Lessons learned…yet again.

Sometimes trying to shave a bit of time off the day is not worth the “time saved.”  I have been making Bacon Mac and Cheese for years using the same supplies getting the same result every time.  Making Mac & Cheese is like breathing to me something I don’t even have to think about it just happens.  Do you have to actually think about the steps to move your finger or does it just happen?  OK that’s me making Mac & Cheese.

So why am I dedicating a blog entry to all of this well there in lies the tale… you see I had been “challenged” over my Mac & Cheese and ya’ll know how I am when challenged where cooking is concerned its like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I can NOT resist. So when one of the KORT Peeps threw down that his Mac & Cheese just might be better than mine it was game on.

But I digress…where was I? OH yes the tried and true.  So I was cruising home from work Wednesday evening and was trying to save a trip into Wal-Mart at the witching hour when all the….interesting people turn out so I stopped at the local chain grocery store thinking I would grab the milk and sharp cheddar I needed for the sauce.  No problem popped in but they did not have what I normally use so I  grabbed what they did offer and popped out in under 10 minutes. Things were looking good, I would get home in plenty of time to get The Husband fed and in the bed early after a LONG day.

Begin Thursday morning…bright and early as normal into the kitchen I go to get my Mac & Cheese groove on.  The smell of frying Bacon wafting though the morning air…simmering onions…all the good things that make this a killer good dish. Then *it* happened.

There I was minding my own business, roux browning nicely in the stock pot turning a lovely caramel color smelling all toasty and brown, garlic mingling with the paprika and chipotle powder.  Everything was bubbling happily in the pot milk thickening like always..welllllll kind of, I didn’t think much about it so I started stirring in the cheese one small hand full at a time,  just like always. Then I look away from the pot I was stirring to gather up another small hand full of cheese when I turned back the sauce had an “odd” dark orange-ish color that it normally did not have. I thought “Hmmm that’s odd I’ve never seen it do that before…” Stir…stir..OH NO! It cracked!! Agggghhhhh!  What happened?!?! Not only had it cracked and gotten all grainy the sauce itself  separated into milk proteins and clear fluid…NOT good eats! So I toss out batch #1 and try try again.  Wash, rinse and begin repeat the whole process including the sauce breaking yet again. By this time I am getting irked because I not only have wasted a bunch of time but money as well.

Well I was not going to let it happen a third time so I pitched everything and off I went to Wally World to get the ingredients I normally use. 20 minutes later I am back in the kitchen prepping my sauce fixings and in 10 minutes my perfect cheese sauce in all its velvet-y, cheese-y, smoky glory is completed.

I learned that yet again when you find what works every time don’t mess with it.  Take the extra time to gather the ingredients that have a proven track record. You will save not time but money as well as a huge amount of  frustration.

Now go play with your food.

WikiJan