Ina Garten-Inspired Mac and Cheese

Compiled by Igor Kukolj, Editor. Nobody here has cooked this — how these are made.

The instinct is to use the best cheese in the fridge. That is frequently the one that will ruin the sauce.

How well a cheese melts and how strongly it tastes pull in opposite directions. Young, moist cheeses — Gruyère, fontina, a mild cheddar — flow smoothly because their protein structure is still loose and there is enough water to keep it mobile. Aged cheeses have lost water and their proteins have tightened, so they break under heat and turn oily and stringy. But age is exactly what concentrates flavour.

So use two. Two thirds a good melter for texture, one third something old and strong for flavour. Neither can do both jobs.

Grate from the block

Bagged shreds are dusted with potato starch or cellulose to stop them clumping, and that coating does the same thing in a warm sauce — it holds the shreds apart instead of letting them melt in. It is the most common cause of a grainy cheese sauce and the easiest to avoid.

Off the heat before the cheese goes in

Above about 70°C the proteins in cheese contract and squeeze the fat out, and a broken cheese sauce cannot be brought back. Pull the béchamel off the hob, count to thirty, and stir the cheese in a handful at a time.

Warm the milk before it meets the roux

Cold milk into hot roux seizes into lumps, and every minute spent whisking them out is another minute of cooking. Warm milk goes in smoothly and halves the time at the stove.

Storing

Three days. Reheat covered at 170°C with a splash of milk stirred through. Freezing turns the sauce grainy — if you want a freezer version, undercook the pasta further and freeze it before baking.