Mac N’ Cheese: Egg or No Egg?

Amelia is a new blogger and like many of us, she’s working on getting her financial house in order, as well as lose weight. Her blog is called Amelia’s Healthy Life. Because if you have enough money, you can buy a trainer’s time, or quit and focus on your health full-time. (I had a friend who did this and frankly, he’s really hot after losing 100lbs in 2 years.)

At any rate, I was kind sad to read she had a Mac N’ Cheese disaster at home. But hey, we’ve all been there and done that. I’ve botched many a cheese sauce. In fact, mine was grainy on Sunday night, but quite edible.

I’m a little disturbed though by the recipe used. It’s a lightened version of Alton Brown’s stove top recipe and I’m utterly confused why there’s so much butter and egg in it. If you’re putting a sauce on the noodles, don’t bother putting butter on them. It makes the sauce slide off. Even Alton Brown says not to do that.

Macaroni and cheese is a very easy pantry recipe. Shoot. I made it for dinner on Sunday because boyfriend and I were sitting around what the hell to eat and feeling lazy. Having watched an Alton Brown casserole program, I was kind of inspired to make homemade mac n’ cheese. There is only one trick to mac n’ cheese and one trick only.

MAKE A GOOD BECHAMEL SAUCE.

Bechamel sauce is a very basic French sauce. (Thank you very much Julia Child!) It’s also called a ‘white sauce’. It’s so freakin’ cheap to make, but also very easy to screw up. Got butter, flour, and milk? I bet you do.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan on medium to high heat till it’s foamy. (Alton Brown says that’s when the water burns off leaving only fat and milk solids.) Then drop in a teaspoon or two of flour and cook till it’s lightly browned. You want to coat each flour molecule with some fat, or else you get floury flavor, so don’t use too much flour. Err on the side of less if doing this without measuring. Gradually whisk in a cup of milk and cook till thickened. This is the tricky part because you will end up with a lumpy sauce if you do not whisk your little heart out. The best way is to take the pan off the heat and add a little milk at a time so the flour absorbs it all before adding more. Take care that the pan is not too hot when you do it. That’s what usually screws mine up.

To make a cheese sauce, add a 1/2-1 cup of sharp cheese like cheddar, but gruyere or another fondue cheese works just as well. Try a smoked gouda. Fog City Diner in SF makes it with smoked gouda, ham and peas. YUM. (ok, I admit, not low calorie)

I just don’t get why someone would use a egg white for this to save calories. Eggs are picky and will curdle if the heat’s not right. If you want less fat, just use less butter. The sauce will be thinner since you have to adjust down the flour as well, but at least you haven’t added a finicky egg.

The mac n’ cheese on Sunday night was about half a box of rotini from the pantry. 1 tsp of butter. 1/2 tsp of flour. 1/2 cup of low fat milk. A sprinkle of cayenne pepper. 1 c of grated sharp cheddar cheese. (Save some for the top)

I stuck it all in a casserole dish, sprinkled on the last of the cheese, and crushed a few Triscuits since I didn’t have bread crumbs. Baked it in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes to re-warm the noodles and make the top a little crusty. It was enough for 3-4 servings. The leftovers were freshened up with an extra sprinkle of cheese before popping in the microwave.