3 Chefs Try to Make Mac & Cheese with No Recipe

[jazz music]

This might be a disaster, but you know what?

I'm having fun.

This is gonna be good.

There's like a pound of butter and cheese

so there's no way it's not gonna be good.

I don't have no recipes.

My recipes are in here and here.

[jazz music]

[jazz music]

[Camera Operator] What are you making?

Shells, three cheeses.

It's definitely mac and cheese.

I see mac and cheese.

Mac and cheese.

I love big shells.

It like catches the cheese the best.

Elbows number 81.

It took 'em a lot of tries, but they got it right.

Ooh, evaporated milk.

That'll be fun.

Why not a little bit of Velveeta?

Classic American cheese stuff.

And for my crumbs, I'm gonna use this.

[box thumps]

This what I'm going to use because I have so many at home,

I don't even know what to do with them.

I'm taking this over here.

We're gonna get started.

[Diane] It's not all fitting on the tray.

I make mac and cheese for my daughters every day, all day.

No, no, no, not all day.

I haven't made a lot of mac and cheese.

In fact, I never do.

But I have some ideas.

[Saul claps]

Okay, let's cook.

Let's do this.

So first I'm gonna start the cheese sauce.

I got my sauce pan.

[pan clatters]

It's a perfect pan for sauce.

Gonna add some butter.

I'm gonna do half a stick and I'm gonna throw some flour in.

I'm not measuring anything.

This is probably a bad idea,

but that's how we do it at home.

I love mac and cheese.

I don't really make mac and cheese.

I know what's supposed to be done.

I just don't know if I'm doing it right.

The first thing I'm gonna do

is just cut my veggies and grate the cheese.

This is all gonna go into the cheese sauce

that I'm making.

First, pasta and the boiling water.

I'm using a little bit of kosher salt

and then I'm using this pasta cavatappi.

Why I choose this?

Because it looks fancy and that's what professionals do.

We use fancy stuff to impress people.

Basically it is like two elbows in one.

Throw this.

I have all my ingredients here

because I'm gonna use them very quickly.

Yeah there's some milk.

Now I don't know if I'm adding the right amounts

of any of this stuff.

I chose cayenne pepper and garlic powder

as my seasonings along with some salt.

I'm gonna use jalapeno peppers and a red Fresno pepper.

It's 'cause I love spicy things.

I'm gonna do two different colors

just so that it's a little more fun to look at.

I'm gonna do garlic and some parsley.

I'm gonna mix it in with the panko.

I'm actually gonna add in some of the Velveeta.

Velveeta got me through my younger years.

What is this?

Melt?

What the [bleep].

Oh, it's a cheese product.

I'm not using this cheese product.

Velveeta will add just the general cheese flavor.

It'll be something where you'll taste it.

You'll be like, I recognize this.

This is, this is food.

I'm gonna grate my cheeses.

I'm gonna start with the gruyere.

We'll do the aged cheddar,

and I'll probably finish off with the parmesan.

Yeah, that's a good amount of cheese.

My pasta's in the water.

Now it's time to make the sauce.

We're gonna start with onions. Onions.

I'm gonna sweat out my garlic and onions

with a little bit of the butter.

[pepper crackles]

With a little bit of salt.

Whoo, these onions spicy.

[knife thumps]

[onions sizzle]

I'm gonna sweat the onions,

and that's gonna add some sweetness.

I'm gonna put some salt and some olive oil.

This looks pretty good.

It looks awfully thick, thicker than I was expecting.

I don't want it to be too much.

This might be a disaster.

But you know what?

I'm having fun.

I don't know if this is the way

I should have done it, but we'll see.

I really think like the thing about cooking

is like to not be afraid, to just like try it, you know?

I'm gonna add garlic.

My daughters, they don't love garlic.

They don't love onion.

So when I do this part, I kind of hide

because I don't want them to like, I don't like onion daddy.

That's how you get your vegetables

into your kids by lying to them.

The garlic is just gonna make this pasta delicious.

因为这就是味道,你know?

[upbeat music]

Just gonna put a little bit of butter.

[pan clatters]

The nutmeg is gonna add a nutty flavor.

'Cause you know nutty is good.

I want the nutmeg to release all the flavors

into the butter.

Okay, now very important thing right here.

We're going to lower the heat.

Remember, you control the heat.

The heat doesn't control you.

I'm going to add a little bit more butter

and some flour Flour.

to make a roux, which will be a thickener

to make this nice and creamy.

[Saul] The flour is gonna make the sauce thicker.

I don't really measure anything, I kinda just eyeball it.

I know that like with roux, you're supposed to get it

to like sort of like smell like bread.

And that's when you know it's kind of done.

We're gonna stir it, stir it, stir

and then we're gonna add some latte.

So I'm adding my evaporated milk and I actually just read

about this recently that evaporated milk makes it creamier.

So I'm gonna try it.

So we're gonna add the milk as we go, little by little.

See, but you have to keep moving it

'cause otherwise you'll have crumble sauce.

So we already cooked the flour.

The sauce is getting thicker and thicker and thicker.

I'm gonna add a little bit more pepper.

Of course, black pepper. [pepper crackles]

And I'm gonna add a little bit more salt.

I'm gonna add some brushed nutmeg into the sauce.

Oops [Diane laughs].

My little nutmeg.

I can hear my daughter be like, daddy, is the food ready?

I don't want no onion.

While this is cooking, I'm gonna add a little bit of heat.

Fresno has the peppery jalapeno taste

but without being too spicy.

And now I just need my mac elbow, macaroni number 81.

[pasta clatters]

Hmmm, bang.

I like to use the larger shells because I think

that it'll be a better way to catch the sauce.

I definitely prefer it actually to macaroni,

which I know it's mac and cheese.

But I think that the shells

are gonna be really, really great.

Pasta cooks for five minutes according to the, according,

according to them, it cooks for five minutes.

I don't know how to say that.

I am actually gonna set the timer a little bit less

than what it says on the package

because I'm gonna bake this in the oven as well.

So I don't want it to get too overcooked.

Now I am checking in on my sauce.

It's looking pretty good and thick.

I tasted it and I feel like it needs a little more Velveeta.

I don't know who else cooks like this,

but I just kind of keep tasting things

until it tastes like how my mouth wants it to be.

The pasta is about to come out.

Now okay, we want this al dente.

If you see this white part right here in the middle

that means it's al dente.

Definitely al dente.

Now we're gonna shut it off

'cause we don't want this to be cooked anymore.

We're gonna add the pasta with a little pasta water.

Oof.

[pan clatters]

I'm gonna wait for the cheese to add it in the end.

'Cause I don't want the cheese to break down.

I'm doing this double strain thing to make sure

I get as much water out of this as possible.

[water pours]

Since I'm baking this, I want this to be nice and saucy.

I don't want this to be all dry

'cause otherwise it will break.

Time to add some cheese.

I'm using Kraft sharp cheddar and Cabot extra sharp.

I'm keeping it simple.

I'm going like straight down the middle.

You know what you expect from, you know,

if you ever had a parent who didn't know how to cook.

[Diane] Now I am ready to add the cheese.

I'm gonna fold all of this in.

So I have aged cheddar cheese, my parmesan cheese,

but I think I need one more cheese.

So I'm going, I'll be right back.

I'm gonna mix two cheddars.

This simple cheddar and this cheddar.

Let's see how good it is.

Mmm, ooh, sharp.

Beautiful, sharp, delicious.

You need a lot of cheese for this.

It's the only way.

Oh, look at, look at this.

It is super gooey.

Look at that.

It's so thick.

Hah, it's gonna be good.

All right, let's check on my noodles.

I mean, they look, you know, they look like noodles.

All right, I'm gonna start taking my noodles out.

Now I'm going to marry the pasta with those cheeses.

Throw in some regular sharp cheddar,

and we're gonna mix it around and let these cheddars melt.

Look at that.

Cheese is melting up beautifully.

This looks really good right now.

[spoon thumps]

Okay, before we bake it, we're gonna make sure we try it.

Oh my gosh.

[spoon clatters]

On the rare occasion when I cook mac and cheese,

I don't have fancy cheeses and now I do.

So I'm gonna choose to add a fancy cheese

because I wanna win.

So I'm gonna go with the gruyere.

And when Chef Saul tastes mine

and he's like why is this so fancy?

I'm like, I don't know.

It's just a, it's just a thing I do.

Yeah don't worry about it.

So now I'm gonna add in

my diced jalapeno peppers and Fresno chilies.

I'm gonna sort of slowly fold in my sauce.

Ah.

[Diane laughs]

I'm okay.

Just sometimes, you know, it takes a little muscle to cook.

Who says that you're not working out a little bit?

So I'm adding this all now together.

And actually I was thinking a little bit

of fresh herbs would benefit this.

I think it'll be just really nice in there.

I'm gonna add an egg yolk.

The reason why I add an egg yolk,

just in case the pasta gets overcooked,

this will hold it together.

Yeah, I'm crazy.

So what?

You don't wanna add egg?

Don't add egg.

Let me be.

Did I tell you how you live your life?

No.

This how I eat my pasta.

[upbeat music]

This looks really good.

Dare I say perfect.

And it's ready to go into the oven

with some breadcrumbs and get baked.

I have a baking dish right here.

I'm gonna scoop my mac and cheese into there.

I don't know how everybody else

eats their mac and cheese but I like it.

A lot of cheese, real sticky, real thick.

[Diane] I'm going to place this into a buttered dish.

Kinda spread it around evenly.

Now I'm gonna put this in a cast iron pan.

I'm gonna add a little bit more cheese.

Just a little bit more.

现在的实情。

This is going to add, I would say a salt element.

I have had the oven preheated to 375.

I'm gonna pop this in there.

I got breadcrumbs, Italian style.

I'm gonna add 'em to the macaroni to give it

that authentic Italian flavor

just to give it a little bit of a variety and texture.

That might be a little too much, but you know what?

When you mix it in, it's gonna be just right.

Nothing can go wrong for me.

So I have my panko and I am just gonna add actually

some dried spices now.

And because I want everything to be spicy.

And my breadcrumbs.

[crackers smash]

Ooooh.

Ooooh, oooh.

Like I said, I don't really measure anything.

I just kind of go with what I think looks good

and then I'll just taste it.

Oh wait, very smart.

It needs a little color.

After the mac and cheese has been in the oven,

I'm gonna spread this on top

and then toast it in the broiler for about two minutes.

Oh, it looks good.

I'm gonna try one.

It's really good.

I'm really happy.

This'll just add a nice crunch to it at the top.

I'm gonna kind of watch it just to see

how long it takes to toast.

I'm sort of unfamiliar with what it's gonna look like.

So you know, I'll take a look and see how it goes.

Got it in the baking dish.

This is ready to go in the oven.

I'm gonna put it in at 350 for you know, a while.

I'm gonna broil these for like 3, 4, 5 minutes.

You have a nice caramelized crust.

Then dinner is ready.

Whew.

[Saul whistles]

Guess what?

It's time to get my mac and cheese out of the oven.

It's ready.

[Diane gasps]

It looks so good.

I'm really excited.

It's exactly the kind of like browning

that I wanted it to have.

I wanted the breadcrumbs to get browner.

They didn't get as brown as I would've liked,

but I didn't wanna overcook the mac and cheese itself,

which is the star of the show.

So I had to pull it out.

I think it'll still be nice and crunchy.

Hello, there you are.

Look at this.

Look at this.

Coming through, caliente.

It looks like a mac and cheese cake.

[jazz music]

Now I just have to plate this and eat it.

And then we go into the competition.

[Camera Operator] It's not a competition.

It's not a competition, but I'm gonna win.

My plating method is called the slop.

I learned it at Le Cordon Bleu.

I just take the spoon.

I take it out and I just slop it.

So I want some of the crispy stuff.

That looks awesome.

I'm so happy with it.

Oof.

Oops, sorry.

[jazz music]

[plates clatter]

Wow looking good guys. Yeah.

Wow.

Wow.

Hey. [group laughs]

All right, Joe, let's start with yours.

All right, judges, I've prepared for you

a mac and cheese with breadcrumbs.

Sounds like what I did.

[Saul laughs] Yeah.

See we are, I'm like a chef.

You have kids?

I don't have kids.

[Saul] Well I think you're ready to.

[Joe] Yeah, they'd like some?

Yeah I mean, they will be very happy with this.

We're gonna try mine now.

I can't wait for you guys to try this.

Wow, that's really good.

Yeah?

Oh my god.

Yeah?

I love the spicy.

It's my kind of mac and cheese.

[Joe] This is amazing.

This makes me feel so good.

[Saul] All right, my turn, I make this

for my daughters all the time.

Also, I did a Ritz breadcrumb.

I didn't even know what to do with those.

And even though it looks spicy,

but I don't think it's spicy.

It's really good.

That's so good.

And it's like perfect, creamy.

And I used the double elbow pasta

because it looks like that one.

But it's twice as good.

[Saul and Diane laugh]

I don't know about you guys,

but I really appreciate mac and cheese on a new level now.

You cook it a lot, but maybe for us.

Yeah, I think I might add this.

You putting it into the repertoire?

Yeah.

I probably won't.

[Saul and Diane laugh]

I'll still go, I'm going back to the box after this.

But I'm real proud of myself. [Saul laughs]

Yeah, it's really good.

[jazz music]