Best Homemade Mac and Cheese

My own macaroni and cheese recipe.

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1⁄3 cup butter
• 1⁄4 cup flour
• 1  pint  whole milk
• 3⁄4 lb sharp cheddar cheese
• 3⁄4 lb  brie cheese
• 1⁄3 lb parmesan cheese
• 8  ounces pancetta
• 2⁄3 cup  ipa beer
• 1  lb macaroni noodles
• 1  cup  breadcrumbs
• 2  teaspoons paprika
• 2  teaspoons rosemary

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
2. Melt butter in large pot over low heat.
3. In a separate pan, begin cooking pancetta over low heat. The intention is to cook the pancetta about 75% before removing from heat.
4. In another large pot, boil water for pasta. Add pasta and cook according to directions on package as soon as water is boiling.
5. Add flour in slowly while stirring constantly, to ensure thick blend with few/no chunks.
6. Add in cheddar cheese and turn heat up to medium. Stir until almost all cheddar has been melted and blended into the mixture.
7. Add in brie cheese, continue stirring, until mixture is consistent.
8. Add in parmesan cheese (or parmesan/romano blend) while continuing to stir.
9. Add in milk slowly until desired consistency is reached (at this point, the mixture might seem almost solid. You want it to be a very thick liquid that you can pour onto the pasta.
10. Add ipa to the mixture.
11. Add 75% cooked pancetta to the mixture.
12. Pour cooked noodles into a large baking pan. Spread evenly.
13. Pour cheese/pancetta mixture over the noodles, ensuring a relatively even spread (this should be easy/it should settle almost evenly if consistency is correct/enough milk was added).
14. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over top of the macaroni in the pan. Cover all surface area with a thin coating of breadcrumbs, and press down using your hands to ensure the grease from the pasta/cheese mixture covers the breadcrumbs.
15. Sprinkle paprika and rosemary over the top of the breadcrumbs.
16. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, checking every 10 minutes or so to ensure that breadcrumbs are cooking correctly/not burning (will burn if not sufficiently coated in grease).
17. Let cool for about 5 minutes after removing from the oven. Serve plain, with hot sauce, or other sauce of your choosing.