How NYC’s Best Mac and Cheese is Made

[upbeat groovy music]

I'm Chef Claire Malfitano,

the chef de cuisine for Murray's Cheese,

and today I'm gonna show you how to make the world's

best mac and cheese.

[bell dinging]

Here at our Bleecker Street location,

the flagship store,

we make upwards of 30 tons of mac and cheese every year.

We're bringing our expertise in cheese to mac and cheese,

so we're very intentional

with the ingredients that we choose,

whether it be the pasta,

the cheeses that we shred for inside,

and the way that we prepare the mac and cheese.

[smooth groovy music]

For our cheese sauce,

we'll start by infusing some whole milk with aromatics,

and that fat that you get in the whole milk

is really gonna add flavor, but it also isn't too fatty

so that it will break the sauce.

Using onion is a great way to infuse some flavor

that's a little bit of a kick.

The thyme really adds some savory notes,

some herbiness that we need.

Just to layer, I think these two flavors

really complement cheddar.

We're making a sachet, so I'm just adding the sliced onion,

and then I'll add the thyme to some cheesecloth,

and that's just gonna make the infusion very easy.

And when I'm ready to remove

and feel the flavor's been imparted enough,

I can just pull it out.

And we really just wanna put it over medium-low heat.

We're not trying to bring it to a boil.

It's really below a simmer.

I would just stir it occasionally because you will see

that the milk could stick to the bottom.

Infusing the milk really adds flavors

at the very start of the recipe.

Really, any recipe,

you wanna build flavor from the beginning.

Now that the milk is infused,

we'll begin our roux by melting some butter.

A roux is a thickening agent.

It really just allows for a sauce to thicken.

Once it's fully melted, we'll begin adding the flour.

You really wanna stir;

make sure you're getting everything mixed together.

You're honestly going for almost

what looks like an applesauce texture.

This is gonna add some structure and stability to the sauce

that really helps it coat the pasta.

It's gonna begin bubbling, and I've always been taught

that it smells like Christmas cookies,

and that's how you know that a blond roux is done.

So we've been cooking the roux for about five minutes.

You can see that we've achieved this texture

that almost looks like pancake batter.

So this is the exact color that we want.

Now that our roux is ready,

our next step will be adding in the infused milk.

We wanna make sure we're stirring the whole time,

otherwise, it could get lumpy.

You do wanna have a plastic spatula handy

just to scrape the side so you don't get

pieces of roux like that stuck.

It will thicken up very quickly,

and that will give us a bechamel.

Bechamel is just cooked milk that's been thickened

and infused with aromatics.

There's no shame in eating boxed mac and cheese at home.

I'm a big fan.

That's what I grew up with.

And I would say you can easily doctor it up

by adding, like, sour cream, cottage cheese,

another shredded cheese that you love,

and really amping up the cheesiness.

So it's been about seven minutes

since we infused the milk into the roux.

We've been patiently stirring,

and now we've got a great thickness.

You can see it's not dripping like water.

It's having more resistance and clinging to the whisk.

Now we can make this bechamel into a Mornay sauce.

Mornay sauce is just a fancy word for cheese sauce.

So high-moisture mozzarella melts really, really nicely,

and the flavor isn't overpowering,

and that's what makes it a great blank canvas.

We'll add more shredded mozzarella in later

when we mix our pasta and sauce together.

And that is really for the cheese pull

and less about the flavor.

We'll add some cream cheese.

It really adds a nice tanginess and acidity.

Really balances out the salt,

takes away any sweetness

that might be present from the cooked milk.

So we're just making sure that the cream cheese

is fully melted.

So it didn't look too thick

when we removed it from the stove,

but now, adding the cheese, the cream cheese,

it's really added a lot of body to the sauce,

and that's really gonna cling to the pasta.

Takes a little arm strength.

It's really almost like a cake batter at this point.

Worked out all those lumps, and now we can add the mustard.

The acidity really lightens it up.

It makes it possible for you to eat

a good helping of mac and cheese in one sitting.

I am gonna add kosher salt as well.

So we're gonna hit really a lot of different flavors,

and that will create complexity in the sauce.

I think another mistake that people make in the kitchen

is not tasting their food as they go.

So I think that's perfect.

A pro tip that we do recommend

if you're using your sauce today, like we are,

is to make a cartouche

to avoid a skin developing on top of the sauce.

From here, we'll start cooking the pasta

so we can mix our mac and cheese and bake it in the oven.

[smooth groovy music] [pasta clattering]

Here at Murray's Cheese, we use radiatori pasta

for our mac and cheese.

As you can see, it's shaped like an old-timey radiator,

and those grooves really allow

for maximum cheese sauce coverage.

It's very important to salt your water

before cooking your pasta.

You wanna be very generous with your salt.

I'd say close to a tablespoon per quart of water.

Don't be afraid to taste your water;

if it doesn't taste salty,

probably not enough salt to infuse into your pasta.

Our cook time is very short, only six minutes.

In the first minute of cooking,

it's important to stir the pasta.

This will prevent it from sticking to each other

and then also sticking to the bottom.

We cook it to al dente,

so it's still gonna have a bite to it,

and it won't be fully cooked through.

We're gonna cook our mac and cheese

with the sauce in the oven.

So we don't want it to become mushy.

We still want the structural integrity of the pasta.

Don't be afraid to experiment with fun shapes.

If you can't find radiatori in your local grocery store,

I definitely recommend a cavatappi.

Fusilli is nice.

It has a lot of grooves that will catch the sauce.

Even a shell is really fun

'cause it does capture that sauce,

but it's not gonna capture the sauce in a heat bomb

kind of like a rigatoni would.

I love macaroni.

I think it doesn't capture the sauce

in the same way as our radiatori does.

It doesn't have grooves.

The holes are a little too small

to even really take in very much, but it's a fun shape.

We'll leave the stove to strain the water from our pasta.

You don't wanna rinse your pasta.

That really washes the starch away from the pasta

and makes it much more difficult for a sauce to cling.

And especially for a mac and cheese,

you really want that sauce to cling to the pasta.

If you're not using your pasta immediately,

we recommend spreading it out on a sheet pan

and allowing it to cool in an even layer

so that it doesn't overcook.

Once the pasta's cooled, we can assemble our mac and cheese

and get it in the oven.

[smooth groovy music]

So these are the three cheeses

that we use for our classic mac and cheese.

I think a great rule of thumb,

kind of like cook with the wine that you would drink,

is cook with the cheese that you would eat,

while keeping in mind that high moisture

is what's gonna make it really, really silky and smooth.

You wanna avoid cheeses that are heavily aged

because they won't melt in the same way

that these cheeses do.

So we already have our pre-shredded

high-moisture mozzarella.

We add even more at this point,

not really for the flavor, but for the cheese pull.

So this is our Red Wax Gouda.

It is very high moisture and delicious.

It's gonna impart a lot of buttery flavor

and add richness.

It would contribute similar flavors

as a Havarti, I would say.

I'm using a box grater.

I'm going on a finer shred.

This is our New York State white cheddar.

It's gonna add some great acidity

that we want to balance the other flavors.

So Gouda does have a little bit of sweetness.

That acidity is gonna temper that down.

Now we'll mix them so we can top our mac and cheese.

So we'll add all of our cooked pasta to the bowl.

I would say we can probably serve about 30 to 40 people

with this amount of mac.

I'm gonna add the cheese sauce into our pasta

and shredded cheese.

Now, with gloved hands, I'm gonna mix everything together

so every piece of pasta is coated with sauce.

At this point, the sauce is still warm,

but it's not hot enough to melt the cheese.

We want the oven to melt the cheese that's inside

and then also on top of the mac and cheese.

I always find this very relaxing.

Mixing, making sure everything's incorporated.

This is the point of no return,

so we wanna taste our cheese sauce on our pasta,

and that will let us know if we need to add

any last-minute salt before we begin baking.

I think it's good.

So we'll be using a small baking dish

to make our mac and cheese today.

We recommend a baking dish that isn't too tall.

You really wanna make sure that your mac and cheese

is heated all the way through

before it gets too brown on the top.

You don't wanna really mound it

because that kind of makes it hard

to heat all the way through.

You also don't wanna push it down too much

'cause, again, it's gonna be very dense,

hard to heat it all the way through

before the cheese browns all the way.

Now we'll top our mac and cheese with our remaining cheese

and then bake it in the oven.

We do not add breadcrumbs.

We let the cheese do all the work.

It's gonna toast in the oven

and become golden brown and crispy,

and you'll actually get the really delicious cooked,

toasted cheese flavor of Cheez-Its.

I promise this isn't a Cheez-Its commercial.

This is actually an item that we referenced quite a bit

as we were developing the recipe,

as we were aiming for the end goal

of what we wanted the cheese crust to taste like.

So our classic mac and cheese is ready for the oven.

We'll bake it at 375 for about 10 to 12 minutes.

And it's gonna get nice and golden brown on the top

and be really nice and warm and bubbly around the edges.

And that will tell us that the inside is heated through.

So we've got perfect golden-brown deliciousness.

This is exactly what we're looking for

when we're baking the mac and cheese in the oven.

So all of that caramelization

is gonna give that Cheez-It flavor that we want.

And you can see it's kind of bubbled over a little bit.

We've got those nice crunchy bits to snack on.

But it's just absolutely perfect.

You can enjoy this right out of the oven.

It's gonna be very hot.

You don't need to wait for it to settle

or anything like that.

The great debate: fork versus spoon for mac and cheese.

I am team fork.

[groovy jazz music]

Gotta get a crust piece here.

Mm.

Totally getting the Cheez-It notes, really creamy.

The sauce is so smooth.

The pasta is not mushy.

That al dente cook that we did on the stove

makes it perfect in the end.

As somebody who's eaten mac and cheese

probably every day for the last 7 1/2 years,

I could eat this whole thing.

So you can see the radiatori

really has a ton of cheese sauce.

The cheese on top, you can see the crust.

Like, look at that crispy piece.

Cheez-It flavor, nice crunch.

In contrast with the pasta, so good.

Mac and cheese is a simple dish.

So putting intention behind the ingredients you're using,

it really delivers in the end product.

I think a velvety sauce, a pasta that still has texture,

a lot of flavor complexity from cheeses

really is gonna make an absolutely delicious mac and cheese.

And I feel like cooking for yourself

is the greatest form of self-care.

So putting intention into that self-care

really makes a beautiful end product.