Ingredients
Yields: 8 maindish portions or 14 large sides

  • 1 1/2 small boxes Elbow Macaroni -the ones without ridges take on the sauce better
  •  1 Stick, Butter
  •  3 Cans, Evaporated Milk -can use regular milk or cream
  •  7 Tbls of Flour
  •  1 package of Bacon
  •  1 Small block of mild cheddar cheese, grated
  •  1 small block of either gruyere or aged white cheddar or medium or sharp cheddar
  •  1/2 small block of Velveeta
  •  1/2 box of Panko breadcrumbs
  •  Large handful of Parmesan Cheese for breadcrumb topping
  •  Garlic powder to taste
  •  Onion powder to taste
  •  Salt to taste
  •  White pepper to taste
  •  Mustard powder to taste (careful with this one!)
  •  Paprika to taste (Helps make the dish orange)

Directions

  • Pre-heat oven to 400
  • Boil pasta with salt, no oil
  •  Bake the bacon until crispy, turning now and then.
  •  Grate your cheeses and cut Velveeta into chunks.
  •  When pasta is al dente, drain it, but reserve some cook water. Pour a little cook water as well as some of the butter over the pasta and mix to keep it from sticking together.
  •  Cut bacon into bits and decrease the oven to 350.
  •  Grease baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Lay in 1/2 the pasta. Top with 1/2 bacon bits and some shredded cheese.
  •  Using the pasta pot, add two or three Tablespoons of the bacon grease and three Tablespoons of butter. Turn the heat to medium low.
  •  After this starts to bubble, add the flour and whisk for a few minutes to make a roux. This should not be popping. If it is, turn down the heat. The flour should cook a little or your sauce will taste floury.
  •  Once this is smooth, slowly pour in the evaporated milk while whisking. You want it at a low boil. When the milk starts to cling to the sides of the pan, remove from the heat and add your cheeses. Keep around 2-3 cups out to sprinkle over the casserole. You can find a lot of tutorials about how to do this on YouTube. It is a basic béchamel.
  •  If you used regular milk, add a couple of shakes of nutmeg or allspice. Evaporated milk is already a little sweet, so doesn't need it.
  •  If you use regular milk, it will take around 20 minutes of whisking to get a nice, thick sauce. If it doesn't thicken by then, put a couple of spoons of flour into a mug and add in some of the hot liquid to "temper" the flour and avoid lumps. Mix with a fork, then pour back into the pot, continuing to whisk.
  •  Here is where it gets tricky, because I don't know how much I add. Start slow! We can always add, never remove. Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, white pepper and mustard powder. If you add paprika, the sauce will be nice and orange.
  •  Mix 1/2 box of Panko breadcrumbs with melted butter and parmesan cheese. I use latex gloved hands to really mix this together until it looks crumbly and a little dry.
  •  Pour 1/2 sauce over the pasta. Add the rest of the pasta. sprinkle remaining bacon bits and shredded cheese, then pour the rest of the sauce over. Add Panko breadcrumb mixture over top. Don't try mixing the pasta with the sauce. I don't know why, but it isn't as good.
  •  Cover and set onto center rack of the oven. If your rack is too low, the bottom will burn. Leave it for around 20 minutes (you will hear it bubbling), then uncover to brown the top.

Notes

  •  You can use whatever cheese you have on hand. Cream cheese is also nice, or even Kraft American Cheese Slices. You can use pre-grated, but I swear it tastes better if you grate it fresh.
  •  You can use whatever breadcrumbs you have on hand, with or without parmesan cheese, but always add the butter to the breadcrumbs to get the crunchy, grilled cheese taste.
  •  You can buy cheese sauce already made, but I don't use them because I think they will have a ton of salt and preservatives