BBQ Brian’s Smoked Mac n Cheese
This recipe is highly regarded as one of the most popular recipes from BBQ Brian’s cookbook that was published by Figure One titled Grillling with House of Q. It’s easy to do, rich in flavour, adaptable for volume since you might be feeding a crowd, and you can add your signature flair to the pot just to be creative. This recipe is BBQ Brian’s Smoked Mac n Cheese.
Crafting the Best-Ever Cheesy Sauce
If you love cooking and have a few cookbooks in your stash, you may have come across the notion of the “primary” French sauces, also known as the mother sauces. From these base sauces, you can create many more signature sauces. For really good mac n cheese, it all starts with a flavourful roux and creating a really good “bechamel sauce”.
To craft a flavourful roux, start by melting fat in a skillet, then add vegetables to the oil. Finely diced onions, celery, peppers, carrots and garlic are common vegetables to cook in the oil. The key to a good roux is to soften the vegetables until they are squishable or easily pressed with a spoon or a spatula, and there is nothing left… but definitely not browned or caramelized. A good French roux is white to off-white in colour, and has an indistinguishable texture from the vegetables (not chunky). The flour is then added to the oil and vegetables and cooked thoroughly into the oil. This provides more texture to the pan, but doesn’t taste pasty or, frankly, like flour.
The final step is to add the milk slowly into the roux in stages. It is whisked throughout the step of adding the milk. This ensures a creamy, rich texture in the sauce and incorporates the flour-and-oil mixture into the milk. As the heat continues to rise, the sauce will thicken and be very smooth. This is a perfect bechamel.
Can There Be Too Much Cheese?
What’s a mac n cheese that has not enough cheese? Irritating and unrewarding might be an answer!
We like using cheddar as one of the cheeses for our mac n cheese. An aged cheddar adds more flavour and tartness compared to a mild cheddar, which is smoother and milder. Adding a “melty” cheese like Jack or mozzarella into the sauce will add more texture and creaminess. Havarti, Gouda, Jarlsberg or provolone are also great choices. But one thing is always true, add a lot of cheese! For a smaller portion of mac n cheese, say for two to three people and about 3 cups of milk that you added to the roux, add 3 to 4 cups of shredded cheese. It looks like it will be way too much, but it won’t in the end.
Super Tip: Many grocery stores sell shredded cheese in bags, making cooking easier and allowing you to skip steps in the kitchen. The challenge for a good mac n cheese is that many of these pre-shredded cheeses have starch added to them so the cheese doesn’t clump together in the bag. This starch can make your cheese sauce bind and become too gummy. If this happens, you will need to add more milk or even chicken stock to the sauce to allow it to be runny once again.
Elbow, Curls, Spirals or … What Kind of Pasta Do You Need?
This is the great part of mac n cheese… the type, or better put, the shape of the pasta can make your dish really unique. The traditional form of course is the elbow-shaped, half-curved macaroni tubes. The tube is perfect for drawing some of the cheese sauce into the pasta and adding a nice, inviting mouthfeel.
Pasta shells, spirals, or other small pasta shapes can be perfect for your signature mac n cheese. It’s up to you to pick the right form for your dish. Have fun!
Tips: Visit your local European deli or specialty shop and look for all the unique pastas that they import from Europe. These can offer unique curls, spirals, or even straight pieces… far beyond what you will get at the grocery store. The added bonus of visiting this type of store for your pasta is that it will be of better quality and have a texture that allows the cheese sauce to stick better, thanks to how it is made.
This is a great shape for this dish… It’s called Caserecce Molisane, and of course, it came from our local Italian deli. Looks good, doesn’t it?!
BBQ Brian’s Smoked Mac n Cheese
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb bacon chopped
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 2 to 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- House of Q Peppered Bovine, House Rub or Grandma's Garden Or: Salt and black pepper
- 2 to 3 cups grated aged cheddar cheese
- 1 to 2 lbs macaroni or your favourite small curly pasta
- 2 cups grated jalapeño pepper Jack cheese
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Line a plate with paper towels. Place the bacon in a sauté pan, and cook on low to medium heat until crisp but not overcooked. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon bits to the plate to drain. Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat into a clean sauté pan, and reserve the rest for another use.
- Heat the bacon fat on medium heat. Add the butter and onions, and cook, stirring often, until the onions are soft but not brown. Add the garlic and stir until it releases its flavour. Add the flour, stirring the mixture until it comes together. Cook this roux for a couple of minutes so your mac ’n’ cheese does not taste like raw flour. Slowly add the milk to the roux, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition so there are no chunks of flour and the mixture becomes creamy. Once the liquid has become warm, mix in the cheddar cheese. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, slightly undercooking it so it will absorb some of the cheese mixture and make the dish extra tasty. Drain the pasta and mix it into the cheese sauce. Stir well.
- Prepare your smoker, or your grill for smoking, medium heat. Pour half of the mac ’n’ cheese into a large baking dish. Smother it with half of the jalapeño Jack cheese, and then cover it with the remaining mac ’n’ cheese. Top with the remaining jalapeño Jack cheese, the Parmesan and the bacon bits. Smoke on the indirect side of your grill with the lid closed for 20 to 30 minutes, until the mixture is bubbly and the top is slightly browned. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before serving, if you can make it that long!
- Serve this dish family-style from the baking dish.
Our friends at BushCooking.com posted this recipe a few years ago. Since then, it is one of the most popular recipes on their website! People love cooking mac n cheese!
Shopping for Ingredients
Grandma’s Garden Mix Premium Seasonings
Original price was: $10.49.$8.99Current price is: $8.99.
Peppered Bovine Premium Seasonings
$9.99 – $49.99Price range: $9.99 through $49.99
Competition Beef Rub
$16.99 – $42.99Price range: $16.99 through $42.99