Recreating Bobby Flay's Macaroni & Cheese Carbonara From Taste | Bon Appétit

Hi, I'm Kerry. I'm here at Test Kitchen today to have a secret conversation about Chris Morocco. Once again, let's put Chris's super

taste

r skills to the test. This is Bobby Flay's

macaroni

and

cheese

carbonara

. We are challenged to replicate this. dish with all the ingredients in today's Shutts you will be able to smell it, touch it and

taste

it but at no point will you be able to see it so at the end of the second day I will come back and be the judge Oh God, this is like something weird like the Phantom of the Opera, it can't be something that's going to scare my kids, okay, who can certainly smell it?

It smells intensely cheesy, like

macaroni

and

cheese

with spicy cheese, like in that world, reminiscent of bacon, but there's something so firm and so dense and so salty and also quite porky, there's a lot of that spread across the top here. I'm thinking it has to be a cured pork product, something like guanciale, there's something like that too. of a layer of cheese with a very assertive flavor seems to be little pieces of pasta, elbowed here, then we have a béchamel-based sauce, you know, maybe it starts with a butter flour base, a roux that is then cooked and with milk or some combination of dairy products.

I added I feel like there has to be some pecorino here, there's so much kind of umami and kind of spicy bite. A posibility. I'm thinking there might be egg in this too and that this is some kind of riff. in the

carbonara

pasta there could also be a softer, more meltable cheese like fontina here something that is spicy the cheese on top of this mmm I don't know Dairy Dairy is my downfall I don't guarantee a fontina or either, frankly guaranteeing new parm, yes , I can live with that, make the graphics disappear with this, but you know, honestly, I would call this macaroni and cheese carbonara and say that's no idea, I mean, I feel like I know what's going on here. as if it were a dangerous situation, although you know that the main elements are the elbows.

I'd be a little surprised to see the guanciale, black pepper mixed with a butter flour béchamel dairy and would be tempted to try just all the thick pecorino cream. I'm going to look for a couple more options like a fontina, wow these pens really let me down man, another cheese like an Asiago and then egg yolk so I have my list which looks deceptively simple. It could be good. It could be bad. I'm going to head to the supermarket we have a lot of important decisions to make about dairy here it's probably one of my least favorite things to do oh god oh god there's literally so much cheese in this supermarket this is terrible just when you think you're done with the dairy section cheeses, he continues, what is a Danish fontina Asiago, everyone has heard of it, no one knows what it is.

I'm going to buy a couple of pieces of pecorino, we'll also buy some parm. Do you sell guanciale? Ah, interesting, that's probably all. Not there in the Test Kitchen, you probably bought everything, in that case just a big piece of bacon, you think you're so clever. “I forgot to brush my teeth this morning, so this will be my toothbrush at the office,” Dan said. I'd buy it I don't have time to go to the pharmacy later Okay, she's got her eyes on the cream, the eggs, the butter, the pasta, oh, let's say we're on a tight time frame, do you really want to say something? , like literally just sitting there looking at me.

Be a cat, okay, I just came back from the supermarket. I'm going to start making some blender cheeses, so here's our pecorino, the classic cheese used in a traditional carbonara, the next cheese is parmesan, Danish fontina. I feel like better things have come out. from Denmark this is fontina Valdosta this is tastier it's walnut grass it was like a higher quality volcano and then we're going to crack the code on this here Asiago I'm talking nonsense about Asiago so I don't know here we have our textbook carbonara from pecorino and you have the parm, which is so rich, nutty, and then the fontina, maybe to top it off, let's see how wrong we can be, so I'm going to start with the béchamel base butter flour, this is a cup and a half . of heavy cream I feel like the pasta was cooked in less than two minutes and then the tails.

I just need to finish a little. I'm pouring in half a cup of milk here's our pecorino so this is parmesan this is fontina one we liked adding about a quarter cup of salt we can start to see it as kind of like a penis in a row that's elasticity, This is at four minutes. I'm going to run this under a little bit of cold water just to stop the cooking, you know what we do? what I really need to do is cook some guanciale, this is pancetta, it's a tacit fork, belly doesn't particularly feel like the right texture here, so this is guanciale, the guanciale, the guanciale just has a lot more personality , leaning absolutely towards the guanciale, they are going to cook them. one next to the other so you can see the amount of fat that came out of that guanciale.

It seems a little strange not to use this grease, but then again, I just don't know if we need it. I know this is going to be like one of those things where Well, of course, you use the fat and you just pour it right into the dish and then this is pancetta. This pancetta doesn't taste as good, but it is saltier. I don't like bacon, sometimes you have sin with bacon, sometimes, it's like I know where it's coming unless you know where I'm sad. It's just a sad battery or a pig. Okay, you'll be wrong, that's right Chris, thank you, thank you.

You know what I can live with. I've been going back and forth, but I think I'm still stuck with guanciale here, so I'm just getting my pan ready. I don't know if it necessarily contains butter, but it's good policy to add a little fat to pans, so I'm just folding the pasta into our sauce. I'm going to add a little black pepper, but I'm not going to think too much. Fontina has a bit of a gym locker and I get a great smell. Pecorino cheese doesn't help. Of course, I haven't put in our egg yolks yet.

I'm going to put a couple up now. Oh man, I'm going to put two yolks in and see what happens. It's definitely changing the color. I don't feel a great sense of clarity about the cheese that goes on top of the plate. I'm going to do a combination of two parm and pecorino, we're just going to go in strong, why not a little more black pepper in the oven? 375 because why not and me. I'll see you in about 30 minutes. I mean, I think we're there, okay, we'll call him. I wonder if maybe we would have baked it closer to the top if we had browned it a little more.

The texture of the cheese on top hasn't formed those springy tendrils of cheese that I tasted in the original dish. It looks like macaroni and cheese, but with something else going on, and to that end, it seems about right, as this is giving. I mac and cheese, but it's not fulfilling maybe the promise of, you know, kind of like mac and cheese carbonara, which is what I think it is, let's check out our guanciale nuggets, feel good about those ingredients, I'll say 80% . flavor, look honestly, I would say we are at 75% of the technique. I'll go back to 85 appearance eighty eight, which basically gives me an average of 82.

I have one more chance to try the original dish first. I really have to make some tough decisions and I guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow, we'll watch the Top Gun 2 trailer instead of the newer one, well now let's turn it around, okay, okay, because Top Guns is probably the best movie all the time and it took an extra year for Tom Cruise to learn how to fly a MIG for this, so I think maybe it deserves our attention. Okay, we live in a world that is so cruel that we have to wait until June to see that. movie I just don't know if I can handle it, okay, it'll be here before you know it, though Mike, can you hear this?

One of the most interesting things about this dish is how intense and distinctive the aroma that is perceived is. salty, spicy and funky cheese. I would like if it were roasted it would be more of a defined crispy top layer and I don't really understand that right now. I have doubts about the guanciale. I suppose you could have a reasonably high quality pancetta you get such an intensity of flavor that it almost reads like it's some kind of red chili, you know, in bechamel, I often put a pinch of cayenne in it, thank you. Ah, wait for that thought, I think so.

I just got a piece of parsley that was buried in the plate. It just doesn't follow the rules of carbonara. Could there be something like cheddar or something that's a little milder but nutty and still a little spicy? Yeah, I don't know, so I have version two about to appear here. I'm doing this for you, Brad, so just a little bit of olive oil to get the guanciale started while it's cooking. I'm going to work on my sauce now that we have our butter, so we'll go down to a tablespoon of flour. It's just too thick.

Yesterday's creams are very thick. I'm going to use some more. today I use a little milk to thin the sauce. Yesterday I said I wanted more pecorino and I'm going to add more pecorino parmesan using just a little less than yesterday. Add salt. I'm going to put a pinch of cayenne. and I'm going to give it a generous amount of black pepper and cheddar cheese, honestly it could go either way. I feel like it's 50/50, so imagine you have macaroni and cheese carbonara, but some geniuses you know have put parsley in it so clearly, so clearly that You're not playing by the rules of carbonara Whose rules are they?

Do you add cheddar cheese just because? Well, maybe if we're in my clever baby's world, uh, okay, this is complicated, right? now I'm calm saying no, no fontina, no cheddar, okay, the pasta was ready for about four and a half minutes here, I'm going to stir it, taste it and season it like we still need more pecorino carbonara and parsley are two. very different things macaroni and cheese and parsley are two very different things I just don't think you need it I don't think you want it and yet here we are this time, I'm making three yolks instead of two, I definitely notice something spicier, I'm going to push it down a little bit so that the cheese on top is really honest, I don't have anything here, this is some pecorino cheese and I think I'm going to do some parm too, so this will go in a 325. oven, they have After 20 minutes, we're getting some gentle bubbling, this is version two.

I feel like we have a good blend of a creamy kind of sauce. I feel like I just want a little more of the cheese, call it. cheddar cheese sorry to stop it the ghost of what could have been I would like the spicy flavor I like the spicy I think cayenne helped tie everything together and amplify all the elements we have here and it tastes good and almost tastes too good There is still a small gap between this dish and the original dish, but I'm not sure how to explain the difference in ingredients that say I may have a tea flavor.

I think we went from 75 to 82. aha technique 85 I'm going to go back down to 81 there's something about the texture on the top that's bothering me I still feel good about the look holding steady at 88 we'll call it 84 overall I have a chance More than get this right before I serve it to Gabby, the last chance is approaching. I still feel good about the guanciale now that we have our butter starting our base for the sauce. I'm going to use a mixture of cream and milk that I just want. to balance out the fact that the cheddar will make it a little tighter so I have 1/2 cup of pecorino reggiano parmigiano let's talk about cheddar so here we have two cheddar cheese options oh maybe I'll add a bit. a little bit milder so in the inns the cheddar cheese will come once this goes in it can't come back you can't remove the bell so the cheeses are there the flavor hasn't come out yet because there's nothing seasoned so we have to leave this.

Go up a level sorry I'm ready where's my pepper grinder? Remember that video where he just walks around the office spraying salt on people. That was the best thing we ever did, it was so good, damn, so I've got salt, black pepper, cayenne. pepper shibam in the immortal words of Tupac only God can judge me man just don't tell Gabi how many yolks I put in okay can we leave some of our guanciale so I ended up using a mix of parm and pecorino. the top is bubbling all the way i still wish it had a little more color.

I don't know, we'll see, we'll see what happens when we get into this thing, but that's it, version 3 done in the bag, Tom. Cruise, here we go, how are you feeling? You feel good? Ches, it's okay, yeah, it's just okay. I want to pretend you're Bobby Flay's macaroni and cheese carbonara. Bobby has some melted cheese. Bull on top is that bacon. Yes. Bobby is not following the rules here. He's fine, say no. It doesn't mean it's the end. I have to say that I read and it was a walk. I'm also struck by how blonde it is, yes, more curly.

I mean, looking up, you've been more generous with the bacon. okay whatever the circulation yeah I used guanciale I went back and forth and now it's not rude big again that's not what it is why not these Bobby Flay's first one it's okay, just to refresh your memory, hmm, was there garlic here? He adds garlic the fat in the fat and he is usingthe bacon fat? Yeah, you know, I questioned it. I just felt it was excessive and I was worried about adding too much fat to this mixture. Okay, let's do it. Oh, mmm, I really like yours. better around here but how many cheese, you are anything.

I have pecorino parmesan and ended up choosing a kind of mild cheddar cheese. I also had a second trailer and Asiago and no pecorino no pecorino yeah sorry that's not a carbonara yeah I think I just liked it. I got too locked into the carbonara paradigm and tried to interpret it a little too literally. I like to live on the wrong dairy. I mean whatever, like the cheese blend, but just like you know, like strange, you know, like the overall balance like that is that's what kind of dogs are called wait 40 ingredients I'm going to give you 86 okay happy with that one laughter I cried for a few minutes in the walk-in I will be fine for the technique I want to give you a 95 your technique is correct you did it the right way you just use a different type in fact I'm sure the next one is the taste yes and they told me that it has to be how close you were to these yeah it's not okay okay you don't have to do it you have to butter it oh I know but I want you to know the extra fatty unpleasant taste I'm going to give you 78 okay you get that sharpness, but in its own right, yeah, appearance of the ingredients, um, you're a long way from this one, but I love it. yours you're missing the parsley inside it's quiet okay 82 okay it's easy to live with you have a total of 85 oh okay okay thanks guys see you next time oh thanks I feel exhausted I feel exhausted um I just like you I know cheese.

I feel like you have cheese in a mix like this. You're just guessing and anyone who says otherwise is crazy. It will take me a little time to recover from this. You know, I don't want to have it. a trophy every day like I want to improve like I want to learn more you know I want to fly faster than I've flown before I just won't be happy unless I go Mach 2 with my hair on fire and that's a fact, you know, BAM.