Welcome back to another week of cooking for “I Made It So You Don’t Have To.” The holiday season is finally here, and this is an important time for food. So, if you were planning on learning a few tips for how to make your holiday recipes shine, now would be a great time. Coming back from Thanksgiving, I was left thinking about all of the different iterations of Thanksgiving dinners. One dish kept coming up on TikTok was Tini’s famous mac and cheese. I could not let this recipe go unmade given how popular it has become, and I am happy to say it lived up to the hype.
This recipe comes from @tinekeyounger on TikTok, also known as Tini. First, I prepped my water for boiling by adding a generous amount of salt. While I waited for the water to boil, I used my cheese shredder and got to shredding. I really liked how the tutorial emphasized not buying pre-shredded cheese because it has preservative agents, such as potato starch, which can affect how it melts in the cheese sauce. I never knew this before, but I can certainly see how it could make the mac and cheese grainy instead of that smooth texture you want.
After getting a solid arm workout grating roughly 40 ounces of cheese, the water was boiling and I cooked the pasta for seven to eight minutes. If you want to avoid the arm-strain, or do not have a cheese shredder, you can always add it to the food processor a little at a time. Make sure the different types of cheese are evenly combined and divide the mixture into two bowls.
Now for the cheese sauce. Combine all of the seasonings like salt, pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika into a tiny dish because the following parts require everything to be ready to add. Get two cups of heavy cream and evaporated milk ready to add as well.
Add three tablespoons of butter to a pan on medium heat. Make sure the pan is deep enough to hold all your pasta with the sauce for later. Once the butter is melted, add half of the seasoning—you will save the rest for later. The tutorial pointed out this is called blooming the seasonings, which means cooking spices in fat to release flavor and aroma. I specifically enjoyed the use and explanation of cooking vocab throughout the video. Cook this while stirring for about 30 seconds to prevent burning, and then add in your flour and combine. For another fun cooking vocab word, the mixture you have is now called a roux, which pertains to anything with fat and flour.
Cook your roux for two to three minutes while constantly stirring. The stirring is super important because it will affect how grainy the mac and cheese comes out at the end. Switch to a whisk if you are not already using one for the next parts. Add a can of evaporated milk, starting with one quarter and progressively adding more as you combine it with the roux. The roux with the milk is now called a béchamel. Stir for about a minute. You can add about a tablespoon of Dijon mustard at this point. I was fresh out of Dijon, but in the video, Tini says it is not needed anyway. Add in two cups of heavy cream spaced out, slowly stirring after each addition. Stir this for about two minutes.
Switch to low heat and slowly add one of the halves of the cheese mix previously prepared. A low heat is imperative for the way the cheese melts. Add in the cheese a little at a time, stir and wait for it to melt, then add more. Add the rest of the seasoning after all the cheese has been incorporated.
Once the sauce is smooth and there are no lumps, add in all of the pasta and season extra to taste, if needed. I thought that the spice blend was perfect and did not need any alterations.
Grab a casserole or baking dish and add a layer of mac and cheese. Then, add a layer of some of the cheese mix. Add another layer of mac and cheese. Then, add a layer of the rest of the cheese on top. Once this is done, place the dish inside a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven for 25-30 minutes. If your oven does not evenly bake things, rotate the mac and cheese 180 degrees halfway through. Once the 25 minutes is up, set the oven to high broil and leave for about one to two minutes.
This recipe was great for a few reasons. For one, it was informative, teaching us words like roux and béchamel. These are important when categorizing steps in our mind which are extremely useful when following recipes. It also uses very simple seasoning combinations that create a perfect depth of flavor, not overpowered by the cheese.
This recipe will comfortably feed four people with leftovers to spare, so it is perfect for meal prep. While the steps can be intimidating, especially with the threat of having grainy mac and cheese at the end looming, make sure to watch the tutorial multiple times before cooking so you can anticipate what is next.
This comfort food is great for the cold weather and holidays. I am also happy to say this was the best mac and cheese I ever had. I chose to serve it with broccoli which complemented it nicely and threw a few breadcrumbs on top prior to broiling.
Ingredients:
One lb. cavatappi pasta
16oz mozzarella cheese, grated
16oz Colby Jack cheese
Eight oz cheddar cheese
One tsp garlic powder
One tsp smoked paprika
One half teaspoon of salt
One half teaspoon of pepper
Three tablespoons of butter
Three tablespoons of flour
One can of Carnation evaporated milk
Two cups of heavy cream
One tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Price: $42
Rating: 5/5