[Recipe] Mac and Cheese Cook-off: Fall-tastic Mac, Attempt #3

KiKi and I have very different cooking styles, so it's interesting when we get in the kitchen together.  I chalk it up to my upbringing—I'm 100% Taiwanese, and my parents made very little Western food growing up.  And when my mom started teaching me to cook, albeit reluctantly, I became comfortable with moving, spicing, and all sorts of other things in the kitchen in a very Asian way.  Meaning that, now that I'm older and have bought a ton of cooking books and am working my way through them slowly, I can safely say that the way you cook Western food is just very different from the way you cook Asian food, and it requires a different skill set.

All this to say, I'm not as comfortable as she is with Western sauces and foods, like bechamel, because I've never encountered them in cooking prior to the past two or fewer years.  I'm much more likely to look up and then stick to (largely) a recipe when cooking Western.  KiKi, on the other hand, is constantly subbing out ingredients that she already knows goes into things, not measuring anything, and sometimes not looking at recipes at all—which impresses me.  It's exactly how I cook Asian food.  It's something that comes with time and experience (and good instincts help, of course), and I've successfully been doing that in my baking for a few years now, so I'm hoping I'll step out of my comfort zone in Western cooking soon, too.  In the meantime, though, I just watch and follow KiKi's lead.

Fall-tastic Mac 3.0 is fairly different from Fall-tastic Mac 1.0.  In a lot of ways, it's better, but it can definitely use more tweaking.  More on that later.

As before, there are three major components to this mac 'n' cheese: the brussels sprouts, the pumpkin-beer-braised short ribs, and the actual pumpkin mac 'n' cheese.

"Fall-tastic" Mac - Iteration #3
an original recipe by tammiest (the Passionfruit Fashionista)

First, the Pumpkin-Beer-Braised Short Ribs:

This batch of short ribs was better than the previous one.  We used Blue Moon's special pumpkin beer, which was infinitely better than the pumpkin ale I used in version 1.0, for starters, and we also used beef stock instead of vegetable this time—though I did have to run to the grocery store down the street at the last minute because I, again, forgot that I didn't have any on hand.  It's funny because I love vegetables and don't mind cooking or eating vegetarian every once in a while, but meat really makes a big difference in taste, especially when it comes to stock.

Ingredients
2-1/2 lbs. beef short ribs
2+ tablespoons unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 bottles pumpkin beer
5 cups beef stock
4 bay leaves
kosher salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper

Directions
1.  Season the ribs with salt and pepper.  In a large pot, melt 2 or more tablespoons of butter.  Add the ribs and brown them in the melted butter.

2.  Once the ribs have finished browning, add the bay leaves and crushed garlic cloves, along with a bit of cayenne pepper.  Add the pumpkin beer and beef stock before covering the pan with the lid.  Bring the pot to a boil before bringing down to a simmer on low for 3 hours, at which point the meat should be falling off the bone.

Second, the Brussels Sprouts: 

For version 3.0, we decided to go with KiKi's tactic of using brussels sprouts as a topping to the mac 'n' cheese as opposed to a mixer.  This ensures that the vegetables stay crunchy (and thus texturally interesting) because we bake and broil the mac 'n' cheese just before serving.

Something else KiKi does differently is that she actually slices the brussels sprouts before baking them.  I think, for purposes of the mac 'n' cheese, this is a smart thing to do—again with the textural interest—but, for purposes of snacking, it was less satisfying.  Their distinct nutty flavor is diminished a bit by the slicing because there's more browning and charring that occurs, and I think I must love brussels sprouts too much for them to taste like anything else!

Ingredients
1-1/2 lbs. brussels sprouts
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.  Cut off the brown ends of the brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves.  Slice them as thinly as possible.  Mix them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Pour them on a sheet pan or in a roasting pan, then dab the unsalted butter on top.  Roast for 30-40 minutes, mixing every 5-7 minutes, until slightly crisp.

Third, the Pumpkin Mac 'n' Cheese:

You'll see that the cheese this time around was very, very different from 1.0.  In some ways, it's much better—the easiest reason is that it was much cheesier overall.  And I loved the little kick of cayenne pepper we added, and I'm a big fan of the mascarpone we chose to use this time.  But I also think that the type and amount of cheddar cheese we used was a little too overwhelming for my tastes.  KiKi's blog states we added smoked gouda to the cheese mixture—but she's wrong.  We didn't.  We forgot and had to add it to the topping.  To me, this cheese was a little one dimensional, and you could barely taste the pumpkin.  We're planning to remedy that in the next round, though.  Suggestions listed below in the "Verdict."

Ingredients

3-1/2 cups milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

(at least) 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

(at least) 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 lb. elbow macaroni

7 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

10-14 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

8 oz. mascarpone cheese

kosher salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.  In a medium-sized pot or saucepan, melt and brown the butter over medium-high heat.  This is a process that takes longer than mere melting (and so you'll have to watch the stove), but it gives the butter (and consequently whatever you're making) a deeper, complex, almost nutty flavor.  You want to melt the butter past its melting point-- it will start to foam before it subsides and begins to brown.

2.  Once the butter has just begun to brown, add the pumpkin puree, using a whisk to combine.

3.  Add the flour slowly to the pumpkin-butter mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring and combining completely before adding each new tablespoon of flour.  This roux mixture should brown up as well (but, again, watch to make sure it doesn't overbrown or begin to blacken).

4.  Once the roux is finished and has cooked, fully mixed, for a few minutes, begin adding the whole milk in 3/4-cup increments.  Make sure to stir and combine completely, as well as bring almost to a boil, in between increments.

5.  Season to taste with the salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper.
6.  Let the bechamel simmer (not boil) to thicken the sauce.
7.  While the bechamel is simmering, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Once the water comes to a boil, add a generous amount of salt and then the pasta.  Boil pasta for 10 to 12 minutes or until al dente, stirring occasionally.  Drain pasta and set aside.
8.  Add the cheese to the drained pasta.  Combine well.
9.  Turn off the heat on the bechamel and pour it into and over the pasta and cheese mixture.  Combine well.

Finally, combine for Fall-tastic Mac:

Hats off to KiKi-- she was right.  Brussels sprouts topping was amazing.

Additional Ingredients
Panko bread crumbs, enough to cover the top of the mac 'n' cheese pan (about 1 cup)
4 oz. smoked gouda cheese, grated
unsalted butter

Directions
1.  Shred the pumpkin-beer braised short ribs (they should fall easily from the bone and shred even more easily with a fork) and mix into the pumpkin mac 'n' cheese.  Adjust seasoning as needed.
2.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3.  Pour the combined mac 'n' cheese into a large baking pan.
4.  Sprinkle the thinly sliced brussels sprouts, Panko bread crumbs, and 4 oz. of shredded smoked gouda cheese, on top of the mac 'n' cheese.  Dot the top with small amounts of unsalted butter.

4.  Bake the mac 'n' cheese in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  Broil for the last 5 minutes.

 

The Verdict

Fall-tastic Mac is clearly the winner (at least over Oktoberfest Mac).  The final tally, after both the dinner party and bringing both in to the office, is 24-5.  It doesn't mean that we're done experimenting, though, or that this recipe is perfect.  Everyone loved the short ribs themselves, and it's hard to imagine improving on them, so those are good as is.  The brussels sprouts in version 3.0, similarly, are likely not going to be changed.  A lot of people—including KiKi and myself—however, did prefer the Oktoberfest cheese to the Fall-tastic cheese.

So, a few thoughts for next time: 

1.  Slightly different cheese(s).

Like I mentioned above, I think our cheese was a little one dimensional.  We can still use cheddar, but less of it—we should add smoked gouda to the actual mixture, as well as some Gruyere.  The mascarpone was great, and we should keep it.

2.  More pumpkin flavor.  But not more pumpkin.

Allow me to explain.  The cheese we used this time around overpowered the pumpkin.  We're going to fix that by using a blend of cheeses next time—plus, we're going to substitute one cup of milk for one cup of pumpkin beer.  We're also going to add more nutmeg and some sugar to highlight the taste of pumpkin without actually adding any more pumpkin.

3.  Slightly different crumble.

We both loved the pretzel rolls so much that we're going to use them in Fall-tastic Mac!, but toasted and croutoned so they stay crunchy and texturally interesting.

Until Next Time

I really think I've been bitten by the mac 'n' cheese bug.  I have three recipes circling in my head that I plan to try out for honor's sake and one more recipe KiKi and I are going to test for the contest itself.  Stay tuned—and stay enthusiastic, 1285!  You guys are the best.