What? Molecular macaroni and cheese? Yet another macaroni and cheese recipe! Yes! If you like to experiment and spice up your weeknight dinners, this is a fun recipe to try. But it’s really delicious too! And you don’t need a roux! Yay that rhymes 🙂 What makes this mac and cheese recipe “molecular” is the use of a molecular or modernist technique of emulsifying sauces (cheese sauces in particular) with sodium citrate. It’s a salt that comes from citric acid. Citrate itself is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle and thus is involved in the metabolic processes of aerobic organisms. If you majored in science, like I did, you would know citrate intimately, and if you finished a masters in biochemistry like I did, you would know it even more intimately as a friendly metabolite. Add on a sodium ion via bicarbonate and you get sodium citrate, which is nothing to fear. At least I don’t. It’s in our bodies even if you don’t use techniques from modernist cuisine.
This mac & cheese is a different breed from the standard.
The intense shade of orange comes from pureed carrots. Which you don’t really taste if you didn’t know it was in there. Not only do I like it intensely cheesy, but I like it intensely orange. The carrots help get that certain shade of orange. Like a cheeto. “A certain shade of green” by Incubus was one of my favorite songs when I was in high school, by the way.
I got my sodium citrate online, through amazon.com. You can get smaller packages which aren’t too expensive. I guess you can get geeky and get a big container like I did.
You need a specific amount of sodium citrate or the sauce may taste too sour and get really thick. The salt emulsifies the sauce without the use of a roux. A bonus feature of using sodium citrate is that the oil in the cheese won’t separate from the sauce. So it’s ideal in making cheese sauces and fondue. The beauty is that you can use any cheese you want like Swiss, Gruyere, gouda, raw-milk cheeses, mozarella…you name it…and you’ll get velveeta-like cheese with any cheese you want and without all the processing steps!
I used a mix of raw-milk cheddar and sharp grass-fed cheddar.
Silky and thick cheese sauce.
While you get your macaroni pasta ready, make the sauce by mixing the carrot puree and liquid (water, broth, beer, wine, or a mix of whatever liquid you like) until it starts to boil, then add the sodium citrate and mix. Add the cheese in several additions, whisking in between (or use an immersion blender) and you’ll have a bad-ass cheese sauce.
The start of what can be an addictive. Mix in some other seasonings that you like and enjoy immediately!
I’m glad that I made a lot for lunches the next day.
Molecular Mac & Cheese with Carrot
adapted from Modernist Cuisine
~5 servings
Ingredients
- 135 grams (4.8 ounces) water, milk, broth, wine, beer (can be a mixture, but I used beer that is sitting in the fridge and no one drinks)
- 130 grams (about 2 medium) carrots, cut into cubes
- 11 grams sodium citrate
- 4 cups (285 grams) cheese – I like a mix of cheddar cheeses, but use what you like
- salt & pepper to taste
- pinch of smoked paprika
- dash of dijon mustard (or a pinch of dried yellow mustard)
- 2 cups dry macaroni (Ancient Harvest my favorite gluten-free brand)
- Using a blender, puree the carrots with the liquid until smooth. Place in a pot on medium heat and whisk in the sodium citrate. Bring to a simmer.
- Whisk in the cheese in multiple additions, blending until smooth after each addition. Turn the heat to the warm setting while waiting for pasta to cook.
- Prepare pasta as directed on package. Drain, but do not rinse the pasta.
- Stir in the warm cheese sauce, paprika, dijon mustard, and salt & pepper to taste. Serve now!
With a certain shade of orange, it’s a delectable mac & cheese that the Cheetos mascot Chester the Cheetah would find “dangerously cheesy.”
(image credit: sodahead.com)
Related articles
- Science helps craft the perfect mac and cheese (mysanantonio.com)
- Tomato Mac n’ Cheese Recipe – Kids Recipes (greatbritishchefs.com)
- Mac N Cheese (the blue box rebellion) (yummynummymummy.wordpress.com)
Amazing, looks delicious and who would have known. I have to try this.
Thank you 🙂 I hope you have fun with it and enjoy it!
Wow! This is really interesting. And I love the Cheeto orange too! : p
Thanks 🙂 It’s a fun color. Now I think I might get some cheetos, LOL.
ohhh! That looks awesome. My husband is really into molecular gastronomy and probably has a “geek sized” container of sodium citrate somewhere in the kitchen. I think it’s time for him to make me something like this!
Thanks. Molecular gastronomy is very interesting. Thats really cool that he is a molecular gastronomist. Definitely time to whip out the food geek stuff! 😀
I love that you are one smart cookie. Smart girlz rock!
Reading your blog makes me happy. Thanks for sharing such goodness.
Aww thanks 🙂 Studying and doing lab things is just something that I love to do. I’m not that great with other things like sports and pop culture as other people like my husband is, LOL. Thanks for stopping by. Always great to find good in each other. 🙂
G’day! HOW interesting to do! TRUE!
LOVE learning something new and I love mac and cheese too!
I recently made my own cheese on my blog…was heaps of fun and love learning new things food wise every day! Thank you!
Cheers! Joanne
What’s On The List
http://www.whatsonthelist.net
Wow cheese-making looks so fun! Very cool! Thanks for what you share too! It’s great to learn from each other 🙂
Wow–cool stuff for sure. I love that there are carrots in your sauce. And am so intrigued by that sodium citrate! Did you buy it for the recipe?
p.s. Am VERY impressed by your credentials 🙂
I got the sodium citrate on a whim after some growing interest in modernist cuisine as well as watching a bunch of youtube videos from Seattle Food Geek Scott Heimendinger (http://seattlefoodgeek.com). I figured I could start small and start with the simpler techniques. Definitely cool stuff that those modernist chefs and cooks do. I’m planning to go back to school. I gotta get my act together and get in a lab. I just love science and working in a lab.
nice! back to school for food science?
I love how you brought your educational knowledge into this post! Just learned something new today. 🙂
Aww thanks. Just geeking out 🙂
This is so going to be my contribution to the next BBQ.
I hope you have fun with the recipe and enjoy it!
with your degrees you are definitely have an advantage over most of us. we’ve been trying to learn more about the science of food. understanding how it works is not just intriguing but i imagine it will make us better cooks. great idea and great post.
Thank you for the very sweet comment. There is always so much to learn about food. It’s our quest as food bloggers! 😀
a certain irresistible shade!
😀 Thanks.