My mother taught me to always add a pinch (or two) of dry mustard to any cheese sauce. It perks the flavour and adds a subtle spicy tang. But the exotic Mac and Cheese tip recipe contributor Alexandra Emanuelli just shared on Simple goes light-years further!
Looks like the usual stuff… Well, no. Alexandra’s extra grated cheese is all-too-evident
in this glam photo of her enhanced, elevated, newstalgized boxed Mac & Cheese…
“When I was 16, I babysat three neighborhood kids for the summer” Alexandra relates. “This meant that I had to make them lunch every day. And being the age that I was, the only thing I could reliably make was boxed mac and cheese. The kids were thrilled, but after a couple of weeks, I got bored and started experimenting with whatever was in the fridge: ketchup, shredded cheese, extra butter.”
Then, she stumbled on the ingredient that made her box M&C magical…
“I started small, with a pea-sized amount (I didn’t want to ruin lunch and resort to a bag of chips), but little by little, we kept bumping up the miso until the kids started calling me, ‘a really good cooker’ – high praise indeed.”
Is that all it takes?
The extra cheese and butter must have had something to do with it. But it was the miso that made the kids – and Alex – sit up and take notice!
Some caveats…
There are some caveats and cautions you should take note of when you first start using miso to enhance your cheese sauces…
Miso is pure-umami, fermented soy flavour – carried in a salt base. Think of it in the same mental frame as you would bouillon cubes… And add cautiously.
When you first start using it, add miso in small increments, tasting as you go. The trick will be to get the flavour you want without adding too much salt and ruining the dish.
Note, also, the colour…
Miso comes in three basic colours, each of which is darker and stronger tasting then the previous one. Start with basic white (or ‘blonde’) miso and work your way darker if you want a stronger-flavoured sauce. Using darker miso will also influence the colour of your creation. You want to achieve golden perfection… not muddy, brown, disappointment.
Again… DO follow Alexandra’s instruction to increase your miso addition by stages, tasting and judging the colour as you go.
My take
There’s no reason you can’t add miso to your homemade Mac & Cheese, and cheese sauces. I do, now. And sometimes, when the mood takes me, I even forego my traditional pinch of mustard…
~ Maggie J.