Add spices to your roux for a more flavorful mac and cheese
The key to a delicious recipe is a flavorful base. A great plate of macaroni and cheese starts with the cheese sauce, but the best ones incorporate spices well before that. The roux is the first building block of the hearty meal, so for the most flavorful macaroni and cheese, bloom your spices in the thickening agent.
In many recipes, like our simple mac and cheese, spices are added to the cheese sauce. While simmering them in the browned liquid helps to infuse it with flavor, it doesn’t reveal the depths of the spices the way blooming does. When cooking with spices, you can heat them in fat to bring out the most heady elements of their flavor. Most herbs and spices tend to be fat-soluble, meaning their flavor compounds leach out when heated in oil, butter, or ghee, making a roux the perfect vehicle for this technique.
A mixture of equal parts fat and flour thickens dishes with its velvety texture. Before adding the flour, you need to heat the butter, which is where the spices come in. Once the butter has melted, stir in your ground spices and herbs over low heat. The spices can take anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes to bloom, so this won’t add much to your cooking time. Once the spices have bloomed, you can sprinkle with flour.
Read more: 12 Different Ways to Cook Chicken
What spices should you use for mac and cheese?
The most important thing is to choose seasonings that bloom quickly. If they sit in the fat too long, the butter can brown, which means the roux will darken. Since a white roux is essential for classic macaroni and cheese, you’ll want to preserve the color and texture of the butter.
Red pepper flakes are a great spice to bloom, as they only need to be heated for 30 seconds before their flavor is fully released into the fat. You can sprinkle them into melted butter, along with ground black pepper and nutmeg for a baked macaroni and cheese casserole with subtle layers of heat distributed throughout. If you prefer your mac and cheese a little woodier, herbs also bloom in less than a minute. Add ground rosemary and thyme to the butter and stir constantly before incorporating the flour.
Another reason to be careful not to let spices bloom for too long or over high heat is that they tend to burn easily. You may also want to add less seasoning than usual. The blooming technique amplifies their flavor, so it’s best to be sparing with already dominant seasonings like rosemary or cumin.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
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