- [Alvin] Hi, my name's Alvin, I like cooking at home.
and today I'm gonna be making mac and cheese
with three ingredients, with 10 ingredients,
and with 30 ingredients.
I think it's gonna be interesting to see
how much the amount of ingredients
impacts the final product, so let's get started.
All right, so first up we have
the three ingredient mac and cheese.
Three ingredient mac and cheese,
it starts with a lot of milk.
I know this sounds weird,
but I'm gonna explain why it works,
and we're gonna throw in a pound of pasta.
I like using shells 'cause they're fun shape.
You can use any kinda pasta you want.
Macaroni is obviously a great choice,
but I think shells just really help
hold onto the sauce a lot nicer.
And I'm cooking this over heat until it's boiling.
Kinda like you would cook pasta in water.
And what happens is that the pasta
as it cooks with the milk it releases starch
into the milk which thickens it
almost into like a creamy sauce,
which is pretty cool.
And then the cheese goes in after that.
Make sure to add it off heat, or else it'll curdle.
So we stir it in until the consistency
is just nice, and creamy, and cheesy,
and smooth and looks pretty good.
It does the job, and it has this really nice consistency
almost of that like creamy Kraft Mac & Cheese,
but a little bit more homemade, hard yes.
And the last ingredient I'm gonna throw on,
totally optional, is chives.
I like it for color and for flavor,
but that's not necessary.
And here you have it,
this is the three ingredient mac and cheese.
I'm gonna be taste testing these
side by side at the very end, so stick around.
All right, next up is the 10 ingredient mac and cheese.
So this recipe starts pretty traditionally,
cooking a pound of elbow macaroni in some hot water.
Obviously with some salt to make sure
that your pasta water is salted.
And that's just gonna get cooked,
only for like three to four minutes,
not nearly all the way through.
I want this to be wildly under cooked
'cause we're gonna do some stuff to it later.
So after it's drained,
put it back into a really, really big pan
and then adding in a whole stick of butter,
sort of to lubricate all the pasta noodles and stuff,
makes it all taste good.
I mean, butter is really good.
This is a recipe by Lawrence Page.
He came in to make his five cheese mac and cheese.
So this is directly his recipe, and it's great.
So next step, some salt, some pepper.
Stir that all in, give the pasta some seasoning.
And then the fun starts.
So adding in some provolone cheese, some smoked gouda,
personally, my favorite cheese.
Some feta cheese, some mozzarella,
and some cheddar as the fifth cheese.
So there's a lot of cheese, and a lot of macaroni.
Think this is gonna taste really good.
Go ahead and give that a stir.
But the heat is off, so the cheese doesn't completely melt,
but I do want it to kind of get
a little bit gooey and sticky
so that everything kinda comes together.
Next up, we have three eggs.
That kinda helps everything bind together,
gives it an almost casserole texture,
but still really great flavor.
And then some evaporated milk,
which will provide a lot of creaminess,
a lot of body, and the moisture to turn all this cheese
and great stuff in to some really thick,
and creamy, cheesy sauce.
I'm putting this in a cast iron
'cause I think it really goes well.
Mac and cheese and cast iron are like best friends.
Spreading it nice and even,
and then on top gonna finish it off
with another cup of cheddar cheese,
just in case we don't have enough cheese
in this mac and cheese.
And this goes in the oven at 350 degrees
for about 40 to 45 minutes.
I like to broil it at the very end
for about two to three minutes
until the top gets nice, and crispy, and brown.
Just 'cause I like that crispy topping.
And yeah, this is getting pretty hot in here,
a lot of smoke.
I just wanna make sure I don't set everything on fire,
and ooh yeah, this is very hot, and very heavy.
So I'm very happy I didn't burn myself.
This is gonna cool for about 10 minutes
and after it cools,
gonna take a nice big scoop out of the center.
And yeah, that looks really good.
It reminds me of the mac and cheese you might get
at like a barbecue place, and that's pretty awesome.
This is the 10 ingredient mac and cheese
from Lawrence Page.
It's a good recipe.
And finally, the 30 ingredient mac and cheese.
Going to start this with a lot of bacon,
because we're going to make a breadcrumb topping
that involves bacon. 'Cause I think mac and cheese,
and a breadcrumb topping are just really good.
So I'm gonna cook that until it's nice and crispy.
All the fat's sort of rendered out.
And we're gonna use all that delicious bacon fat
to cook and fry up some garlic.
Which is gonna really add a lot of great flavor.
Some chili flakes, which again, once you fry it,
all that flavor just comes out.
And after that, I'm gonna throw in some panko bread crumbs.
So panko bread crumbs are Japanese-style breadcrumbs
that are a little crunchier,
a little less dense than regular one.
It's important to use panko
just 'cause you want that extra crunch.
To season, just some salt, and some pepper.
You're gonna toast these breadcrumbs
until they're golden brown, and nice and colored,
and everything smells good.
Add in some lemon zest, and some parsley.
I think it really adds a lot of flavor,
a lot of freshness, and lightness to a bunch of bacon
and breadcrumbs, but it really does make a difference.
So this is my personal recipe for a crispy bread crumb
topping that goes on pasta.
Speaking of pasta, you're gonna bring a large pot
of water to a boil salted generously.
For the pasta I'm using four different shapes of pasta.
using shells, cavatelli, bow tie pasta, and champanelle.
Is this necessary?
Maybe not, but I like the fun texture contrast
that a lot of different pasta shapes can bring
to mac and cheese.
So every bite is interesting.
The pasta shapes can hold onto the sauce
with all these nooks and crannies.
And again, really wildly under cooking them
for like three minutes and draining.
Now moving on to the cheese sauce.
I'm starting with butter, melting it down,
and adding a couple tablespoons of flour to cook it in.
This is going to be the base or almost like a roux
to start this cheese sauce.
So this also makes sure the flour cooks off too.
Adding in some salt, and some pepper for some seasoning.
And after that is all mixed together and bubbly,
and all the raw flour taste is sort of cooked off,
and it's starting to become a little bit golden,
I add a lot of evaporated milk.
The evaporated milk becomes the body of the sauce.
And I'm a mess, so I just spilled everywhere.
And good job, Alvin you're gonna have
to clean that up later, don't forget that.
And after this all gets mixed in
and starts to come to a boil,
it starts to bubble and become thick,
and this is when I add the seasonings.
Some cayenne pepper, onion powder,
garlic powder, white pepper, smoked paprika, and nutmeg.
And I'm stirring this all together
just to make sure there's no spice lumps.
And once this all gets incorporated,
I like to add a little bit of Dijon mustard at the very end.
I think Dijon and cheese sauces,
and mac and cheese just go really well together,
so this is just a nice extra flavor to have.
Okay so all these fun pasta shapes
go into a large baking dish.
Again, these are really under cooked,
and this is where all the cheese comes in.
So starting off with colby jack, and some gouda.
And after that goes in, I pour the cheese sauce all over.
It's hot so that the cheese melts down a little bit,
but this is looking delicious already.
I might just, I kinda wanna eat it right now,
but we're not done yet.
So we're gonna keep on mixing
until everybody gets to know each other.
And second round of cheese.
This is the gruyere, and the cheddar.
Again, lots of big blocks because I think
when you have big blocks of cheese in your mac and cheese,
you get these pockets of cheese
that just are gooey delicious at the very end,
which is pretty fun.
And to add more liquid and creaminess,
another can of evaporated milk right on top.
And just in case we didn't having enough cheese,
some Parmesan, and some cheddar shredded on top
just to finish.
I'm very thankful I'm not lactose intolerant.
And I'm very thankful that I'm not on a diet
'cause this is great.
So this goes in an oven at around 425 degrees
for about 40 minutes until everything is bubbly, cheesy,
and your whole house just smells great.
And yeah, it was very hot, but very, very, very delicious.
You better not spill this Alvin.
After successfully landing it on a towel to cool,
I like to put that delicious bread crumb topping
we made earlier on top, spread it out into one thin
even layer 'cause as the mac and cheese cools,
the breadcrumbs will sort of become
and bond with the cheese, which is great.
Our 30th and final ingredient, chives.
These add a lot of color,
a lot of great flavor, and just make the whole thing
look a lot better.
And you're gonna have to excuse me
while I take a huge scoop of this.
It is quite heavy 'cause there are a lot
of ingredients in here.
So I'm having a little bit of trouble pulling it up,
but there we go.
This is a large scoop of mac and cheese,
with a bunch of stuff in it.
So I was really struggling there,
haven't been to the gym in a while,
but I'm glad I was able to lift that spoonful
onto the plate.
And yeah, this is it.
This is the 30 ingredient mac and cheese
with a bunch of cheeses, four pasta shapes,
and a bunch of stuff on it.
All right, it's time to taste.
How do they compare?
The three ingredient one is, it's creamy,
it's delicious, it's sort of that upgraded Kraft
or instant mac and cheese.
It doesn't have any of those caramelized,
beautiful cheese flavors, but it's smooth.
And it's really good for what it is.
10 ingredient mac and cheese is what you might think
when you think mac and cheese,
It's got that crispy cheese topping.
It's got that nice gooey pasta,
with the eggs, and the cheese in the middle.
It's just an all around delicious mac and cheese,
a lot of flavor, and a lot of body.
And the one I was most excited for, the 30 ingredient one.
So this one honestly,
was actually kinda disappointing.
When I took a bite it kinda tasted like everything
and nothing at the same time.
It was still really good,
I really liked the bread crumbs and the crunch,
but honestly, I don't think it was worth the 30 ingredients.
So does the ingredient count make a difference?
I would say definitely.
I would also say depends on what ingredients you choose.
The three ingredient one,
for three ingredients tasted really, really good.
It's just cheese, pasta, and milk.
It's not the best, but it was great.
10 ingredients, I think kinda hit that sweet spot.
This recipe was fantastic.
Every single ingredient played a very important part
that made a difference at the end.
Whereas if you go up to 30 ingredients,
nobody's really playing an important part.
If you're making mac and cheese,
all of these are good recipes.
Just choose good cheese,
make it with love, and just enjoy it.
It's really not gonna taste bad.
It's just pasta and cheese.
But again, shout out to the 10 ingredient one,
that was personally my favorite.
Chef Lawrence Page definitely knows what he's doing,
so that's probably why it's my favorite.
And if you'll excuse me,
I'm gonna go take a nap now because I just ate
a lot of mac and cheese.
So see you next time, guys.
(jazzy music)