I made a new friend today: #TurkeyMacNCheese (Plus: Mild vs. Ex. Sharp Cheddar in the Mac)

[PaulstheRibList]

So, since I "smoked" that first rack of ribs about 5+ years ago and shortly thereafter found the 'ole AmazingRibs.com, I've smoked ribs for every Saints game that was at home for. This starts my 5th season of this fandom habit! Hopefully, the Saints will play better next week!

As I was leaving church this morning at 11, headed up to where I park our @PaulsRibShack trailer to get a rack of ribs from the big fridge, I remembered there is turkey in there, 8 pound turkey breasts to be exact, and how much I love smoked turkey! So I grabbed one of those and a St. Louis rack to go on the pit today!

Here they on the downhill stretch!


We've been making and super enjoying sharing Mac-N-Cheese! We've settled on an adaptation of Kenji Lopez-Alt's stovetop mac, which is super creamy and cheesy! We've experimented with different cheeses, and that is continuing today! Early on, we had great flavor, but the texture was not as creamy. The cheese will curtle and that's not so appealing. Especially when you have to hold a finished mac for several hours. The stovetop style mac has a lot of emulsifiers and stays creamy.

Mild Cheddar is creamier, so I was using it in our cheese blend, which consisted of Cheddar, Gruyere, Smoked Gouda, Fontina, and American (a double portion of the white american compared to the other 4). 1.5 total pounds of cheese to 1 pound of pasta. And 1.5 cans of evaporated milk - that stuff is GREAT for keeping your mac creamy!!! Shred the cheese and tossle in 1 Tablespoon of corn starch on it, to add to the creamy emulsifier power!

I cut it up the cheese in big blocks and stage it in ziplocks in preparation for our cooks. Today, I made some and switched from Mild to Ex. Sharp. Now that I'm using the American and Corn Starch and Evaporated Milk as the emulsifier agents, the creamy action is strong! So, I want to switch from the creamier mild cheddar to the tastier aged Ex Sharp Cheddar.

Plus, We were not putting enough salt in the mac, and we all know SALT IS WONDERFUL!

So, I made a single batch of Mac and put it on the pit too.


Turkey was in there for 3+ hours, and was at 153ish for over an hour. Pulled it.


I had our two main RibShack crew over for the fun, as well as my best bud and his wife. We had the turkey there, and I sliced off these pieces, and we all started eating. Then I got some small bowls out and the mac. Sliced turkey...mac...turkey...mac...

Um, Yes! It was great! The Desert Gold rub, the great bark from the Jambo, the smoke from the clean fire the whole time, the creamy mac, it was Great!!!!!

Oh, and I Grilled burgers too. My wife LOVES burgers, and she told me it was Wife Appreciation Day...so I grilled burgers! They came over to eat burgers, plus the other stuff, and as we were standing there He suggested, "Hey, you ought to make a turkey burger for me." Which I did. And then we thought...Add Mac to that!

Yes!!!!!!


Plus, the buns were buttered and toasted nice and crunchy on the grill. That's a must!

What do ya'll think?


I'm still full!
#TurkeyMacIsOntheRibList

[Jerod Broussard]

Envious skinny dude sittin' at his puter in east Texas. Just sayin'!!!

See that intake from the smoke box on that Jambo, that is how you do things, you don't release it under the cooking grates and line up a bunch of "tuning plates."

[RonB]

You are killin' me Paul...

[HouseHomey]

Amazing. Mac n cheese is on my list as I'm a rookie there. My fear has always been holding it. Are you holding on a steam table? Stove top. Double boiler in hotel pans? Or just on the cooker?

[HouseHomey]

Btw you post was amazing! Family, friends and grace!

[kmhfive]

Great cook! May have to do something with turkey soon!

[gcdmd]

By American do you mean Velveeta or the kind of American that is similar to cheddar in texture?

[Thunder77]

Beautiful cook and a great post as well! You have me wanting to try Mac n Cheese now.

[ComfortablyNumb]

Maybe someday you can introduce us to your friends!

[Potkettleblack]

The mac + Turkey needs a condiment, like a hot sauce or something, and maybe a green, like arugula. and it's easily something you could sell at the shack.

If you want to go really next level, you can make the sharp cheddar into an emulsified product using calcium citronate. That's how they make American cheese out of various cheddar ends and oils. I've done it and it makes a superior melting cheese.

[PaulstheRibList]

Maybe you were sitting around wondering, quotation marks hey Bishop, what does reheated MacNTurkey look like when it's in a combo, or in a sandwich?"

just so happens I have a picture of that!
But which one should I eat...first?

[gcdmd]

What kind of American cheese are you using, Paul? Velveeta? Kraft?

[PaulstheRibList]

It's called Extra-Melt American, and it's white, from Land-O-Lakes. I buy it through Sysco. It seems maybe a little stiffer than Velveeta, and definitely whiter.

[Mr. Bones]

Jus' dunk yer sammich in th' combo, 'til it's all gone, Brother!
Thanks fer th' Bonus Pics, Paul!
Bless all y'all!

[PaulstheRibList]

The mac + Turkey needs a condiment, like a hot sauce or something, and maybe a green, like arugula. and it's easily something you could sell at the shack.

If you want to go really next level, you can make the sharp cheddar into an emulsified product using calcium citronate. That's how they make American cheese out of various cheddar ends and oils. I've done it and it makes a superior melting cheese.

Tell me more about this emulisification action! A food scientist friend suggested I look into Trisodium Phosphate as an emulsifier. At that point, I was adding in the saute like Meathead's recipe. I small batches, it worked fine. When I went to bigger batches, and tried to serve it later than right away, it curtled and did not look great and the texture was wrong. I was a little unsure how to use the TSP. I looked into my Food Lab book and tried those recipe's.

What I've landed on is Kenji's creamy stovetop mac, but without the eggs, with the cheese mix I described above. I add 50% more Evaporated Milk, which helps it stay creamy during a longer hold.

You asked about our hold. We use a Winston CVAP, humidity controlled warming cabinet. It is great! Whatever pan we are serving from at the moment is lided and in a steam table. The others are in the CVAP, after they've been smoked. The CVAP is Fantastic!!!

[Potkettleblack]

Tell me more about this emulisification action! A food scientist friend suggested I look into Trisodium Phosphate as an emulsifier. At that point, I was adding in the saute like Meathead's recipe. I small batches, it worked fine. When I went to bigger batches, and tried to serve it later than right away, it curtled and did not look great and the texture was wrong. I was a little unsure how to use the TSP. I looked into my Food Lab book and tried those recipe's.

I've done this with a few cheeses to great effect:

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/melty-cheese-slices

You don't need to do this sous vide, as it can be done stove top. I've never done it SV, but seems like a good way, especially to mold it.

The idea is that you can do without the American, which has junky flavor but a nice cost profile, with better flavored cheeses. Also, if you were going to do it as a regular, you could preblend the cheeses and have them be melty like 'Murican on their own.

Haven't used Kenji's mac recipe, but I don't cook for as many covers as you do.

[Troutman]

Very, very nice sir!! I'm stealing that recepie, my kids go gaga over mac & cheese. Good looking turkey as well, nice pairing !!!

[PaulstheRibList]

It's great!!!