Gourmet Mac-n-Cheese with Bacon and Smoked Pork (formerly Pancetta and Chicken)

Macaroni and Cheese is, hands down, one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. 

Recently a friend made crock pot mac and cheese that tasted amazing but the cheese wasn't the melty sauce she was hoping for. I assured her that 1. it was more than edible and 2. the reason for the cheese clumps was mostly because of the crockpot approach. To make a truly velvety cheese sauce you need to create that on the stove starting with a bechamel* and adding lots and lots of cheese and pouring it over the noodles.

When my husband, who will say he hates mac and cheese, said he liked the way it tasted with some chicken and said "Can you make something like this but add bacon?" I jumped at the chance!

I did a teeny bit of research first and knew I wanted to use pancetta rather than traditional bacon. And so I began my exploration (looking at many recipes online and adapting heavily from Bon Appetit). A few ingredients to consider:

Cheese.

• Cheddar. Here is your cheese lesson for the day: There is zero difference between yellow and white cheddar cheese except for one thing: food coloring. If you prefer the yellow color and are ok with adding food coloring to your diet, go with it. I'm a purist so I went with Cabot Sharp White. (Yay, Vermont!)  
• Parmesan. This is a wonderful cheese for this sort of thing since it has a strong, nutty flavor. 
• Cream Cheese: a great way to add to the creamy texture without a competing flavor.  I used Neufchatel which is cream cheese with 1/3 of the fat.

Bacon. 

• I went with pancetta since it's a fabulous, mild italian bacon.  It adds to a recipe without taking over. It also won't leave you with a ton of fat in the pan.

Here's the recipe:

• 6 tablespoons butter, divided into tablespoons
• 4-5 slices of thick-cut bacon (4-5 ounces of thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon), coarsely chopped was the original recipe I created but I find we enjoy it with regular bacon just as much.)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped shallot (yellow onion can be used, I just prefer shallots)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon dry ground mustard 
• 1- 2 garlic cloves, pressed through garlic press or minced (I usually put my garlic in a small bowl and cover with a splash of olive oil and add some cracked black pepper - I can't remember why I do this but it works and helps keep the garlic from tasting metallic in a recipe.)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 1/2 cups whole milk (or more, for thinning out sauce if needed) at room temp or just a teeny bit warmed - not boiling! (Whole is important since it needs fat)
• 1/2 cup of wine (give or take!) 
• 3 1/2 cups coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese (one block of Cabot Extra Sharp White Cheddar works well)
• 1 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 8-ounces cream cheese or Neufchatel (room temp)
• nutmeg (1/8th of a teaspoon roughly)
• Half of a lemon or more
• Worcestershire sauce to taste (a little goes a long way! And say it with me: WUSS-ter-sher.)
• Smoked, pulled pork (we acquired a smoker after I originally made this recipe and will smoke a Boston Butt - which is a Pork Shoulder the day before but you could purchase pulled pork at a BBQ restaurant and use that.) You can also use rotisserie chicken...or whatever chicken you have in the house, seasoned, cooked and shredded. 
• 1 pound pasta (traditional macaroni, penne or corkscrews - I chose corkscrews for this original recipe post but my go-to now is Penne) boiled to al dente and set aside. 

To start - cook up the bacon in a large pot (I prefer to use my enamel covered cast iron). Add a teeny bit of butter or oil if it needs but it probably won't. Cook until crispy then add the onions. Sauté them until translucent (just a few minutes) and add the garlic, cayenne, mustard. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds to a minute to cook the garlic. Add 3 tablespoons of butter and melt. Then add the flour and whisk or stir it until it absorbs the liquid in the pot. Cook for at least 1 minute - this will keep the flour taste out of your sauce! 

Slowly add the milk (add a little at a time, and whisk in, then you can add a the rest in a slow stream while whisking. At first, everything in the pot will seize up into a weird chunky mess, but keep adding the milk and whisking, and it will all blend together well). Add wine. Bring this to a simmer and stir occasionally but simmer for about 5 minutes. In time the sauce should thicken and coat the back of a spoon. You'll know it's done when you dip a spoon into the sauce and then pull your finger across the back of the spoon - if the line where your finger was remains, you're ready. If the line disappears quickly, keep cooking. 

This is now time to turn the heat down and stir in the cheese! Whisk each cheese in to create a smooth sauce and be sure it isn't sticking to the bottom of the pot. 

Season: Add a touch of grated nutmeg and taste, season (salt and pepper) taste and season again. Each time you taste it think: is it bright enough? (add lemon!) does it taste bland? (salt and pepper!) does it still need a little oomph? (maybe a tiny splash of Worcestershire or some more wine....) Too thick? Thin it out with a little bit of milk. Be careful, but don't be afraid to season!

Add your meat now. Make sure it is bite-sized -basically you don't want to have to cut the meat with a knife while eating this. You could use your own cooked chicken or, like I tend to do now, smoke a Boston butt the day before and add that - pulled or chopped, whatever your preference.

Once you are ok with the way it tastes -  pour it over the cooked noodles and chicken and stir it through. Taste one more time - pasta can dull the flavor - and season if needed. Put it into a casserole and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes (if you make everything ahead - store in fridge and cook for 20-30 minutes).

I did put a breadcrumb topping (melt butter in a pan, add breadcrumbs and stir, cook a touch then sprinkle on top...) but I sincerely think it added an unnecessary texture and not much flavor. So I'd opt that out but you can do this if you'd like.

Just keep an eye on it in the oven and cook until heated through. The sauce should be bubbling. I did put the broiler on for about 2 minutes (being sure the pan is on lower middle or lower rack) just to brown it up a little.

Let sit for about 5 minutes then serve! Don't add chicken and use it as a side dish. Delicious!

Fenway patiently waiting to be told it's ok to eat that little nibble on the floor.

Alternatively - you can put it into several containers and freeze some for another day.

*A Bechamel sauce is a basic white sauce and is known as a "Mother Sauce" of French cuisine. I had to memorize this bugger for my culinary practicum. It is a super useful sauce and super simple: butter, flour, milk salt and nutmeg (some start with onion or shallots). It is the base for a lot of other sauces including a classic cheese sauce. In a nutshell - melt butter, stir in flour and cook at a "boil" for a minute to be sure the sauce doesn't taste like flour. This creates what is called a roux (roo) and the ratio of butter to flour should be 1:1. Gradually whisk in milk (be sure it is warm or room temp so the sauce doesn't clump up). Sprinkle some salt, pepper and grate a touch of nutmeg. Then - go from there to create your sauce (in our case "Mornay" which is a fancy way to say cheese.). Here is a great classic bechamel recipe.