Marc Murphy's Simple Tips For Perfectly Satisfying Mac And Cheese

Macaroni and cheese is one of those dishes that bonafide home cooks and professional chefs alike should be able to pull off from scratch. There are many ways to spruce up the cheesy dish, and there are certainly many mistakes you must avoid with mac and cheese. But even if you swear by your family's secret recipe, there are some simple chef-approved tips to make the best macaroni and cheese — and we've got some of that advice from a recent conversation with Marc Murphy at Food Network's New York City Wine & Food Festival.

"If you're serving it as a dish, you want it baked because you want those crispy edges," he says. When you make baked macaroni and cheese, it will result in creamy bites with that crunch on top, whether you want to serve it as a main or side dish. The textural upgrade is worth the extra time in the oven compared to a stovetop version — but it's not the only way to add crunch. You can also add "a couple breadcrumbs," according to Murphy. The celebrity chef who you might know from shows like "Chopped" says panko breadcrumbs are ideal, and we agree because the variety offers more crunch than other types of breadcrumbs in the kitchen cabinet.

It's not only about baked macaroni and cheese topped with panko breadcrumbs — because the rest of the ingredients are what result in a chef-approved dish. One potentially intimidating, but essential, aspect is a béchamel. "You can't make a mac and cheese without a béchamel," says Marc Murphy. "Unless you're a magician, maybe, but you have to make a béchamel." As a reminder, béchamel is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and involves butter, flour, and milk. "[Mess] it up a few times and you'll figure it out," he says. And to pull off the mother sauce for macaroni and cheese like Murphy, here are our tips to make béchamel sauce, including the right tools to use.

Then, there's the cheese — an important part of the dish. Use whatever type of cheese you want, really, but there are some more ideal options that will melt well. "For me, it's Parmesan, it's white cheddar, and it's probably a Gruyere," he says. It's true, a variety of cheeses is ideal for the dish and other types like gouda and American work just as deliciously. Try Murphy's tips with our baked mac and cheese recipe that includes a béchamel or go with our melty braised brisket macaroni and cheese if you want to serve it as a complete meal.