[0 - 2] - I'd argue that humankind's greatest achievement
[2 - 4] was turning milk into cheese,
[4 - 5] but that's like barely an argument
[5 - 7] because who's on the other side of that issue?
[7 - 11] Cheese is rich, flavorful, gooey, melty,
[11 - 13] and comes in every shape and texture.
[13 - 14] Humankind's second greatest achievement,
[14 - 16] in my humble opinion,
[16 - 18] was figuring out how to turn cheese back into a liquid,
[18 - 20] which is no easy feat.
[20 - 23] Liquefying cheese gives us all-star foods like cacio e pepe,
[23 - 25] fondue, ballpark nacho cheese sauce,
[25 - 28] and of course, good old American style mac and cheese.
[28 - 31] And that last one is the subject of today's episode.
[31 - 34] (upbeat symphonic music)
[34 - 36] To understand the mac and cheese of today,
[36 - 38] we gotta start with a little history lesson.
[38 - 39] In early American history,
[39 - 41] cheese making was done as you would expect,
[41 - 43] on a small and local scale,
[43 - 46] but that changed in 1851 when a fellow named Jesse Williams
[46 - 49] created the country's first cheese factory in New York.
[49 - 51] By buying up milk from surrounding herds
[51 - 53] and pulling it to make cheese at one location,
[53 - 56] Williams made commercial cheese production more viable.
[56 - 57] From New York outwards,
[57 - 59] cheese factories spread like wildfire.
[59 - 62] Generic factory cheddar became so common
[62 - 64] that Americans simply called it store cheese
[64 - 65] or yellow cheese.
[65 - 67] Then, along comes a guy named James L. Kraft,
[67 - 71] who in 1903 moved from Canada to Chicago with 65 bucks,
[71 - 72] bought a horse and wagon,
[72 - 74] and started wholesaling yellow cheese.
[74 - 76] But he quickly noticed a problem.
[76 - 77] Cheese is perishable, (flies buzzing)
[77 - 79] and so there was a lot of waste and spoilage
[79 - 81] in the business of commercial cheese.
[81 - 82] He put some serious R&D
[82 - 84] into techniques for pasteurizing cheese
[84 - 86] to make something with a longer shelf life.
[86 - 87] Right around this time,
[87 - 89] a couple of Swiss chemists named Walter Gerber
[89 - 92] and Fritz Stettler were after the same goal.
[92 - 94] They both realized that simply heating cheese
[94 - 95] to pasteurization temperatures
[95 - 97] absolutely destroyed its texture.
[97 - 99] Kraft played with heating under agitation
[99 - 101] and got some pretty good results,
[101 - 103] but it was the Swiss chemists that cracked the code.
[103 - 105] While experimenting with blending Swiss cheese
[105 - 107] and a substance called sodium citrate.
[107 - 110] They found the resulting cheese mixture melted beautifully,
[110 - 112] solidified upon cooling,
[112 - 114] and then remarkably was able to be remelted
[114 - 117] and turn out just as smooth. Magic.
[117 - 119] They had created the first processed cheese.
[119 - 120] A few short years later,
[120 - 122] Kraft would gone to patent his own method,
[122 - 123] and then it took off.
[123 - 127] No, like when I say took off, I mean took off. By 1930,
[127 - 130] over 40% of the cheese consumed in the US was Kraft's,
[130 - 131] and that was in spite of the fact
[131 - 133] that it was relatively expensive.
[133 - 135] Fast forward to 2024.
[135 - 136] What can this history teach us
[136 - 138] about our beloved mac and cheese?
[138 - 141] Well, the sweatshirt I'm wearing provides a big hint.
[141 - 143] This is the chemical formula for sodium citrate.
[143 - 145] It's known as an emulsifying salt.
[145 - 147] As the Swiss discovered,
[147 - 149] sodium citrate helps cheese melt smoothly.
[149 - 150] Check out this experiment.
[150 - 152] Here, I have a piece of American cheese,
[152 - 154] which is made with an emulsifying salt,
[154 - 157] and a piece of extra sharp cheddar, which is not.
[157 - 159] I'm placing them in non-stick pans over low heat
[159 - 160] so we can watch how they melt.
[160 - 163] At first, everything looks smooth for both cheeses,
[163 - 164] but pretty quickly they diverge.
[164 - 167] The cheddar starts to separate into clumps,
[167 - 168] swimming in a slick of fat,
[168 - 171] while the American cheese just continues to flow smoothly.
[171 - 173] In an aged cheese like sharp cheddar,
[173 - 175] proteins are bonded tightly to each other
[175 - 177] with the help of calcium ions.
[177 - 178] When you apply heat,
[178 - 180] the fat melts and escapes
[180 - 182] long before that rigid protein structure
[182 - 183] softens enough to flow.
[183 - 185] Bring sodium citrate into the equation
[185 - 187] and you can get a cheese like that cheddar
[187 - 189] to melt smoothly with not a lump in sight.
[189 - 191] I'll show you how in just a minute.
[191 - 193] Now thanks to some benevolent food science gods,
[193 - 196] the chemical formula for sodium citrate spells nacho,
[196 - 199] as in nacho cheese sauce. It's amazing.
[199 - 200] So of course, we put it on a sweatshirt
[200 - 203] that you can buy in two colorways on our site.
[203 - 204] I'm wearing yellow nacho cheese,
[204 - 206] but we also have a very collegiate maroon
[206 - 208] that feels just as at home on a college quad,
[208 - 211] an important date, or a fancy dinner party.
[211 - 213] Hit up shop.americastestkitchen.com
[213 - 215] or click the link below this video
[215 - 218] if you wanna, you know, shop this look.
[218 - 220] Okay, back to the nerdy stuff.
[220 - 222] Sodium citrate is easy to buy online,
[222 - 224] providing any home-cooked with the means to turn cheeses
[225 - 227] into super smooth sauce for mac and cheese.
[227 - 228] Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
[228 - 229] Let's go to the kitchen.
[229 - 231] We're gonna make a cheese sauce
[231 - 232] that is just as good on nachos
[232 - 234] as it is tossed with elbow macaroni.
[234 - 237] The basic formula I'm working with is 10 ounces
[237 - 239] or 283 grams of cheese,
[239 - 242] 1 1/3 cups or 320 grams of water,
[242 - 245] and one tablespoon or 12 grams of sodium citrate.
[245 - 247] I'm using a combination of cheddar, Gruyere,
[247 - 248] and a basic Swiss.
[248 - 252] Swiss or alpine-style cheeses are great melters,
[252 - 254] and it helps to have a good proportion of them in the mix.
[254 - 256] We'll start by whisking half the water
[256 - 258] and the sodium citrate together in a small sauce pan
[258 - 260] until the sodium citrate dissolves.
[260 - 262] Then, we bring it to a simmer over medium heat.
[262 - 263] While whisking constantly,
[263 - 265] I'm gradually adding the cheese mixture,
[265 - 267] a small handful at a time,
[267 - 269] whisking until fully incorporated before adding the next,
[269 - 272] just as we do when we're adding butter to a pan sauce.
[272 - 274] Here's what's happening in the pot.
[274 - 276] The sodium substitutes itself for some of the calcium
[276 - 278] that's helping those proteins cling.
[278 - 279] As the cheese is heated,
[279 - 281] the proteins separate from each other,
[281 - 283] and again, act as emulsifiers.
[283 - 284] Strengthening the emulsion
[284 - 287] by holding fat and water together. Jeez.
[287 - 289] This is so good.
[289 - 292] So cheesy and intense, and perfectly, perfectly smooth.
[292 - 294] Because you can pick the cheeses that go into the mix,
[294 - 296] you have total control over flavor.
[296 - 298] This is the texture of the blue box stuff,
[298 - 300] but with legit rich cheese flavor.
[300 - 302] Now I just tossed this with some cooked pasta
[302 - 304] and use the remaining water
[304 - 306] to adjust the consistency to my liking.
[306 - 307] Yum, yum, yum.
[307 - 310] I encourage you to buy sodium citrate and make this,
[310 - 311] but you definitely don't have to.
[311 - 314] I've got a way to cheat the sodium citrate system
[314 - 317] and still capture the amazing powers of emulsifying salts
[317 - 319] to make the creamiest, gooiest mac and cheese.
[319 - 322] I'm talking about Cook's Illustrated deputy food editor,
[322 - 325] Andrea Geary's super smart and delicious recipe
[325 - 328] for mac and cheese that uses a little American ingenuity.
[328 - 329] Check it out.
[329 - 330] This recipe breaks a lot of rules
[330 - 332] in a very short span of time,
[332 - 334] so parents may wanna exercise caution
[334 - 335] if small children are watching.
[335 - 338] We start by bringing water and milk to a boil
[338 - 339] in a sauce pan over high heat.
[339 - 341] We're not going to drain this pasta
[341 - 343] because we wanna capture all the starch
[343 - 344] that comes off during cooking.
[344 - 346] That starch will help our cheese melt smoothly.
[346 - 349] Milk provides great flavor and its proteins also assist
[349 - 351] in forming a nice smooth emulsion,
[351 - 354] but simmering in all milk leads to a scorched pan.
[354 - 356] Cutting it with water gives us the best of both worlds.
[356 - 358] Now I add my macaroni,
[358 - 360] reduce the heat to medium low and cook,
[360 - 362] stirring often until the pasta is soft.
[362 - 364] Just a little past al dente,
[364 - 366] somewhere in between six and eight minutes.
[366 - 367] Now I love al dente pasta,
[367 - 370] but classic American cheese features softer noodles,
[370 - 371] so that's what we're going with.
[371 - 373] Now we add the cheese,
[373 - 376] not cheddar, not Swiss, but American cheese,
[376 - 377] and here's the simple reason why.
[377 - 380] It's got the emulsifying salts we're after built right in
[380 - 381] and we can harness it.
[381 - 383] Along with the American,
[383 - 384] I'm also gonna add a couple of flavors,
[384 - 386] mustard and cayenne,
[386 - 388] which will help boost that cheesy flavor.
[388 - 389] Off heat, we can now add cheddar
[389 - 391] for classic mac and cheese flavor.
[391 - 392] After stirring it in,
[392 - 395] I cover the pot and let it stand for five minutes to soften.
[395 - 396] Then, we just stir until smooth
[396 - 398] and season with salt to taste.
[398 - 400] That American keeps the cheddar from breaking.
[400 - 403] For mac and cheese that is just, just... (whistles)
[403 - 405] Wow, this is so good.
[405 - 407] This is my go-to mac and cheese now.
[407 - 409] Barely harder than the blue box stuff
[409 - 410] and so much better.
[410 - 413] Now if you want to gild the lily as Andrea does,
[413 - 416] prep this three-minute crispy, buttery panko topping.
[416 - 417] I need more bites.
[417 - 419] Super creamy, cheesy, and nostalgic.
[419 - 422] Liquid cheese, you've done it again.
[422 - 428] This is without hesitation how to eat macaroni and cheese. (upbeat music)
[428 - 430] Okay, well, I'm happy now. It's your turn.
[430 - 432] Grab Andrea's recipe at the link below this video
[432 - 433] and get cooking.
[433 - 436] I know a lot of you have big opinions about mac and cheese,
[436 - 437] and I want to hear them in the comments.
[437 - 439] But specifically, I wanna know
[439 - 441] what's the most unexpected thing you've added to yours.
[441 - 442] I'll go first.
[442 - 444] One time I sliced off the sugary,
[444 - 447] caramelized edge of a honey spiral ham and threw that in.
[448 - 449] I would do it again.
[449 - 450] I can't wait to hear
[450 - 452] what you guys put in your mac and cheese.
[452 - 454] After commenting, hit like and subscribe.
[454 - 455] Thank you all so much for watching,
[455 - 457] and I'll see you next time.