[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.

[Recipe] Mac and Cheese Cook-off: Oktoberfest Mac, Attempt #1

When KiKi first asked me to enter the Mac 'n' Cheese Cookoff with her, my feelings were tentative, lukewarm at best.  But, unsurprisingly, as time went on, I became increasingly competitive, and now I've become a little obsessed with winning.  Last year, KiKi and Junglecat J lost second place by just one vote, mainly because none of their friends (yours truly included) showed up to the event.  (In my defense, I did try to go, but my talent for getting hopelessly lost interfered, and I never made it.)

Given that I want to win, I started to get anxious that our Fall-tastic Mac—with pumpkin and brussels sprouts, two ingredients that are sadly less than universally popular—would be offputting to enough people as to jeopardize our chances for the mac 'n' cheese trophy I desperately want to display in my office.

And that's how Oktoberfest Mac* was born.  Oktoberfest Mac is beer cheese, macaroni, bratwurst with onions (the traditional way), and a topping of crumbled bacon and homemade pretzel roll croutons.  Basically, everything American, Oktoberfest, and football in one cheesy dish.  What's not to love?
* A special thank-you and shout-out to MiMi, who named this for us.

There are three major components to this mac 'n' cheese as well: the beer cheese, the bratwurst with onions, and the topping of crumbled bacon and homemade pretzel roll croutons.

Oktoberfest Mac - Iteration #1
an original recipe by tammiest (the Passionfruit Fashionista)

First, the Bratwurst with Onions:

Bratwurst is a natural choice/pairing for beer cheese, pretzels, and bacon.  This is both a good and bad thing, as our tastetesters made clear to us.  It just isn't nearly as flavorful as anything else in Oktoberfest Mac and apparently felt like a "throwaway" ingredient.  This does kind of make sense, though—I love brats, but part of the experience is definitely in the pile of condiments and not the sausage itself.  Chorizo it is not.*
* Our friend Hotpants Radio Miami ("HRM" for short) suggested swapping the bratwurst out for chorizo—which would definitely give it an extra kick—but then we couldn't in good conscience really call it an Oktoberfest Mac, could we?

Ingredients
4 bratwurst sausages
3 bottles amber ale
3 cups beef stock
2 sweet Vidalia onions, thinly sliced
2-3 tablespoons butter
kosher salt and pepper

Directions
1.  Pour the 3 bottles of amber ale and the 3 cups of beef stock into a large pot and bring to a boil.
2.  Once the liquid mixture in the pot is at a boil, drop in the thinly sliced onions and the bratwurst, still in its casing.
3.  Cook the bratwurst for the recommended cooking time (as indicated on the packaging and depending on whether the bratwurst is pre-cooked), then remove from the pot.  Allow the bratwurst to cool before thinly slicing.

4.  In a new pan, melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter.  Scoop the onions out of the beer and stock mixture and caramelize in the new pan by heating over medium-high heat and stirring occasionally.  Season with a generous amount of salt and pepper.  Cook until brown, roughly 20-30 minutes.

Second, the Beer Cheese:

It's really surprising to me the number of people who have never had or even heard of beer cheese before.  It's such a football staple!  And if it isn't yet a football staple, it will clearly have to become one, at least at any football viewing I attend—along with the homemade pretzel rolls also featured in Oktoberfest Mac (entry here).

This cheese is crazy good.  You can really taste the ale, and the mustard and cayenne give it a nice kick.  And it's not terribly difficult to make, which means I really can make it (with a few modifications, which I'll certainly blog about) for future football viewings.

Ingredients
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 bottle amber ale
2-1/2 cups whole milk
kosher salt and pepper to taste
(at least) 1 teaspoon mustard power
(at least) 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 lb. elbow macaroni
10-14 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
5 oz. fontina cheese, shredded

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 flour slowly, 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).
3.  Once the roux is finished and has cooked, fully mixed, for a few minutes, add the beer.  We used Yeungling Amber, but any amber ale will do.
4.  Once the beer has been fully incorporated with the roux, 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, mustard powder, 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.

Third, the Crumbled Bacon and Homemade Pretzel Roll Croutons: 

Confession: I've been obsessed with the homemade pretzel roll croutons ever since I first conceived of them.  I made the pretzel rolls themselves a day before I made them into croutons—and made extra, obviously, so KiKi and I could serve them whole to our guests.  We also initially planned to make up our own honey mustard butter, but we ran out of time.  We'll have to experiment in the future.

These pretzel rolls were so good they deserve their own post.

Once the pretzel rolls are ready, break 4 of them into 1/4-inch pieces.  These will be used for the topping, described below.

As for the crumbled bacon, heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit on broil.  They should take 15-20 minutes to brown up.  You don't want it to be too crispy, though—they'll continue baking with the mac 'n' cheese.

Finally, combine for Oktoberfest Mac:

Kiki likes toppings on her mac, and she likes to bake and broil them in the oven.  I have to admit that I concur on this method, as it melts the cheese in a very lovely way and brings all the flavors together.

Additional Ingredients
4 oz. fontina cheese, grated

Directions
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.  Add the sliced bratwurst and the caramelized onions to the mac 'n' cheese mixture and combine well.

2.  Pour the combined mac 'n' cheese into a large baking pan.
3.  Sprinkle croutons made from 4 pretzel rolls, the bacon crumble from 8 strips of bacon, and 4 oz. of freshly grated fontina cheese liberally on top of the mac 'n' cheese.

4.  Bake the mac 'n' cheese in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  This should be enough time for the bacon to crisp up, but you can also broil for the last 5 minutes.

The Verdict

KiKi and I had 8 of our friends over to my apartment for a tastetest dinner party on Sunday.  Reviews were generally positive, especially for the cheese, but every one of our friends (except one) preferred Fall-tastic Mac to Oktoberfest Mac.  The most cited reason has already been mentioned: the bratwurst seems like a bit of a throwaway ingredient, and I guess I'd have to agree.  We didn't really have to do much to it, and it kind of gets lost amongst all the other ingredients.

My biggest personal disappointment was in the pretzel roll croutons, which weren't as amazing in the Oktoberfest Mac as they are all by themselves.  Next time we could toast the pretzel rolls a bit beforehand so they also crisp up, but the reason we didn't do that in the first place is that I was worried they would lose their texture.

Ultimately, Oktoberfest Mac is losing out to Fall-tastic Mac, despite being created specifically to appeal to the "everyman."  In the words of our friend Caryn, "Think of your audience.  Who do you think is going to this Cookoff?  Probably hipsters and other types of people who love pumpkin and brussels sprouts."

Touche.

But it doesn't mean that I won't be improving on this recipe and bringing it to a house party near you.

[Recipe] Mac and Cheese Cook-off: Fall-tastic Mac, Attempt #1

My friend KiKi and I have decided to enter a Mac 'n' Cheese Cookoff.  Or, rather, KiKi asked me if I would enter with her.  KiKi entered last year with our friend Junglecat J (who has since moved clear across the country—hence, her inability to compete in this year's Cookoff) and came in third place.  I was hesitant at first, but I agreed to do it after I was struck by inspiration for what has become known as Mac 'n' Cheese Option #1, AKA Fall-tastic Mac: pumpkin-beer-braised short ribs with pumpkin mac 'n' cheese and roasted brussels sprouts.

If you can't tell just by looking at the name of our mac, I love autumn.  To be fair, I'm honestly the type of person who loves something about every season, but I promise you—there really is something about fall that speaks particularly to my culinary soul.  I make pumpkin and butternut squash everything, with very little regard for how the rest of the world feels about these ingredients.  In my defense, I do make a very popular pumpkin pasta, which has the distinction of (1) being a repeat dish in my repertoire (no easy feat) and (2) convincing several naysayers and picky eaters that pumpkin is a magical food.  I neglected to tell KiKi this when I announced that we should make pumpkin mac 'n' cheese, though, so I can't blame her that much for being skeptical (though I'm still a little sad that she "doubted [our] culinary genius").

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 #1
an original recipe by tammiest (the Passionfruit Fashionista)

First, the Brussels Sprouts:

I love brussels sprouts.  I know it's one of the top ten foods reviled by children, but, being the child of Asian immigrants, I actually never had them as a child.  My first introduction to brussels sprouts was actually two years ago, when, on a whim, I purchased a bunch of them at the farmers' market and decided to try them out for myself.

Then I was hooked.

For my Fall-tastic Mac, I did a simple roast.  My go-to is this recipe by Ina Garten.

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

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.  Cut off the brown ends of the brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves.  Mix them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Pour them on a sheet pan or in a roasting pan and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, until crisp on the outside and tender on the outside.  Shake the pan from time to time to brown the sprouts evenly.  Sprinkle with more kosher salt.

Then, set aside—for purposes of the mac 'n' cheese.  But steal some when no one's looking for a quick snack.

Second, the Pumpkin-Beer Braised Short Ribs:

Braised short ribs, when done right, are heavenly.  It may seem counter-intuitive to the non- or novice cook, but the more you braise meat, the softer and more tender it gets.  And the more flavorful-- although that's not so surprising.

My pumpkin-beer braised short ribs turned out to be a little bitter and not that pumpkin-y—or at least the braising liquid did-- but I suspect it had a lot more to do with the type of pumpkin ale I used, AKA the only kind the local grocery store had.  Luckily, the slight sweetness of the pumpkin mac 'n' cheese worked well with the meat, and everyone who had any of the braised short ribs (and I forced 20+ people in my office to tastetest the finished product) raved.  Next time, I'll definitely use a sweeter and more pumpkiny option, like Pumpking or the Blue Moon pumpkin variety (more likely—the other local grocery store carries that one).

For this leg of the recipe, I used this one, courtesy of Denise W. of KeyIngredient.  I made a few modifications but more because I forgot to purchase certain ingredients (I thought I had beef stock but actually had to use vegetable) than because I thought the recipe needed tweaking.

Ingredients
2 lbs. beef short ribs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
5 garlic cloves
3 cups pumpkin beer
2 cups beef stock
kosher salt
black pepper

Directions
1.  Season the ribs with salt and pepper.  Let sit at room temperature one hour before cooking.
2.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pour the olive oil into a large Dutch oven pan and preheat over medium heat.  Add the ribs and brown each side, about 3 minutes per side.  Remove the ribs from the Dutch oven and set aside on a plate.

3.  While the ribs are browning, peel the onion and garlic and finely mince.  Add both to the Dutch oven once the ribs are finished browning.  Stir and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the ribs back into the Dutch oven pan.

4.  Pour the pumpkin beer over the ribs.  Cover the pan with the lid and slide into the oven.  The total cooking time is 3 hours.  After each hour, stir and add some of the beef stock until all is used.*  For the last 30 minutes, remove the lid and finish cooking.

* I didn't exactly follow directions.  I put all the broth in at the very beginning.  I think, because of the type of pumpkin beer I used, this was probably a good move on my part—I can't imagine how much more bitter this sauce would have been if I hadn't made this error.  For the record, by the end of three hours, the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender.

Third, the Pumpkin Mac 'n' Cheese:

Some people (KiKi included) are initially a little weirded out by pumpkin pasta.  But I promise you it's actually pretty amazing.

I based this leg of the mac 'n' cheese recipe off this one, courtesy of Spoon Fork Bacon.  But I have to say—I was the least impressed with this leg.  I actually upped the ratio of cheese and spices already, and the result was still way too light on the cheese, pumpkin, and spices for my taste and purposes.  So the below recipe is actually just what I wish I had done the first time around (essentially doubled the quantity of—oh, everything).  I'll leave additional suggestions for next time at the end of the post.

Ingredients

2 cups milk

1-1/2 cups pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 lb. elbow macaroni

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

4 oz. smoked gouda, shredded

2 oz. white extra sharp cheddar

kosher salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.  Place milk, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium saucepan and stir together.  Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

2.  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.

3.  Melt butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan.  Sprinkle flour over melted butter and whisk together.  Allow mixture to cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

4.  Whisk pumpkin-milk mixture into flour mixture and continue to whisk until fully incorporated.  Allow mixture to simmer until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 3 to 4 minutes.  (BTW, this is the bechamel!)
5.  Place shredded cheese into a mixing bowl and toss together with lemon juice.
6.  Stir cheese into the bechamel sauce and stir until cheese just melts.  Season with salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to low and gently stir pasta into the sauce, a bit at a time until all of the pasta has been added and is fully coated in sauce.  Adjust seasoning.

Finally, combine for Fall-tastic Mac:

This is the part of the show where we combine everything we just made into one.  It's pretty straightforward: 

1.  Slice the roasted brussels sprouts very thinly and mix into the pumpkin mac 'n' cheese.

2.  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.  I didn't use any of the juice.

3.  Mix really well and adjust seasoning as needed.

The Verdict

I brought a gigantic vat of Fall-tastic Mac to the office the next day and forced all my friends to tastetest.  Seriously, 20+ people were cajoled into trying it (though it didn't take that much convincing), and all had positive things to say.  Still, a few take-aways for next time: 

1.  More cheese.  Much more.

This I knew, and I've accounted for it above in my re-post of the base recipe-- that is, I've already doubled the amount of cheese and bechamel and generally increased the amount of pumpkin and spice.  I might also try different cheese—I'd like to cut out the extra sharp white cheddar cheese and replace it with Gruyere, which is much creamier, and perhaps add a touch of mascarpone, which is even creamier.

2.  More pumpkin.  Not a whole ton more.

This I also knew, and I think I'd fix this problem by switching pumpkin beers.  The pumpkin ale I got was seriously not. good: so bitter and not very pumpkiny.  Alas, we were limited by our local grocery store and also by the fact that I *small voice* don't like or drink beer.  In fact, fun (?) fact: I actually cut myself trying to open this pumpkin beer without a beer bottle opener.  Days later, it's still bandaged up.

3.  More spice.  Not a whole ton more, but these are my ideas: cayenne pepper and more nutmeg.

Fall-tastic Mac could definitely use a little spice.  I toyed with the idea of red chili pepper flakes, but KiKi says cayenne pepper is a better bet.

Until Next Time

KiKi and I will be hosting a tastetesting party this Sunday for Fall-tastic Mac version 3.0, as well as our other secret recipe.  Of course, pictures and details forthcoming!