Baked Macaroni Cheese
A béchamel base, cheese off the heat, and pasta pulled early because it keeps cooking in the oven.
- Prep
- 20m
- Cook
- 30m
- Waiting
- 5m
- Total
- 55m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
Scale
Units
Method
| 4 tbsp | 1 Cook the flour in the butter for 2 minutes 3m Until it smells biscuity — raw roux tastes of flour. | 2 Whisk in the milk and cook until it coats a spoon 10m Add the milk in three goes, whisking smooth each time. | 3 Melt in the cheese off the heat 3m Off the heat, in handfuls. Boiling cheese sauce splits. | 5 Combine and tip into a buttered dish 3m | 6 Bake at 200°C / 400°F until bubbling and browned 25m | |
| 1/3 cup | ||||||
| 3 cups | ||||||
| 1 tsp | ||||||
| 1 tsp | ||||||
| 250 g | ||||||
| 50 g | ||||||
| 400 g | 4 Boil 2 minutes short of the packet time 7m | |||||
| 1 cup | ||||||
- 1
Cook the flour in the butter for 2 minutes
3m- butter 4 tbsp
- plain flour 1/3 cup
Until it smells biscuity — raw roux tastes of flour.
- 2
Whisk in the milk and cook until it coats a spoon
10m- from 1 Cook the flour in the butter for 2 minutes
- whole milk 3 cups
- English mustard powder 1 tsp
- salt 1 tsp
Add the milk in three goes, whisking smooth each time.
- 3
Melt in the cheese off the heat
3m- from 2 Whisk in the milk and cook until it coats a spoon
- mature cheddar 250 g
- Parmigiano Reggiano 50 g
Off the heat, in handfuls. Boiling cheese sauce splits.
- 4
Boil 2 minutes short of the packet time
7m- macaroni 400 g
- 5
Combine and tip into a buttered dish
3m- from 3 Melt in the cheese off the heat
- from 4 Boil 2 minutes short of the packet time
- 6
Bake at 200°C / 400°F until bubbling and browned
25m- from 5 Combine and tip into a buttered dish
- panko breadcrumbs 1 cup
Why the sauce splits
Cheese held above a simmer wrings out its fat and the proteins clump. The roux protects it — starch granules physically get between the fat droplets — but only up to a point. Add the cheese off the heat, in handfuls, and stop stirring once it has gone.
Notes
- Mustard powder is not for mustard flavour. It sharpens cheese in a way salt cannot.
- Pre-grated cheese is coated in anti-caking starch and melts grainy. Grate a block.
- Undercook the pasta by two minutes. It absorbs sauce in the oven, and fully cooked macaroni comes out mushy.