyone I make it for loves it and I do as well but I'm tempted to try other types. :)

[smaki]

eperdu, that sounds great. Similarly, for decades a favorite way to make fish is sour cream and mayo (50/50 or 2/3 sour cream 1/3 mayo) with onion put over crusted fish (nut, crumbs, etc.) then bake until brown and bubbly. 1" chunks of halibut are very tasty this way, and works for other fish also. Use tin-foil or a pan you don't care about as when burns to it very hard to clean. Do an online search for: Halibut Caddy Ganty or Halibut Olympia and get links like these:

http://chezalaska.com/blog/?p=473
http://www.pelicanalaskafishing.com/blog/?p=7
http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/ListingRecipes.aspx?inn=215887&recipe=29483

NOTE: The Gustavus Inn received a 2010 James Beard Foundation America’s Classics Award. This is a national culinary award which is only given to five locally owned restaurants per year. Halibut Caddy Ganty is their signature dish (they are also known for beach asparagus and kelp salsa).

http://www.starchefs.com/james_beard/...

[eperdu]

Replying to my own comment but .. after reviewing the Modernist Cuisine version of Mac & cheese with sodium citrate, I have to wonder if a little bit would help my Mac & Cheese hold it's shape for reheating. Basically the cheese breaks down after it cools off and it becomes greasy.

I've also made this with gluten-free noodles and it works well. Because most GF noodles are more fragile, I only cook the noodles half the recommended time because it does get baked as well.

[wetdog2]

I like the texture of bechamel but the cheese is more pronounced with the custard version, and it's easier. For every 8 ounces of dry macaroni, puree in a blender: a cup of milk, one egg, 8 ounces of cheese (I do 2/3 cheddar, 1/3 gruyere), half a sauteed onion (maybe some sauteed garlic) and a couple ounces of cream cheese. Pour the mixture over the cooked pasta, sprinkle with grated cheese and bread crumbs and bake. Super easy, super decadent, easier cleanup than with the bechamel.

[sandylc]

That looks really interesting and easy as a method. I like seeing the 8 oz cheese per 8 oz pasta ratio. I like ratios.....

Do you have any problems getting it all out of the blender jar? That's one of my pet peeves with blenders - the food left behind!

[wetdog2]

Pours right out! I adapted it from the Splendid Table recipe. Once you know the ratios, you never have to look it up again. They use raw onions but I found sauteing them first makes the dish more breath-friendly.

[sandylc]

Oh, and there's another 8 oz there - the milk!

[ratgirlagogo]

Bechamel all the way. My favorite is still the bechamel-based one in the old Vegetarian Epicure, with fontina and gruyere and tons of black pepper. Mr. Rat prefers the cheddar/custard kind. It's one of the few things we really disagree on.

[twyst]

Just noodles, cheese, and sodium citrate to stabilize the (quality) cheese so it melts like velveeta

[PotatoHouse]

I make a Bechamel with a three cheese blend.

[jw615]

I use a bechamel based sauce, and prefer it over an egg based mac and cheese.

Fair disclosure: I'm allergic to eggs, but that happened late in life (mid twenties, about 4 years ago), and I've had both, and at least think that I remember well enough to judge.

[paulj]

It also possible to make cross over sauces. For example, beaten egg (or just egg yolk) can be added to a bechamel, usually to add some richness, but also some thickening. Pastry cream is a stove top egg custard that stabilized, and further thickened, with a starch (flour or corn). I haven't read of making savory (no sugar) version of pastry cream, but can't imagine why it would work.

But something that complicates matters in M&C, is that the macaroni ends up absorbing moisture form the sauce, especially in the baked version.

[magiesmom]

I find that a nice thick bechamel and plenty of it works wonderfully.

[jmcarthur8]

Always the bechamel. I love love love it. I've tried Alton Brown's stovetop (meh), somebody or other's Southern style with eggs (too quichey), and one from Cooking Light with butternut squash in it (looked prettier than it tasted).
I finally decided after trying everyone else's favorite or best mac and cheese, that I simply like my own, and there's no point in messing around with any other recipe. I may mix it up with a few different cheeses now and then, but my favorite will always be a white sauce with sharp and mild cheddar.
Yum.

[escondido123]

Neither one. No eggs. No flour. Just cream and cheeses-Parmigiano, Comte and Roquefort being my favorite this month.

[CocoaChanel]

I'm in the "neither" camp as well; (occaisionally, I will do a bechamel, but I dislike the custard)

Elbow noodles, butter, a bit of sour cream (or cream) and (*hangs head in shame*) - McLaren's Imperial cheese -- sooo sharply good,,,

If not McLaren's then a sharp white cheddar and parmagiano

[RetiredChef]

I'm surprised not more people are in this camp, gives the best results, is the easiest.

[magiesmom]

well," best results" is subjective. That's kind of the point.

[chefj]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too rich.
Makes my Liver hurt just thinking of it.

[RetiredChef]

Couldn't disagree more. The roux and bechamel based versions are much thicker and cheesier. Since you use much less cream you need less cheese so this is usually the lightest yet most flavorful version out there.

[escondido123]

And then there is the "Cucina Simpatica" recipe where you parboil the pasta and then toss with cream, cheeses and such before baking in a shallow pan until crunchy on top. Amazing.

[Jay F]

I made a cream & cheeses version about ten years ago, after reading a book on staff meals at Chanterelle in NYC. It was okay, but didn't make me want to give up "real" M&C, i.e., made with roux. It called for Worcestershire, which has been sitting on my shelf ever since.

[sandylc]

Worcestershire. (Ha, did you have to look at the label to spell it?) There's a puzzling ingredient. I always think it should taste better than it does. Seems like mostly MSG. I use a speck of it once in a while, but I don't want to be able to actually taste it in anything!

[smaki]

I mix Worcestershire with catchup then put on top of Mac & Cheese sometimes. Is good. Is like an inexpensive steak sauce. Depending on mood may also put a few drops of hot sauce in as well.

[escondido123]

I would never put it in Mac and Cheese, maybe a tuna noodle casserole though where again I use no flour or eggs.

[Jay F]

My mother used to make a sauce for bluefish of lemon juice, Worcestershire, and butter, and I used to put it in canned tomato soup when I was a kid, but those are the only things I've ever used it for.

[sandylc]

Southerners, still looking for the custard recipe for MC

[AnnieWilliams]

Here you go! I don't think my aunt ever used the dry mustard, but I'm sure it's good. I remember her using evaporated milk and eggs, then pouring it over the cooked noodles.

http://www.food.com/recipe/custard-st...

[sandylc]

Thanks! Very straight-forward and delicious-looking. I do put dry mustard (but less) and also cayenne and a bit of parmesan in mine. Gives it just a bit of a flavor-boost.

[tim irvine]

Agree on adding zip. I go with Bechamel based but sprinkle Sriracha into the Bechamel to turn it light pink before folding in sharp cheddar and Gruyere.

[jmcarthur8]

I include some dry mustard, paprika and a few good shakes of hot sauce in mine. It really does perk up the flavor.

[paulj]

How different would it be if you omitted the egg? I suspect a lot of the milk is absorbed by the pasta.

[AnnieWilliams]

I'm not sure, Paul. It has a firm texture and the noodles hold together, without being rubbery. I think without the eggs it might be a little more loose.

[AnnieWilliams]

Custard here, and I'm kind of in the south. My aunt has always made hers with the custard. I always loved how hers had strings of cheese when she would serve it. I just don't care for the pasty texture of a bechamel.

[smaki]

Grew up eating cheap Kraft macaroni and cheese out of the box. If want to step it up and go home made, it is hard to beat Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine recipe - he was the CTO who helped create Microsoft and once worked with Stephen Hawking expanding world knowledge when in college. Is a retired billionaire foodie who happened to study such things as Mac & Cheese with his expensive team of food experts and lab. Video and info about Nathan and his team including their Mac & Cheese recipe with directions is shown at: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/mac-c... Tastes great if you can find the ingredients and sometimes I experiment with different cheeses to change the flavor. This is my personal favorite way to make macaroni and cheese so thought would share.

"Nathan Myhrvold, a master French chef, scientist and computer genius, applied scientific research to the technology of cooking, along with fellow food scientists Chris Young and Maxine Bilet." Together they created "Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking" book set six waterproof volumes in its own plexiglass case >40 pounds using >4 pounds of ink to print. Also created Modernist Cuisine at Home a 456 page volume which happens to have this Mac and Cheese Recipe in it.

Note: Nathan with team cool the cheese mixture after cooking to room temp then refrigerate to make a healthier better tasting home version of Velveeta - to grate and use as needed on demand. Find melts easily into macaroni and cheese, omelets, sandwiches, over broccoli, on top of cauliflower, ...

[paulj]

Roughly the same cheese sauce is here on CHOW
http://www.chow.com/recipes/30493-per...
and a CHOW video

[igrove]

Thanks for that link. What a great story!

[smaki]

Your welcome. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I do.

[calumin]

I just tried this recipe and have to agree this is way better than dissolving your cheese in a bunch of bechamel.

It's interesting though that even though I used sharp cheddar, the sodium citrate makes it taste somewhat like Velveeta. In the end it's still much better to me than the other methods.

[splatgirl]

My favorite is the Cooks Illustrated version, a bechamel. IMO the secret ingredient is a bit of gorgonzola or bleu cheese in addition to two other types, IIRC.

[horseshoe]

I have made it both ways, The bechamel tends to be grainy because of the flour.

[magiesmom]

a food bechamel is never grainy!

[Jay F]

>>a food bechamel is never grainy!>>

+1.

I've never heard of custard-based M&C. It doesn't sound bad, really--I love quiche, after all. I've never made the box kind--always and only the Martha Stewart bechamel-based type, with extra-sharp cheddar, gruyere or swiss (I've known people who say they dislike gruyere), and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

I came from a Velveeta home. It is a miracle I make decent macaroni and cheese.

[magiesmom]

of course I meant a GOOD bechamel, but I am glad you agree, Jay F :=)

[Jay F]

And I *knew* that, MM. Or guessed it, at least. :)

[horseshoe]

I guess grainy wasn't what I meant, others called it pastey. I have made many a bechamel, in my day.

[kubasd]

If the roux is cooked enough, it shouldn't be pasty...

[magiesmom]

right. A good bechamel is a delight.

[AnnieWilliams]

I have made many roux bases before and cook it very well. In mac & cheese it still seems pasty to me. I just like the custard better, because it's firmer and the cheese is a little stringy, which I like.

[paulj]

Another difference in styles - baked or stove top. The Good Eats episode presents a couple of baked versions, and then AB's 'nephew' says he really wants something like the 'blue box', so AB whips up a stove top version using an evaporated milk base.

[kseiverd]

I've never made it, but SIL did Martha Stewart's recipe once and it was KILLER. Can't remember if had any eggs or bechamel... had TONS of lots of different cheeses. Fed a mob of people, but NOT cheap to make. The crusty corners were excellent!

[jeanmarieok]

I make the Martha Stewart recipe a couple of times a year, it's a bechamel based recipe. It's our family's favorite version.

[igrove]

It's my family's favorite as well. I remember trying Patti Labelle's mac and cheese, which calls for two eggs. Would that qualify as a custard version?

[Jay F]

>> I remember trying Patti Labelle's mac and cheese, which calls for two eggs. Would that qualify as a custard version?>>

Yep.

[NE_Elaine]

I have been making the MS Mac and Cheese for years and it is a bechamel style. I highly reccommend it to anyone looking for a MacNCheese recipe. I have already received the request to make it for XMAS again.

[melpy]

We do béchamel in my family but my fiancé does a custard based. I don't like it as much evaluate it doesn't taste like cheese and the pasta tastes over cooked and crumbles.

[chefj]

Béchamel sauce
I have never a recipe that was a custard, though a couple of the Béchamel sauce ones call for an egg( Alton Brown's comes to mind).

[sandylc]

I think I might do a hybrid. I make a bechamel and put eggs in it. Or sometimes leave them out because hubby wants it creamier.

Recipe?

Also there might be a third one - my mother never did roux OR eggs - hers was strictly stove-top with milk and cheese. Very gooey.

[dtremit]

My family did something similar in the oven -- just layered the noodles with lots of grated cheese and butter, and poured a little milk over the top.

These days I'm more of a béchamel fan -- the eggs distract too much from the cheese. I'm also not a huge fan of including mustard, which seems to pop up in the stovetop/custard ones. (Odd, because I typically love mustard.)