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Look for conchiglie (shell shaped), fusilli, penne or orecchiette (ear shaped) • Once you’ve chosen your pasta you need to be sure to cook it properly. Salt your water, not your pasta.Once the water boils, salt it heavily enough that it tastes like seawater.Wait for it to return to a boil before adding the pasta • Don’t overcook the pasta! Which is to say: Undercook the pasta. Package directions will give you a recommended cooking time for “al dente.” Cook your pasta one minute less than the shortest recommended cooking time. If the box suggests 9-11 minutes, cook yours for 8 minutes • Once it’s (under)cooked, drain the pasta and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process • The pasta will continue cooking in the oven or on the stovetop. Undercooking ensures your finished mac will have a toothsome bite instead of disintegrating into a gluey mess. Cheese (Sauce) Technique: I trust I am not alone in the assumption that the glory of great mac and cheese is a silken, gooey, mouth-coating sauce that binds everything together without being stiff or dry. • Rouses readers have a leg up on the average American, because the key to velvety sauce is a proper roux. We know how to do that! Roux forms the base for a béchamel sauce • Cook the fat (canola oil or butter) and flour together over low heat so the flour loses its raw flavor and the roux turns a deep nutty brown color • If you’re going gluten-free, use cornstarch in place of flour (and gluten-free pasta, obviously) • Slowly whisk in your milk and/or cream over medium heat to avoid lumps • Ideally, your milk and/or cream is warmed before it’s slowly added • Speaking of which, I find a combo of milk and cream is always better than just milk or just cream • Gently cook the sauce until it thickens, adding cheese one small handful at a time • The cheese must be grated. Slices, crumbles or chunks of cheese will lump up. Grates will melt evenly into the sauce • Ultimately, your béchamel should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Then it’s ready to meet its mac

About the Cheese: You will not find me recommending Velveeta as a primary cheese because, well, it’s not actually cheese. My mission is to enable more people to use real cheese more often in their daily lives. But I do get the appeal of Velveeta, because it’s so unbelievably creamy and smooth. You can get that with real cheese, if you know what’s what. • The best mac and cheeses use more than one kind of cheese. I think of it as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. You need the lead for “meltability” and the support for added flavor depth and complexity • The best leads are cheeses that will melt evenly and reliably go gooey • My preferred go-tos are what are called Alpine-style cheeses such as Comté, Grand Cru, Gruyere, Jarlsberg or Pleasant Ridge Reserve. They can’t be beat for flavor intensity and meltability WHAT’S AN ALPINE CHEESE? Alpine (style) cheeses originated in the mountains of Switzerland and France. These cheeses are cooked and pressed during the cheesemaking process. The cooking of the curd imparts deep, toasty, nutty flavors.The pressing creates a smooth, firm, uniform texture. These cheeses are made with less salt than, say, Cheddar, and as a result have a sweeter (less acidic) flavor and superior meltability. These cheeses are what’s traditionally used to make fondue or Croque-Monsieur sandwiches. Don’t forget to remove the rind before eating or cooking these cheeses. • Other lead cheeses to consider are Havarti-types. These are semisoft cheeses with milder, milkier flavors than the Alpine styles. Look for Asiago Fresco, Fontina, Gouda, Havarti or Parrano • Mozzarella or Burrata introduce a lovely ropey stretch to the mix • Supporting cheeses for a flavor punch include blues such as Cambozola, DaneKo, Gorgonzola, Point Reyes Blue or Saint Agur • Additional creaminess (if not gooey-ness) will come from soft, fresh cheeses like Brie, Camembert, fresh Goat Cheese or Ricotta. I find these also “lighten up” the flavor, and I use more of them in warm-weather mac and cheeses

Mac Technique: Pasta is the foundation of macaroni and cheese. Don’t underestimate the importance of treating your pasta right. • Now is not the time to spend a lot of money on expensive, imported artisanal pastas. Save your dollars for better cheese instead • Generally speaking, stick with short- shape pasta rather than long, skinny strands. The focus of a great mac and cheese is the cheesiness; shorter, thicker shapes emphasize the gooey over the glutinous.

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