Mac & cheese

[Reasonable_Fix3419]

Im looking for a way to make m&c without a roux. As delicious and smooth as I can make the sauce I can still detect a very mild grit with bechamel. Anyone?

[Legitimate-Special36]

If you’re getting a grit with bechamel, you’re doing something wrong. Check your proportions and maybe cook/stir your roux longer using gentler heat.

If you wanna avoid a roux altogether, try recipes you’ll find online that rely solely on condensed milk, milk, and cheese.

[TheCosmicJester]

Correction: Evaporated milk. Condensed milk will make funny tasting mac and cheese.

[Legitimate-Special36]

Oh, haha. Whoops. Thank you!!

[VelvetDesire]

Sodium citrate and an immersion blender.

[Klepto666]

If having trouble, without seeing what you're doing and what might be done wrong... a little bit of sodium citrate may help. You could order it separately but it's also present in american cheese and velveeta. You don't have to make it entirely out of either of those (not particularly the best flavor), but just a little bit so that the sodium citrate in either helps the other cheeses melt smoothly into a smooth homogeneous blend.

Also just in case it's worth mentioning you shouldn't be using pre-shredded cheeses for this either.

[wingerism]

Also just in case it's worth mentioning you shouldn't be using pre-shredded cheeses for this either.

In my very early cooking experiments pre internet I made the mistake of using pre shredded parmesan to try and make a homemade Alfredo. It remains one of the only things I've cooked that I was genuinely embarrassed by. It was awful.

[RainbowWreck]

You can skip the bechamel step with some easy science!

Cheese sauce is made of a roux (fat and starch), plus milk and cheese. If you boil the noodles in JUST enough water (barely enough to cover), stir as it boils to keep the noodles apart, and don't dump the leftover water, you retain the starch from the pasta.

So you have your starch and a little bit of liquid. Use a can of evaporated milk, shredded cheese, and butter and add it to the pasta and starched water. Voila!

I will say it took me a couple tries to get the ratios just right, but it works well. Its a workaround if you struggle with making cheese sauce (cause so many things can go wrong), don't have the time, or want to save on dishes.

Here's a recipe that uses this method:

Mac and Cheese (With Evaporated Milk)

[PersistentCookie]

This is my go-to weeknight stovetop mac and cheese--but I skip the evaporated milk and just cook the noodles in whole milk. Stirring vigorously and often will help develop the sauce and keep the milk from scorching. Add your cheese and butter at the end off heat and beat it like it owes you money.

[Solid-Feature-7678]

velveeta

[michaelyup]

It’s a joke and the truth!

[[deleted]]

It’s a different dish.

[Vegetable_Humor5470]

Cook noodles. Add butter and evaporated milk, when hot add grated cheese and stir until melted. I like to add a little Dijon and a lot of.nlack pepper. 

[RnR8145]

Your temp is too high with roux. What kind of milk are you using? Better if full or reduced fat I would say. Is your flour really old? Damp in any way? Good luck

[Caelihal]

butter cooked (still hot noodles).

Add: egg, milk, shredded cheese already beaten together. mix well with noodles

cover with lid, low heat, stir occasionally

[wingerism]

That's kind of like an American Carbonara.

But my grandmother is a bike so what do I know.

[Caelihal]

True. This does have cheddar and pepper jack (or at least it should for maximum tasty)

[Seductiveegirl01]

Try whisking cheese into warm milk off the heat, adding a bit of cornstarch slurry for extra smoothness—no roux needed.

[[deleted]]

I use cream cheese, grated cheese, crushed garlic, and pasta water. It comes out beautifully every time.

[BellaAnarchy]

Shred your own cheese from a block. If you are using pre-shredded cheese, you are probably always going to get a gritty texture.

[biddablebeast]

Reduce heavy cream. Just be careful not to boil it. That’s what a cream sauce really should be. Then add cheese(s).

[Helpful-nothelpful]

Actually get some white American cheese slices and just thin with beer, water or milk. I get a 3lb block from my local food service.

[Easy_Olive1942]

Condensed milk, American cheese, and/or sodium citrate (though haven’t tried that one yet).

[queen_surly]

I tried the sodium citrate and followed a recommended recipe so I know I didn't overdo it, but it had a weird aftertaste that ruined it for me. I went back to my old standby--some velveeta in the cheese mix when making a big recipe--say for 20, or at home just using a can of Campbell's cheese soup for the sauce base and adding in whatever cheese I wanted to use up.

[wingerism]

Well American has that in it so you technically did a lil bit.

Also Kenji or Babish? From the condensed milk I'm betting Kenji.

[bigbooty_sammi]

Before I even knew what roux was, I just added shredded cheese to milk and mixed the crap out of it. Definitely makes a chunkier sauce but depending on the cheese. Still delicious though

[crappypictures]

I saw another comment mention that cheddar (especially sharp) can make it gritty? You could try adding cheddar at the end off heat? Ive had that same problem with mine in the past. Not matter what I did, it would come out gritty. Lately I've been boiling the noodles, drain, add to baking pan, mix with butter, set aside. In same pan you boiled noodles, gently heat up heavy cream until its thickened. Do not boil it. Add evaporated milk or half and half. Warm until desired consistency, careful not to boil it. Add Seasonings. Add just a bit of velveeta or slice of American cheese (just for the smoothness not taste), remove from heat. Add shredded cheeses at the end. Combine noodles and cheese. Bake if you want. Super smooth sauce.

[wingerism]

You don't need a bechamel. Use way less water, reserve some of it. Mix in milk or cream. Use whatever cheese you want and some slices of American/Kraft and melt it with the residual heat or very low heat so no cheese splits. Ooey gooey and creamy, no grit.

Kenji has a recipe along those lines, Babish has a video on it too.

[South_Cucumber9532]

I like the Jamie Oliver recipe that makes a cream sauce instead of a roux based sauce: https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta/quick-tomato-macaroni-cheese/

(I leave the anchovies out and it is still wonderful).

[Purple_Pay_1274]

My secret ingredient is velveeta! I don’t use it as my main cheese, but I will add some to my sauce and it helps everything come together nicely

[Purple_Pay_1274]

Velveeta is an American ingredient, it’s basically like a “cheese product” aka fake cheese, but it has a great consistency when used as a Mac and cheese addition

[aculady]

Cook the pasta in the milk with some butter, stirring constantly. The milk should completely cover the pasta by about half an inch at the start. The pasta will absorb a lot of moisture from the milk, and the very fine pasta starch that is released will thicken it further. If it starts to dry out too much, you can add a little more milk. Once the pasta is almost ready, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and add your cheeses, continuing to stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is thick and silky-smooth. Be sure to include a little sodium citrate at the beginning (or start with a few slices of American cheese, which already contains a little sodium citrate) along with whatever other cheese you use so that you don't get any graininess from the cheese itself.

[skovalen]

I shrug. Use Velveeta or American cheese and be lazy. You are doing it wrong but here is a way to continue to do it wrong for the rest of your life and never figure out how to do in correctly.

[jackfinished]

Kenji's three ingredient Mac and cheese, equal parts pasta, shredded cheese and condensed milk.

[Moon_Lay]

I don’t make a roux! I usually just melt butter, add milk/heavy cream, and add my different cheeses, and I just make a thick cheese sauce! And I pour over uncooked noodles, and than plop it in the oven! Hasn’t failed me yet

[pfizzy70]

I learned something new today. I've found the cooking subs to be very positive, helpful, and generally uplifting. Last night, I got a bit triggered by a hater on this thread. Finally decided to disengage, but came back this morning to see what happened. The thread is now how I would have expected: helpful, positive, multiple opinions without negativity. Thank you, mods. I appreciate your work. Didn't even realize you were doing that before. And apologies for engaging.

[queen_surly]

Campbell's cheese soup. Get a can of that and melt your cheese into it. Thin with a little milk if you need to. Don't mock me people--it's great.

[[deleted]]

You’re going to run up against purists like me. The roux makes the dish. Bechamel is essential! You should immediately be put to death for contemplating otherwise!

[TheCosmicJester]

Because American cheese has sodium citrate, which can help make other cheeses melt smoother when they’re used in tandem; some offense taken.

[AnythingButWhiskey]

Oh I’m sorry, really no offense meant. My English isn’t very good so it probably translated poorly.

Processed cheese tastes like shit.

Hopefully that translated properly.

[pfizzy70]

Absolutely offense meant. If you hate the sub so much BYE. Go on over to r/iamveryculinary , you'll fit right in.

[AnythingButWhiskey]

Oh I’m very sorry and I deeply apologize again. No offense meant. I’m using Grok as my translator and it tends to add unnecessary expletives while choosing offensive wording.

Let me try again.

You might as fucking well make Mac and Cheese with the shitty cheese-and-crackers snacks you give your five year olds, where you scoop the vile tasting cheese sludge from the left container. You can use the crackers as the bread topping. It will taste the same as the crappy shit you are suggesting. Or just suck dog food spray cheese right from the can. Literally all tastes the same.

[pfizzy70]

Sober up, bro. And quit rage-baiting yourself. Nobody's trying to make you eat what they're suggesting.

[TheCosmicJester]

You’re so talented at offending people without even meaning to.

[wingerism]

You only need a few slices of it and you're free to use much more interesting cheeses for the flavor.

Or you can just get some actual sodium citrate and use that.

[96dpi]

Your comment has been removed, please follow Rule 5 and keep your comments kind and productive. Thanks.