The Only Mac and Cheese Recipe You'll Ever Need! (2024)

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This is the richest, creamiest, most decadent and seriously addictive mac and cheese you’ll ever eat.

Okay. It’s comfort food weather and frankly, it’s comfort food week, month, year. So given the season and the emotional climate, it just makes sense that we should betalking mac and cheese.

First I’ll tell you everything that my mac and cheese is….rich, creamy, addictive, satisfying, uber-cheeesy, flavorful, salty, indulgent and straight-up comfort.

Now, let’s be completely clear onwhat it isn’t….low-fat, low-carb, healthy, vegetarian, or for the faint of heart.

This mac and cheese (and excuse the crassness) is the sh*t. This is drop the mic, shred all of your other mac and cheese recipes, pull on your elastic waistband sweats, “whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the clock”, mac and cheese. To be clear, I am not encouraging this for dailyconsumption. Nope…this is for “special” occasions.

This is break-up mac and cheese. This is nor’easter by the firemac and cheese. This is watching the news and feeling hopeless mac and cheese. This is a baseball game losing streak, raining for a week straight, realizing that Game of Thrones won’t be back for a year mac and cheese. This is 11th birthday party, post-successful-talent show appearance, your team made it to the Super Bowl mac and cheese. This is drown your sorrows, celebrate your wins, screw your diet, I’m only eating salad for the rest of the weekmac and cheese.

We are talking five (five!) cheeses, whole milk, heavy cream, curly noodles and a dab of anchovy (yep, anchovy) paste. We’re looking at a gorgeously cheesy sauce and a crunchy topping of buttery, herby bread crumbs. We’re talking decadence, escape, celebration, and mourning all in one drool-worthy bite.

This recipe is dedicated to my youngest son Max, my mac and cheese connoisseur. We celebrated his 11th birthday in New Orleans in the spring and he just about collapsed after tasting the mac and cheese at Cochon. He legit swooned. And damn if he wasn’t exactly right. Upon seeing his reaction, I immediately stole a bite of this cheesy goodness before he could stab my infiltrating hand with his fork. Woo-whee, this mac and cheese was everything. We prodded as much information as we could from our serverabout what exactly went into this dish of bliss and (at Max’s prodding) came back two days later to order it again. What we gleaned from our server was we needed anexcess of cream, a pile of cheese, white wine, rendered pancetta, and loads of garlic.

So here we are six months later after carefulrecipe-testing and some very tasty trial and errors, I give you The Only Mac and Cheese Recipe You’ll Ever Need. It’s a ballsy title, but deserved. And because I believe I’ve done my sweet Max proud, I’m finally ready to share it with you. I love the look and presentation of baking this in four 6-inch cast iron skillets, but all of the magic will still exist if you make it in one large baking dish (just extend your baking time by 5-10 mins).

So whether you’re celebrating or mourning, escaping or gathering, this is the dish of comfort you’ve been seeking. Because sometimes calories don’t matter, but filling one’s belly and at the same time one’s soul, does. Thanks to Cochon for the inspiration and thanks to my darling Max for reminding me of what sheer joy looks like.

New to cast iron? Here’s everything you need to know about cooking in cast iron pans!

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