A family recipe
Mac and Cheese - Michelin Style
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Inspired by Heston BlumenthalA lighter, more complex mac and cheese inspired by Heston Blumenthal, replacing traditional béchamel with an aromatic, stock-based sauce, finished with a crispy brown butter herb panko topping.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Serves
- 6
- Updated
- Sep 10, 2026
Ingredients
18 items
For the Panko Topping
- 100 g butter
- 100 g panko
- 5 sage leaves
- 2 g fresh thyme
- 50 g panko breadcrumbs
For the Macaroni
- 2 L water
- 20 g salt
- 500 g macaroni
For the Cheese Sauce
- 600 g white wine
- 600 g chicken stock
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
- 100 g gruyere
- 100 g slices American cheese
- 30 g corn flour
- 160 g soft cream cheese
- 5 g Dijon mustard
Instructions
22 steps
Make the panko topping
For the panko topping, pick the thyme and finely chop the sage.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan on a medium heat.
Continue to swirl the butter as the solids turn golden brown and start to smell biscuity.
Remove from the heat, drop in the herbs and allow to cool slightly.
Finally stir through the panko breadcrumbs and season with salt and pepper.
Cook the macaroni
For the macaroni, bring a pan filled with the water and salt to a rolling boil.
Add the macaroni and cook until al dente.
Drain, toss in a splash of oil and set aside.
Make the cheese sauce and assemble
For the sauce, add the chicken stock, thyme, rosemary and peppercorns to a saucepan.
Bring to the boil on a medium high heat and immediately turn the heat off and set aside the pan for the stock to infuse.
Pour the white wine into a saucepan and on a medium heat, reduce until you only have roughly 60g of wine reduction left.
Strain the stock into the pan with the wine reduction and turn the heat down to low.
Finely slice the American cheese and grate half the gruyere.
Put all the American Cheese and grated Gruyere in a bowl, add the corn flour and stir through.
Once combined, add the cheese and cornflour to the pan of reduced wine and stock, whisking continuously until the cheese has melted and the sauce thickens.
Take a small amount of the sauce out of the pan and into a mixing bowl.
Whisk in the cream cheese and Dijon until fully incorporated.
Whisk the cream cheese and Dijon slurry back into the sauce until fully incorporated.
Fold the pasta through the sauce and mix until combined.
Cut the remaining gruyere into small cubes and fold them through the pasta.
Season with salt and pepper to taste before transferring to an oven proof dish.
Top with the brown butter panko crumbs and bake on 180°C for 15 minutes until golden.