Use A Blender To Produce The Smoothest Mac And Cheese

When going to make a mouth-watering batch of macaroni and cheese, the blender is pretty far down the list of tools you might expect to need. Milkshakes and morning smoothies, sure, but mac and cheese? Your skepticism is understandable! Well, before you completely relegate your Vitamix to slurring up ice cream and frozen fruit, you may want to consider how a blender can help make the smoothest cheese sauce your noodles have ever seen.

Store-bought "from the box" mac and cheese is convenient, but it can often be a mistake choosing it when it comes to the overall dining experience. This is a dish that is especially great when it's homemade. To make a blended cheese sauce, you must be sure to cook your pasta in milk instead of water, for a creamier texture. Once cooked, you can pour that leftover milk into the jar of your blender on top of shredded cheese while the blender is running; although you technically don't need to shred the cheese yourself, since the blender will make short work of it, this gets the best results. The heat of the milk melts the cheese as it emulsifies into one thick, velvety sauce. To take things to the next level, you can also add some egg yolks, which add to the flavor as well as make the base of the sauce more solid. Once the sauce is ready, you can add it to your noodles.

One of the biggest upsides of using a blender to make your macaroni's cheese sauce is that it allows for the possibility of using much more diverse cheeses. Under the traditional method, using harder, more aged cheeses would be impractical. This is a shame, as those are often extremely flavorful. With those whirring blender blades, you can use virtually any cheese at your disposal, from an Asiago to a bold Parmigiano. Although you wouldn't want to blend the cheese on its own, with the hot milk helping the melting process, the door to using a cheese off the beaten path is wide open. The harder the cheese and more aged, the sharper and more flavorful it can be, so don't be afraid to opt for one of the tougher bricks. Ageism should never be tolerated when it comes to your cheese selection!

So, even though they can be expensive and difficult to clean, when it comes to making the finest cheese sauce for your macaroni, a blender is a tool to be trusted. Be bold with your cheese choices, and make a new mac and cheese tradition in your household. Your dinner guests will thank you.