Blender Mac and Cheese
Stovetop mac and cheese is well-worn territory. Every imaginable iteration, twist, and mash-up has been done and redone, recreated and reviewed, wrapped up in bacon and deep-fried on a stick. What could we possibly add to the pantheon of knowledge that’s been built, tested, and retweeted within an inch of its life?
How about a blender?
That’s right folks, “Blender Mac and Cheese” is more than just a clickbait title. After learning to “carbonara anything” on the show, it didn’t take long for me to try it out with cheddar and milk. The result is something certainly fussier than anything out of a box or a tube, but certainly less so than a roux, producing an impossibly smooth sauce and porny cheese stretches.
This recipe was excerpted from ‘Basics with Babish' by Andrew Rea. Buy the full book on Amazon.
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What you’ll need
Blender
$140 At Amazon
Cayenne
$4 At Amazon
4 Quart Saucepan
$200 At Amazon
Ingredients
Serves 4
Step 1
In a blender, combine the egg yolks, mustard, cayenne pepper, 6 ounces of the cheddar, 4 ounces of the Monterey Jack, and 4 ounces of the Gruyère.
Step 2
In a large high-walled skillet or saucepan, bring the milk to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in 2 teaspoons salt. Add the pasta, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally to avoid scorching the milk, until the pasta is al dente according to the package instructions.
Step 3
Drain the pasta, reserving the pasta cooking milk. Pour the milk into a pitcher. Transfer the pasta back to the skillet. With the blender running, gradually pour the reserved milk into the egg-cheese mixture and blend until the sauce is smooth, 30 to 45 seconds. Pour the cheese sauce over the cooked pasta and stir to combine.
Step 4
Fold the remaining 2 ounces mild cheddar, 1 ounce Monterey Jack, and 1 ounce Gruyère into the mac and cheese. It will look as though there is too much sauce, but it will thicken as it cools.
Step 5
Season with salt and pepper, then serve. If the sauce thickens too much, just add more milk until the desired consistency is achieved.
The cheese didn’t melt: If you add the cheese too late in the process, there’s the danger of things not melting according to plan. You can carefully return it to low heat, stirring constantly, microwave for a few 15-second bursts, or even add more cheese and bake it, pretending that was your plan all along.
The sauce broke: Ain’t no saving it—if it’s chunky from cooling and sitting around, try reconstituting it with a splash of milk, but if it somehow broke during cooking, it’s toast forever. Try again!
There isn’t enough sauce: This is hard to imagine considering the amount of milk being put to work here, but depending on your pasta’s size and shape, it may absorb more or less liquid as it cooks. Don’t be afraid to add a bit more milk to the sauce if needed.
Too much sauce: It may look like a frightening amount of sauce at first, but especially if you’re going on to bake your mac, it seldomly ends up being too much.
The sauce is thin: When fresh ’n’ hot out of the blender, this sauce may have the consistency of heavy cream, but as it cools and is supplemented with more shredded cheese, it thickens to the perfect consistency.
The sauce coagulated: This happens! Splash of milk, a rigorous stir, and maybe even a little heat will bring things back to life.
Still clumpy: While it’s very hard to cook the egg yolks in this sauce, it is still possible, so try not to cook the sauce for too long after adding it to the pot.
