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How to Make Macaroni and Cheese

Making the Cheese Sauce and Completing the Mac and Cheese

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    Can I add some meat or ham in this sauce?

  • Todd Gray

    Executive Chef/Co-Owner, Equinox

    http://www.equinoxrestaurant.com  
    202-331-8118

    Since opening Equinox in 1999 to universal acclaim, Todd Gray has emerged as one of the surest culinary talents in the nation's capital, as well as a tireless champion of sustainable farming and fishing practices, and a passionate promoter of local, mid-Atlantic foods. Gray practices what he preaches every day, and Equinox is widely acclaimed as an oasis of sophisticated yet unpretentious seasonal cuisine.With an artist's vision of the beauty in both his raw ingredients and his finished plates, classical training in culinary techniques gained in DC's top French and Italian kitchens, and a down-home Virginia boy's appreciation for food that just plain tastes good, Todd Gray is the culinary mastermind of Equinox, infusing the atmosphere with his passion for the bounty of the Mid-Atlantic. Todd continues to work with local farmers developing food of all varieties, form lettuce to beef, taking personal stock in the animals and produce being raised.Gray's cooking has earned him five nominations for the prestigious Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic award from the James Beard Foundation. He also is a four-time nominee for Chef of the Year from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. Equinox has consistently been rated one of the city's top restaurants by many local publications, and has appeared on numerous best of lists in national epicurean magazines. Equinox has achieved Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence six years in a row, and is consistantly recognized with the Award of Excellence from the Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRoNa). Todd has also just received a nomination for Chef of the year through the RAMW for 2008

  • Making the Cheese Sauce and Completing the Mac and Cheese

    In this video, Equinox's Todd Gray shows how to put a new twist on a classic.

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  • Transcripts

    Todd Gray: Hi, I am Todd Gray from Equinox Restaurant and we are preparing homemade Macaroni and cheese. We have got our Bechamel that we have cooked for 7 to 10 minutes. While it is still warm, we are going to add about one-and-a-half cups of our two cups of white cheddar cheese. We will stir that in while it's warm. It helps to melt the cheese in the Bechamel. The Bechamel is warm, that helps move this process along. Once that's been mixed, I can move that to the side. I just take our stainless steel mixing bowl, that blanched, refreshed pasta that we ran under the cool water and in the bowl it goes, then let's take this cheese sauce and let's put it back into the pasta. We will take that in, oh, it's nice. I am going to give it a little more seasoning to it. Let's take this, let's fold it in and what we like to do at least in our house because we like our macaroni and cheese nice and gooey is to add a little bit additional white cheddar cheese. Let's add a little additional seasoning just to be sure we have got this seasoned up, salt and pepper; two best friends in the kitchen, fresh cracked pepper, a little bit of sea salt and mix that in nicely. Just take our two macaroni dishes and let's get them loaded. With the help of a spoon, we will go ahead and put this macaroni right into the dish. We want to be assured that we mound it up nicely because as it cooks, it starts to melt a little. So we want to have nice mound of the macaroni. I will do the other. One is never enough. I always need two macaroni and cheese. There we go. I will put another spoonful here, here we go, nice mound. I will put a touch more on our other more. Let's finish with our Brioche breadcrumb, just sprinkling it naturally. If you get a little in the tray, it's okay. Just sprinkle this over. Oh, this is looking great. Again, never enough cheddar cheese in Macaroni and cheese. A little bit coming over the top, it's going to be nice when it's cooked. It's going to be all melted, slightly crusty on the edges, the way Macaroni and cheese should be. Now, let's take this and bake it in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes until our crust is nice and golden brown. When we come back, we are going to get a chance to taste this Macaroni and cheese.

    Here we have it. Our finished Macaroni and cheese. This great golden crust on the top, our cheese is nice and melted. We will put it over here on our presentation plate, oh, it looks wonderful. I am going to give it a taste, this little cheesy goodness. Oh, it's still nice and melted, spot on. There you have it. Just got to show you that good cooking doesn't have to be complicated.

    Homemade Macaroni and cheese, enjoy.

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