Southern Baked Mac and Cheese

Method

1. Heat 350F / 177C

   Heat the oven to 350F / 177C. No need to grease the dish; there is enough fat in the sauce.

2. Prep 3-4 min short of done

   Cook the pasta well short of done. Boil in salted water and pull it 3 minutes before the box says, or 4 minutes short for gluten-free. It finishes in the oven and will turn to mush if it starts there. Drain, do not rinse.

3. Heat 3-4 min · blonde

   Make the roux. Melt the butter over medium heat, whisk in the flour, and cook to blonde: 3 to 4 minutes, until it smells like toast and the raw flour edge is gone. Do not take it past pale gold.

   4m
4. Heat 30 sec · fragrant

   Bloom the spices in the fat. Add the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, seasoned salt, salt, pepper and cayenne and cook 30 seconds, whisking. This is where the flavor is built; a mornay seasoned at the end tastes like cheese sauce with dust in it.

   30s
5. Simmer 5-8 min · only just coats a spoon

   Build the bechamel. Add the oat milk a cup at a time, whisking each addition smooth before the next. Bring to a bare simmer and cook 5 to 8 minutes. Stop while it still pours easily and only just coats a spoon. Take it further and the finished dish will be dry: it firms up in the oven, and oat milk sets tighter than dairy.

   8m
6. Finish smooth

   Make it a mornay. Off the heat, add 2 cups of the shredded cheese a handful at a time, stirring until smooth between each. Off the heat matters: cheese added to a simmering sauce breaks and goes grainy. Now taste and salt it harder than feels right. Oat milk is sweeter than dairy, and a sauce that tastes correct in the pot will taste flat once the pasta has drunk it.

7. Assemble verging on soupy

   Fold the pasta into the mornay. It should look too saucy, verging on soupy. That is the target, not a mistake: the pasta drinks it in the oven and oat milk firms up more than dairy does.

8. Assemble just distributed

   Fold in the cubes. Add the cubed cheese and stir just enough to distribute. These are the pockets, so do not stir them to nothing.

9. Assemble level

   Into the dish. Spread it level, then top with the remaining 2 cups of shredded cheese and the pecorino.

10. Bake 40 min · covered

    Bake covered. Tent foil so it does not touch the cheese, and bake 40 minutes.

    40m
11. Bake 15-20 min · brown and bubbling

    Bake uncovered. 15 to 20 minutes more, until the top is brown and bubbling at the edges.

    20m
12. Rest 20-30 min · set enough to cut

    Rest 20 to 30 minutes, like a lasagna. It sets into something you can cut, rather than something that runs across the plate.

    30m