Smoked Mac and Cheese with an obscenely thick cheese sauce

[boftx]

Mac and Cheese with an obscenely thick cheese sauce. It is not for the faint of heart, lactose intolerant, or Vegans!

NOTE: All measurements are "-ish". The rig was my CharGriller Pro. The pot is a Lodge 5qt Dutch oven.

Start with a basic white sauce with 1 1/2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream added to a roux (I used 4tbsp butter and maybe 6tbsp flour). Add 1 cup shredded cheddar, 1/2 cup Monterey Jack and 1/2 cup mozzarella. Season with paprika, cayenne, salt and worcestershire sauce. My wife would add some chopped onions and garlic, too. Edit: I'm not fond of raw onions, but maybe caramelized onion would be good, maybe one whole onion chopped and fried first. Maybe even fry a strip of bacon and fry the onion in that and then add both to the cheese sauce.

Add in the mac (I started with 1 cup uncooked elbow mac) and top with feta or crumbled goat cheese and more Monterey Jack.

I put it directly over the coals, uncovered, for about 10 - 15min to pick up a kiss of smoke and then moved to indirect and covered for about another 30min (well, maybe more like 45min).

[hogdog6]

Looks cheeselicious!

[PaulstheRibList]

Nice work!

[Jerod Broussard]

Nice. I jacked up the Mac 'n Cheese from the Food Lab so bad not sure I could redeem myself. Never use bootleg cheese.....

[boftx]

Lots of room for riffing on this one. I especially like to put two layers in the middle of something like goat cheese, bleu, or even parmesan just to add a "surprise".

[tbob4]

Awesome!! Love mac and cheese. 5 cheese mac and cheese with jalapeños is what I am doing these days. Your photo of the mac on the fork is fantastic.

[boftx]

Gotta try the jalapeños, sounds great with the cayenne!

[MBMorgan]

Sweet! I agree with your opinion about raw onions. I pretty much always sauté them (and garlic, shallots, leeks, etc.) before adding them to anything.

[Huskee]

Obscene is good when it comes to mac 'n cheese!

[boftx]

I talked it over with my daughter and the next time I'll I fry 2 or 3 strips of bacon, fry a chopped onion in the bacon grease, then use that to make the roux and serve up some Bacon Mac 'n Cheese.

[DWCowles]

Beautiful!

[kmhfive]

Looks really good!

[Mikey C]

Good looking mac..Ive been throwing some crumbled bacon and green chilis in lately

[EdF]

My wife's the Mac and Cheese expert around here, but her basic ploy is grab the leftover cheeses from the fridge and see what happens. It works!

[Atalanta]

OMG looks awesome! My BF is addicted to the M&C from the smokehouse we go to (Fireside, Feasterville, PA). We stopped there for lunch the other day and that was what he had for lunch.

[Reds Fan 5]

boftx That looks terrific. Pulled pork is a terrific mac n cheese add-in.