The Recipe: Macaroni and Cheese

On the show we pull back the curtains on the recipe development process to show you how we arrive at our final recipes, and how you can make them your own. First up, stovetop mac and cheese.

[jordanfish]

I love that Kenji always gives Chef John credit for the cold milk trick. Respect.

[sirensongss]

chef john would make a lovely guest for your podcast i think! his recipes are never the most advanced, but i think he is a one of a kind talent in making his recipes approachable and still high quality. hearing his process would be a dream

[FaceIntoKeyboard]

We love the 3 ingredient version and make it regularly. It's simple enough that even the 9 year old can cook it well. We do scale it up to a larger version, but it really doesn't take much longer. 16oz of pasta, 16oz of shredded cheese, 1 full can of evaporated milk. We drop in some broccoli or smoked sausage and it is amazing. It even reheats pretty well if you add in some milk or half and half.

[call_me_ping]

Kenji, I cannot express how grateful I am for your videos and your wonderful presence as a chef through the screen. I love watching and learning from you!

[ruled_by_pluto]

Kenji, I think your channel is appealing because you do things your own way. Even those of us who are lifelong homecooks can find new ideas and learn new things from your takes on classics like mac and cheese. The originality is what keeps me coming back, including the use of the go-pro and the style of cooking.

[marvymaxee]

I’ve loved Deb’s recipe for a while, but I tried yours today and it’s delicious! You’re right, they’re very different, but equally tasty and satisfying. Yours is more like the Kraft Dinner I grew up with, in colour, texture and flavour, but heaps better. Thank you! It’s nice to have two easy, quick, stovetop mac ‘n cheese recipes.

[egek]

I love this guy, great narrative, awesome facts, kitchen looks like a normal person's kitchen, not a youtuber billionaire's kitchen

[elyero]

I was so impressed by how quickly the cheddar & evaporated milk emulsified, will definitely be trying it out as a broke college student, thank u very much kenji!

[janakumer]

Years ago, when I moved into my first flat on my own I started cooking properly. Every pasta video mentioned to reserve pasta water to thicken the sauce. I started thinking: "why not just add enough water to cook the pasta and then I have a sauce". Since then I cooked pretty much every pasta dish I made like that. And it surprised me that till this video none of the Youtubers I watch did the same technique. Its just so much better for me. Any sauce is much smoother and saucier. Can only recommend.

[Poblasai]

Kind of interesting that Deb uses a more classic mac and cheese technique (roux/béchamel) with an more Italian flavor profile while Kenji uses a more Italian technique with a more traditional flavor profile. Something, something, great minds, and such.

[LisaBeatsCancer]

Yep I've been making that recipe over 30yrs. Was a single mom and evaporated milk is cheaper than regular milk! My daughters grew up on that! 👍

[chrisva]

Made yours last night with a ratio 2:1 Cabot 3 year Cheddar to Cooper Sharp, with some frozen peas, dijon mustard and hot sauce to kick things up. I think the citric acid in the American-style Cooper Sharp really helped get a perfect velvety cheese sauce. Thank you Kenji for this incredibly simple framework for killer mac and cheese! Can't wait to try Deb's!

[eiffzmf]

At nearly 8 months of pregnancy I really appreciated the excuse to make two Mac and cheese recipes. :)

[secretcode]

I have no strong interest in mac and cheese but I absolutely love listening to Kenji and watching him work. It's soothing, grounded, informative and refreshingly humble. Thank you so much!

[kehtal]

Kenji your three ingredient mac and cheese is one of the greatest contributions to mankind of the last two hundred years. We make it at least once a month and it's just spectacular.

[mrobins]

I understand people making a double batch in order to use the whole can of evaporated milk. Since I am cooking for one and am not wild about how this reheats: I make a single batch but substitute whole milk powder reconstituted with 60% of the water for the evaporated milk. It's easy to make any amount and I think it tastes the same.

[CyanPhoenix_]

I just love that chef john's "hot rue, cold milk, no lumps" is so widely known lol

[joannasimpson]

This is my favourite stove top Mac and cheese of all time! My daughter and I tried dozens of recipes and could not find one that didn’t turn out at least somewhat grainy until we stumbled upon yours on the Babish channel. It was great to see you make it and talk about it. Excited to try Smitten Kitchen’s recipe too.

The first episode of the podcast was great! I’d love to hear you two talk about baked mac and cheese sometime. Still haven’t found a baked one that has the nice creaminess of a stove top Mac and cheese and doesn’t have a bit of that graininess. We’ve tried lots of good ones but there is always something missing or not quite right.

[Corentin]

I've been making your three ingredient mac and cheese for some time, my wife and I joke that she built our son out of it.

I usually add mustard and garlic powder to the evaporated milk because my wife will add them after the fact if I don't. I also typically just set the amount of pasta and cheese (which I sometimes vary by mixing meltier cheeses with shaper cheeses) by the size of the evaporated milk can.

Thanks very much for this recipe and for this video. I always enjoy both your recipes and your content.

[charmedbycharlie]

It really just comes down to one being a more "hit the spot craving" and the other being a "delicious fancied up easy dinner".