Mac and CHZ

November 2012

My brother in law, T, is good for a lot of things. Number one, he keeps my sister, C, in line. Number two, he owns a meat smoker and knows how to smoke meat. He will tell you it’s not exactly rocket science, but I’m sure if I tried to smoke meat, whatever area I chose to do it in would quickly turn into a warzone. I’m totally comfortable with the grill, but a meat smoker is a whole other animal that I will leave to the experts and enthusiasts a la T.

I gather with C, T, and T’s mother, S one Sunday eve in October for a pulled pork feast. We figured it would be some one of the last chances to use the smoker as it is clearly an outdoor activity, and a most of the day outdoors one at that.  I’ve seen T up at 6 am in late January to get meat in the smoker and cooking, however, so the smoker is actually a year-round utility.

S made cowboy baked beans and cole slaw, and I made mac and cheese. C was on dessert duty. I think we all agreed by the end that it was one of the best meals we had put together to date. Everything just tasted so good together. Calorically, we each probably only needed a pork sandwich with a bit of cole slaw, but how could we deny our bellies the assortment of sides that naturally come to mind when we think smoked bbq?  

I’ve made mac and cheese so many times, and each one, it’s a little different. I have a couple different recipes I like to use, depending on the season. In the spring and summer, I tend to use a recipe that involves sour cream.  I started doing this because sometimes it was simply too hot to have multiple things on the stovetop and the oven going all at once.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Southern-Style-Macaroni-and-Cheese

In the fall and winter, I make it with a béchamel sauce.  There are lots of heavy ingredients in the Southern Style mac and cheese, but it still somehow seems lighter than the béchamel recipe that is rich, but equally delicate. I don’t even follow a recipe at this point when I make it, but this recipe is where I started when I first made it.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/grown-up-mac-and-cheese-recipe/index.html

The critical part of both of these recipes is using really good cheese. There is simply no substitute! Extra-sharp, aged cheddar is a must, or throw in some smoked Gouda, imported Italian cheese, or your favorite cheese you use to impress dinner guests.

When I made it for this dinner, I used a combination of smoked Gouda and extra sharp cheddar.  I also grated up the rest of a nice hunk of Parmesan from DiBruno that was in my cheese drawer.  I came up with the combination by sorting through the pile of odd bits in the cheese cooler at Whole Foods. There were some gems in there, and the sound of smoked Gouda in mac and cheese with smoked pork sounded like a plate of smokey delight. 

I occasionally lighten these recipes up, ie skip the heavy cream, use half and half, or just use whole milk, but I don’t think compromises should be made on the cheese.