- Hi, my name is Makeba,
and welcome to my Cocoa Butter Cookout,
the mac N cheese edition.
(upbeat funk music)
I invited three self-proclaimed mac n cheese masters
to come in and show off their best mac n cheese recipe.
And I also invited somebody who thinks
they can give those mac n cheese masters
a run for their money
with a cookout mac n cheese recipe of their own.
Everybody will get to try all of the dishes,
rank them on a scale of 1 to 10,
and guess which mac n cheese dish was made
by the plus one. (air whooshes)
The dish with the highest votes will win best dish.
Four will enter, but only one of them's gonna win.
Let's eat. (air whooshes)
What makes a great mac n cheese?
- For me, what think what makes a great mac n cheese
is the consistency and the type of cheese that it has.
- How long it's been baked, the cheesiness.
- I want a good, a good pull.
It's mac n cheese.
It's not mac n sauce.
It's not mac n butter.
- Different combinations of cheese
in my opinion. - Common theme today.
How can you tell when mac n cheese is made
by a white person? (Afi laughs)
- Lighter on the top like this one.
- Okay, so the color, the shading is different, okay.
- From the mac that I've had from white people,
it's been so disgusting,
because sometimes it'll be like soupy.
(record skips) - What?
- How can you tell when mac n cheese
is made by a black person? - Um. (laughs)
- It's usually a little bit thicker like this one here.
- It'll look more dense or heavier,
because it's normally layered differently.
- When I have mac n cheese made by a non-black person,
it just looks yellow,
and then when it's made by a black person,
it looks gold or brown. (air whooshes)
What makes your mac n cheese special?
- I usually do six to seven different types of cheeses.
- Wow, seven? - Yeah.
- The most I've heard is five.
I've never heard six and seven.
- Boil your pasta in chicken stock
instead of water. - Really?
- I like to put a little kick in mines,
a little bit of Kanye powder.
- Cayenne powder. - Yes, yes.
- But definitely onion powder, little bit of garlic,
and some paprika.
- So with vegan mac n cheese,
the difference is is that the cheese
is not gonna be as stretchy.
Sometimes I'll throw bread crumbs on top.
- To get that extra texture. - Exactly.
- Like whatever I'm feeling. - Yes.
How long have you been bringing mac n cheese to cookouts
or just family functions in general, how long?
- I would say about the last 10 years.
- Since I was probably able to go to barbecues
and functions. - All right,
you're not new to this at all.
- No, not at all. - Okay.
You think you're gonna win?
- Yeah. (laughs)
- Whenever you are ready, we can start.
- Okay, it doesn't look appealing, but I'll dig in.
(dramatic music) It's too dry.
- It's too dry, okay.
- Yeah, and it's chewy.
- It's not very good. (laughs)
- Oh my God, we have our first spit out today.
- It reminds me of like cafeteria mac n cheese.
You know what I mean? - Oh my God,
that's what it is.
That's what it is! - (laughs) Kinda like...
- You don't have to swallow it.
Someone didn't. - Thank you.
(both laugh)
- That's definitely overcooked.
This one is definitely getting one.
- It seems like maybe they only use one type of cheese.
- All right, so on a scale of 1 to 10,
what do you rate that one?
- A one.
- Black people swear they're untouchable
with their mac n cheese. - I'm giving it a 5 out 10.
- Five, okay. - It's a five.
- Palate cleanser.
(air whooshes) - This one looks
like a lasagna kind of.
- I can see the oil.
(upbeat music)
- Okay, yeah.
- This one just made me so happy.
- Oh, my God.
- This is so good.
- Shit's fire. (laughs) - This is so good.
- Wow. - This is everything.
- Flavorful.
I like the flavor.
- Bro, there's literally a crunch on it.
- This made me smile. (chime twinkles)
This tastes like soul food.
- It's a little dense.
- Okay.
- But I like the flavor.
- They added a lot of cheese
where when it starts to cook,
the oil separates from the macaroni.
It's the elbows, which is good.
It's a good sign.
- I would give it a 7 out of 10.
- 7 out of 10? - Yeah.
- I would probably say a 9.
- I'm gonna give this a 9.5. (bell rings)
- If it was made by you,
this would be a 10. - Yes.
(air whooshes) - Okay, number three.
Let's get at it.
- Aesthetically, we're already on a better path,
especially like the...
- You can see the creaminess.
- There's a little bit of a cheese pull.
- Yeah, yeah.
- I could say like they use different types of cheese.
There's cheddar, there's mozzarella.
- I think they put Velveeta in that one.
When you put Velveeta in something,
it's like Velveeta. (Makeba laughs)
- Looks like they've spent a little oregano
on top for garnish.
- I taste American cheese, which to me is illegal.
American cheese is plastic wrapped in plastic.
- I don't know, I like it on mac n cheese.
I'm not gonna lie. (laughs)
- What are we giving this one?
- Maybe like a five.
- Damn. - Yeah.
- I would give this one a five out of 10.
- A five out of 10? - Yep.
- Okay, cool.
- I'm giving it a seven.
Would've gotten an eight
if it weren't for the either Velveeta
or American, like whatever.
- The mystery cheese ingredient.
- The mystery cheese. - It's holding it back.
(air whooshes) - This one looks scary.
(suspenseful tone)
- An uneven disbursement of cheese right off the bat.
- He's kinda like an aficionado.
(upbeat music)
- Okay, I like the texture.
- Mm.
This one is okay.
- Not as salty as I would like.
- This one's buttery.
- I feel like there could be just a little bit more pepper.
- You know, when Goldilocks goes to the middle porridge,
and it's just okay? (Makeba laughs)
That's what that one is.
But even though it doesn't look that good,
the texture is 100% better than the first one.
- So on a scale of one to 10, what does this one get?
- A 7.5.
- I would probably say a six.
- That's a seven.
That's an eight for sure.
- Okay. - For sure.
(air whooshes) - Which one is the vegan one?
- That one. - This is the vegan?
- Well, yeah.
- That definitely gave me vegan vibes.
(cow moos)
- I'm gonna go with this one as the vegan mac n cheese.
- This is the vegan mac n cheese.
I don't know, you could melt, I guess,
regular like cheddar cheese maybe like
at 100 degrees Fahrenheit or something like that,
but you need like 450 degrees Fahrenheit
to melt vegan cheese.
- The macaroni tasted overcooked.
Maybe that could be the reason.
- Maybe, yeah, maybe like in order to get it to melt,
they had to leave it in too long.
The vegan mac n cheese is
(drum rolls)
this one. - That one, okay.
- That's the vegan mac n cheese.
- I knew it, (claps), knew it, I knew it.
- Got it.
- That is the vegan mac n cheese.
- Okay.
(air whooshes) - Okay, now,
which one of these was made by the plus one?
- I'm gonna go with the first one.
- Which mac n cheese was made
by the white person? - I'm gonna say this one.
- You think this one was made
by the white person? - Yeah.
- You know what, I'm gonna give my white people
the benefit of the doubt.
This is the white person. (claps)
(upbeat funk music)
- The mac n cheese brought by the plus one
to the cookout is...
(drum roll)
Oh, I got it right! (claps)
See, I gave the benefit of the doubt.
- Oh, wow.
(both laugh)
- Okay. - This one.
- Okay.
You said this tasted
like soul food. - This one made me happy.
This tastes like soul food.
- You said it made you smile inside.
- Yes, it did. - And this was not in house.
This was the plus one. - Really?
- It's very flavorful.
- That is some good mac n cheese, y'all.
(air whooshes)
So, the competition is over,
and we are here with our winner, Joey.
(chime rings)
- Hi. (laughs)
- How does it feel to be a winner?
- I feel good.
I feel proud.
Thanks, grandma.
Thanks to friends.
Thanks to Tislam, Marcus, Cameron, Ashley who helped me.
Don't listen to your parents.
Listen to your grandma.
- Congratulations, Joey.
And I hope to see you again.
This is well earned.
- Thank you. - You are invited
to all of my cookouts
if you bring this. - Deal.
(upbeat funk music)