Thursday, February 07, 2008

Wonder Bar Mac & Cheese

Since it isn’t practical to ship a portion of our famous noodles cross country I will teach you how to make your own, where ever it is you happen to be.

What you will need:

½ cup diced onion
1 clove garlic
3 tblsp butter
3 tblsp flour
1 ½ cup milk
3 oz Camembert cheese, brie or any soft rind stinky cheese you like will do

3 oz cheese, Gruyere, soft goat, and Parmesan are what we use at the restaurant, but I suggest the Kraft pre-shredded Italian blend

1 # cooked and shocked elbow noodles

Drizzle of truffle oil
4 oz duck confit, or any cooked protein you like, chicken, sausage, ground beef, hot dog
Bread crumbs

The noodles need to be cooked and chilled. They will over cook if they are not chilled before they are added to the sauce. Believe me, I’ve learned the hard way. Also cook what ever protein you will be adding. If this will leave any flavorful fond, then begin the Mornay sauce in the same pot.

For the Mornay sauce melt the butter and cook the onion and garlic for just a few minutes. Add the flour to make a roux. Cook the roux for only 2-3 minutes then add the milk. Whisk this mixture throughly, and pay attention, stir this mixture every 30 seconds until it’s very thick. If you walk away and don’t stir it will scorch on the bottom of the pan and you will have to start over! Melt the Camembert into the thickened milk and take off the heat. This is Mornay sauce.

Working off the heat combine the rest of the cheese with the noodles, Mornay, truffle oil, and protein. Season with salt and pepper and pour this mixture into oven ready dishes. Cover with breadcrumbs, and bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes, the breadcrumbs will brown and create a crispy crust. This baked effect is what makes my Wonder Bar mac & cheese better than the other guys noodles with cream and cheese.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

you ever consider making the mornay sauce with duck fat, just curious i love potatoes fried in duck fat... how far can you utilize it

Michael Walsh said...

You know, i think i will try a small batch of this. At WB we offer the dish with or without duck so as not to offend any of our vegetarian friends. I do have a great surplus of duck fat. I've used lamb and beef fat to make roux before, i didn't like the result, it was greasy tasting and texture wise. When you think of it beef fat and butter are only an utter different? I will keep an update on duck fat roux. thanks for the suggestion

Anonymous said...

Where do you get the fat? I keep seeing legs at the WSM and would like to make duck confit again but nobody has the fat.

Michael Walsh said...

You can find the fat in bulk, but if you want some duck fat i will give it to you. let me make sure it's still good, it's been under constant refrigeration so i din't see why not.

i got mine by saving it every time i confit. i started with as little olive/canola blend a long long time ago, by now what i have is at least 95% duck fat. of course i'm talking about cookint 15 pounds of legs at a time.

it's yours if you want it.