Michelin Mac and Cheese at Home

                   Michelin Mac and Cheese

Mac and Cheese is usually built on béchamel, rich, heavy, and honestly a bit one-note. In this video, we make a lighter, more complex mac and cheese inspired by Heston Blumenthal, using a technique from his Michelin-star pub The Hinds Head.

VIDEO CHAPTERS

00:00 - Intro

00:09 - The macaroni 

00:18 - The main difference 

01:33 - Finishing the mac

02:01 - White Wine mix

03:03 - The cheese

04:24 - Making the cheese sauce

05:23 - Making the pangrattato

06:55 - Finishing Sauce 

07:52 - Finishing the mac 

09:10 - Baking the mac

09:31 - Tasting 

For the Panko Topping

100g butter

100g panko

5 sage leaves

2g fresh thyme

50g panko breadcrumbs

For the Macaroni

2L water

20g salt

500g macaroni

For the Cheese Sauce

600g white wine

600g chicken stock

1 sprig of thyme

1 sprig of rosemary

1 Tbsp black peppercorns

100g gruyere

100g slices American cheese

30g corn flour

160g soft cream cheese

5g Dijon mustard

1. For the panko topping, pick the thyme and finely chop the sage. 

2. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan on a medium heat.

3. Continue to swirl the butter as the solids turn golden brown and start to smell biscuity.

4. Remove from the heat, drop in the herbs and allow to cool slightly

5. Finally stir through the panko bread crumbs and  season with salt and pepper

6. For the macaroni, bring a pan filled with the water and salt to a rolling boil

7. Add the macaroni and cook until al dente

8. Drain, toss in a splash of oil and set aside.

9. For the sauce, add the chicken stock, thyme, rosemary and peppercorns to a sauce pan.

10. Bring to the boil on a medium high heat and immediately turn the heat off and set aside the pan for the stock to infuse

11. Pour the white wine into a saucepan and on a medium heat, reduce until you only have roughly 60g of wine reduction left

12. Strain the stock into the pan with the wine reduction and turn the heat down to low

13. Finely slice the American cheese and grate half the gruyere.

14.  Put all the American Cheese and grated Gruyere in a bowl, add the corn flour and stir through.

15. Once combined, add the cheese and cornflour to the pan of reduced wine and stock, whisking continuously until the cheese has melted and the sauce thickens.

16. Take a small amount of the sauce out of the pan and into a mixing bowl

17. Whisk in the cream cheese and Dijon until fully incorporated

18. Whisk the cream cheese and Dijon slurry back into the sauce until fully incorporated. 

19. Fold the pasta through the sauce and mix until combined

20. Cut the remaining gruyere into small cubes and fold them through the pasta. 

21. Season with salt and pepper to taste before transferring to an oven proof dish.

22. Top with the brown butter panko crumbs and bake on 180C for 15 minutes until golden