The Mac & Cheese Secret

Many have tried my mac and cheese and after doing so they ask for the recipe. After much thought I have finally decided to share it and with it comes a heavy issue. In sharing my recipe I also share a dark secret. One that threatens the very foundations of the earth. Ok, so maybe I exaggerate. Tell you what, let me share my recipe first and then I will explain what I mean. Click here for my recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/mac-and-cheese-recipe2.html

Wait, whats that you say? That's a recipe by Ina Garten? 

Yeah, you're right, it is.

Wait, Sergio, but, but you... You've been using someone else's recipe? 

Devastating truth, right? Actually before you get too disappointed, let me share my thoughts for a bit. Recipes, while extremely awesome and helpful, are for me merely a starting point. I will look up a recipe and read it, capturing the essence of it. I'll pay attention to ingredients and measurements, and perhaps even look at the pictures to get a sense of the presentation of the dish. What I focus on the most are temperatures and cooking times. 

(My Hatch Chile Mac n Cheese)

Once I have captured the basic idea of the recipe, I turn my attention to the idea of making it my own. In the case of the mac and cheese recipe above, I change the cheeses out and try different combinations (I try to use a minimum of 5 cheeses each time). I trade out the bread crumbs mentioned for panko bread crumbs instead. Those tomatoes? Gone. I add things like bacon or hatch chiles. Whatever strikes my fancy I will do, leaving the integrity of the dish to the details of cooking time and temperature. It's a liberating approach to cooking and one that I encourage you to try.

You can't cook you say? Yes you can. Grab a recipe for a dish you want to try. Cook it based on the ingredient and instructions. Follow them to the letter. Did you enjoy the dish? Awesome, you can cook. Now, do the recipe again. Change one thing that is not cooking time or temperature. Now you have innovated. You may not have the title of chef or be hired to cook on a brigade. What you can and will do is cook for someone who you care about and who cares about you. When you serve them that dish that you innovated and made your own, watch their face. See their eyes light up and watch them lose the power of speech. Soak that in, revel in it. You cooked and you cooked well. 

Now go do it again...

And until next time, eat with a passion, cook with your heart and remember,

Food Is Love...