Professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto shared his top tips that elevate a popular pasta dish and save it from common mistakes when whipping up something hearty and homemade. Frank claims that the best versions of this meal involve more than one type of cheese, a certain type of pasta shape and one “secret ingredient”.
To start, he explains his choice of cheese and how to prepare it. Frank said: “When it comes to cheese for my mac and cheese, I like to choose three different types.
“Cheddar for sharpness, Gouda for flavour and creaminess, then I’m gonna use some grated Parmesan to give it a little bit of zing. By following that basic formula, you’re gonna solve a lot of the problems that people usually make when they make mac and cheese.”
In his YouTube video, Frank explains another top way to make sure your cheesy dish isn’t spoiled before you even start cooking is to get blocks of cheese instead of the convenient pre-grated versions.
He said: “For mac and cheese, I feel it’s super important that you buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself. Pre-shredded cheeses have anticaking agents and cellulose in them. I find that it lends to a gritty sauce, so buy the block cheese, take a minute or two and grate your own cheese.”
When it comes to pasta, the name of the dish says it all, and people should opt for macaroni elbows as a default. Frank explained: “Ideally, with mac and cheese, you want a cheesy bite every time. The pasta is the sauce delivery vehicle, the ideal pasta for mac and cheese has holes, ridges, curves, and this pasta delivers.”
Frank cooks his pasta in salted water until it is al dente, claiming that it will then become the “perfect texture” when the cheesy sauce is added later. He then sets the cooked pasta aside on a baking sheet for later and turns his attention to the all-important crispy topping, which already makes this dish much nicer than your average meal-for-one.
The professional chef avoids the oven at all costs during this step, claiming it will reduce the dish to “a dried-out brick.” Instead, he uses a stovetop pan and toasts the panko breadcrumbs with garlic and butter.
Finally, the sauce is made using everything you’d expect plus one special ingredient. Frank explained: “To make my sauce, there’s one special ingredient here that I use which is possibly out of the norm. It’s this magic little powder – sodium citrate.
“It’s a type of salt that will bind the fat and the proteins of the cheese together and make a super creamy sauce. So it’s an emulsifier – something that takes two things that don’t normally stick together, and it sticks them together.”
Frank claims it is “the modern chef’s secret weapon for creamy mac and cheese”. The sauce is made with a combination of the three-cheese mix along with onions, garlic milk and the sodium citrate.
Once all the cheese is incorporated, Frank blitzes the sauce until smooth using a hand blender and moves on to assembly. This simple step sees cooked pasta dumped into the cheese sauce and split into serving dishes topped with the crunchy breadcrumb mix.
