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contest VOTE! Mac N Cheese Throwdown Official Thread

Who has the best Mac N Cheese?

  • SumOfMyBits' Mackin' Peeza

    Votes: 1 3.1%

  • QuadShotz's 3-Cheese Mac with Salmon, Roasted Garlic, and Mushrooms... and a Dorset Naga

    Votes: 7 21.9%

  • frydad4's Mac In Choke

    Votes: 3 9.4%

  • texas blues' Golden King Crab Mac & Cheese

    Votes: 3 9.4%

  • SumOfMyBits' Calzonis Macaronis

    Votes: 2 6.3%

  • QuadShotz's Drunken Buffalo Mac Attack

    Votes: 1 3.1%

  • JayT's Lobster Mac-n-Cheese

    Votes: 2 6.3%

  • Noshownate's Fiery Chicken Mac N Cheese

    Votes: 1 3.1%

  • 5oclocksomewhere's Cheesy Mac N Peppers

    Votes: 3 9.4%

  • FiveStar's Mac'apeno

    Votes: 2 6.3%

  • texas blues' Triple Mushroom Head Mac & Cheese

    Votes: 7 21.9%
  • Total voters
    32
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The Hot Pepper

The Hot Pepper

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It's on!

Mac N Cheese
Open: NOW... Feel free to post.
Closed: Sunday, Aug 9, 4 PM ET.
The poll shall begin shortly after the end and run two days. No entries after the poll. If you post a pic it will be for fun.

RULES
  • 2 entries max! Do not post more or you may add confusion to the voting process. Please post all of your voting pics (per entry) together so they can all be viewed in one post. If you want to post a tease with prep pics that is fine.
  • Official entries must be named, in bold, at the top of your voting post.
  • It must include short tubular pasta and cheese together. Other than that, it's all up to you!
 
I kept looking at the Cooking with Fire doodad but failed to look at the throwdown thread thus....it threw me. Just cracked my first hosky and will get goin' in the Blues Kitchen in about 2 hours...830pm vegas time. This throwdown should be a heap of WIN for all on THP and I anticipate some off the charts weird shit-o-meter concoctions! Bring it ya'll!

Salute', TB.
 
Yeah, I decided to clean the stovetop...after having a 9hr power outage from 9pm to 6am this morning..ugh!

It ended up being a bigger job than planned, incl. taking apart the cast iron grates and all...but it'll be in purdy vintage shape for the Throwdown... :D

Getting there, just having a few beers waiting on the oven cleaner to work on the drip pans for the burners. (the left side is rarely used as the pilot light don't work, so it's actually pretty clean)

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Soon...the mayhem begins.... :twisted:
 
Who wants some pie???

Got a little three-sheets today and thought, "what's the best thing to eat in this condition?"

A little mac'n'cheese
some pizza dough
a clove or two of garlic
some paper thin sliced onion
black olives were NOT used due to forgetfulness
some paper thin sliced tomato
a little poblano
some sliced baby bellas
some hab slices on the side for flare
Jimmy Dean Italian snausage
a bit of love from a can poured into a glass...

and a grill laced with hickory chips

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Mac'n'cheese pie. The new hotness!!!
 
Wow! I'd eat that :) Looks good. Mild but good looking.
 
3-Cheese Mac with Salmon, Roasted Garlic, and Mushrooms...and a Dorset Naga

I'm currently taking a "i'm sweating my azz off in this hot kitchen after doing prep" break with a couple PBR's, but here's the goods:

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Gruyère, Tillamook Colby and Aged White Cheddar, mushrooms, onion, roasted young garlic, smoked alaskan salmon, and a VERY finely diced Dorset Naga that's been cured in Aussie 100+ proof Moonshine... (ty Nova!)

Cheeses are gonna be turned into a Mornay sauce with a 2/3 half&half, 1/3 sour cream mix (I was out of heavy cream), the veggies are gonne see the Cast Iron in a butter/evoo mix with a Chardonnay deglasing and reduction.

Finally, Combining it all plus the chunked Smoked Salmon then shove into a buttered 9x5" glass casserole. Then, annointed with more cheese and a Panko/Romano/Chile topping and baked. :-D

Oh, yeah, the pasta is already pefectly cooked to just barely Al Dente.

Fear It Ya'll...

Ok, I'm back..and yeeehaww!

The veggies got sauteed and carmelized...now for the wine deglazing and reduction... FRELL ME that Dorset steam is a KILLER!!
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Meanwhile, as the reduced veggies wait...we be making a Roux...
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Best damn Béchamel sauce I've ever made...
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More to come...
 
Part 2....

Ok, the last part of tha journey...

The addition of the cheeses turns it into a Mornay sauce...albeit a very thick one...the baking will take care of that...

Now we add in all those lovely veggies (yah, they cant be firey...not with a dorset naga cooked in oil and alcohol...) and the Smoked Salmon chunks. After much stirring and beer swilling...we have this Beauty:

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It's not quite as thick as it looks, as there's a lot of chunky goodness in there along with about 3.5 cups worth of cheese. It's actually very smooth as you'll see later.

Layered the cooked pasta and sauce into the buttered baking dish, and topped with the Panko/jalapeno powder/cayenne powder/Romano cheese crumb topping.

Now, it's baking away...Money shot is soon boyz an galz...


Ka-Zaaaaamm!!!

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Cheesy gooey awesomeness!!
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Fully goodness.
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I don't know why I've never done this before, it's sooooooo freakin' good it should be illegal. ;-D
 
texas blues said:
Wuad! You bastard! Smoked Salmon! I'm too hashed right now. That pizzzz IA awersome!

Slush...TBeesxct.
Click to expand...


Heheh...sorry bro...

Da p0wNaGe is on a first come, first served basis...:hell:

Nice looking pizza indeed S.O.M.B. Thos panasonic's take gr8 pix. :)
 
Thx guys!

Oh, btw..that was baked in my toaster oven...why heat the whole house if ya don't need to. ;)

I'm not done though...that was the fancy "cuisine" style, next up is the never before tried:

"Drunken Flamin' Buffalo Mac Attack".

Yes, there shall be actual flames...Buwahahaha!

panic.gif
 
I was going to be cooking for the throwdown too buttttttt....the kitchen is kinda out of order....painters here since Wednesday....so no mac n cheese for me...got a gig from 2-6 at the elephant then another gig from 8-12 tonight...gonna be a long day...

SOMB...I think I have seen everything now...a mac n cheese pizza with busch in a champagne glass...

Quad...looks delicious bro...
 
I was not around last night so my entry will be posted today. Sum, nice pie! Quad I wanted to climb through the screen for a bite of that ooey gooienessness!!!! I take it that everyone else is taking the wait and see approach. I will be heading to the store for a couple of last minute ingredients and then IT IS ON!!!
 
Why thank you Jay, and feel free to bring it. :D

Saturday's mac is gonna be even more epic....there's gonna be at least TWO kinds of booze involved and some of it shall be ON FIRE. Hmm, might have to video that...

To my knowledge (and use of Google-Fu), what I'm planning has never been done before.

Muahahahaa!
evil-hand-rub.GIF
 
Well well well...
Though this entry comes courtesy of Busch light (as so many of mine do) I am proud to announce that my local grocer finally began carrying Pabst Blue Ribbon again, in cans and bottles.
Aside from that, I decided to go a little fancier with this throwdown. We're all used to blue-box Kraft mac, what can be done to class it up a bit?
I started by NOT using macaroni, as the rules (apparently) allow. I did use a short tubular PASTA, and it was good. Also thought PEPPERONI would be good. Let that spicy sausage kick things in gear a bit. Several different CHEESES (mozzarella, jack, cheddar). Oh yea, I'm going to stuff it all in an ARTICHOKE. And then, if I'm feeling crazy enough, I'm going to serve it with WINE...the RED kind.
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I hollowed out those extra large chokes, made up my creamy mac and chac, grated up the spicy pepperoni, threw in some perfectly seasoned bread crumbs...and preheated the convection oven.
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Gave 'em a spin in the oven, came out all nice and gooey. Sliced Hab from the garden for garnish. Melted some butter for the dipping. This was delicious!
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WINE!!!

FD
 
Ya'll's kung fu is pretty good tonight although the herd is a little thin. I knew FD4 would bring it with the foo foo and surprisingly Quad did too. Artichokes? Red wine? Smoked salmon? Mornay? Sounds like a bunch of skirt wearin' french chefs! Ahk! Ya'll are takin' no prisoners!

I purposely stayed away from the stereotypes THP has placed upon me, i.e. bacon, smoked salmon...(I got owned by Quad before even posting). I was pondering what to do then I had an epiphany.....then it hit me...crab! But not any crab. I give you.......

TB's Golden King Crab Mac & Cheese.

What's in the money...

butter
flour
garlic
shallot
orange habanero
fresno
pequin (freshly picked just prior to the throwdown)
asiago cheese
parmigian cheese
sharp cheddar
heavy cream
TB's Notorious Hab Sauce
Siriacha Rooster Sauce
mini penne pasta
Alaskan Golden King Crab

I brought a couple friends to the goin's on in the Blues Kitchen...

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Some of the players...

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And the star of the show..

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Gettin' the foo foo goin' on...I started butter, chile's and shallot for the saute', which was the precursor for the roux for the sauce...

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More to come ya'll...
 
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