Wagyu Chorizo Mac & Cheese
| Provided By | Patrick Montgomery |
| Prep Time | 15 Minutes |
| Servings # | 6 |
Smoked Wagyu Chorizo Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 16oz Cavatappi Pasta
- 1 lb
- 1 Cup Whole Milk
- 4 TBSP Flour
- 1 Cup Breadcrumbs
- Your Favorite BBQ Rub
- 8oz Pepper Jack Cheese
- 8oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- 2 Cloves Garlic Minced
- 1 TBSP Corn Starch
- Salt to taste
- Optional- 5 strips
- Optional- 1 Red Onion
Directions
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1. Heat Dutch oven on stove to medium-high and put water on in pot on stove to boil. Separately, heat a pan for the bacon. (optional)
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2. Pre-heat smoker or oven to 350 degrees F
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3. Mix pepper jack and cheddar cheese with corn starch (this should help with stringy cheese when melted).
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4. Mix pepper jack and cheddar cheese with corn starch (this should help with stringy cheese when melted).
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5. Put cavatappi pasta into boiling pot with salt (cook to El Dente – 8 – 10 minutes).
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6. Place Wagyu chorizo into Dutch oven to brown (Do not drain fat). While chorizo is browning, add your bacon to separate pan to cook until done (pull bacon and set to the side).
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7. Once chorizo is approaching done, add red onion to caramelize and garlic (3 – 4 minutes).
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8. Slowly mix flour into meat and onion mixture.
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9. Once flour is worked in, slowly add milk while stirring rapidly.
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10. Allow milk to heat for a few minutes, then start to add cheese while still stirring constantly.
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11. Continue stirring while cheese melts and mixes with everything else. Once the milk begins to turn yellow from cheese, slowly add el dente pasta and continue mixing.
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12. Once thoroughly mixed, spoon out mixture into 8” x 10” backing dish.
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13. Mix 1 cup breadcrumbs to ½ cup BBQ seasoning (I chose a Cajun seasoning with a hint of lime to pair with the Chorizo). Add bacon crumbles and parmesan cheese to this mix as well.
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14. Cover top of Mac and Cheese with this mixture.
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15. Place baking dish in oven/smoker for 30 – 45 minutes (looking for the bread crumbs to turn brown, not black).
I got really excited when I saw this. My chorizo had been languishing in the freezer, and I had a huge family fish fry coming up, a shit ton of drum, fresh caught 30 min away in Lynnhaven Inlet by my cousin. Hushpuppies, baked beans, coleslaw and I offered to bring my smoked mac’n’cheese. Then I saw this recipe and knew I was going to mess with it, BigTime. Woot! Here’s how it went down:
Cooked chorizo in a pan, drained. Then added 12 oz Hormel Black Label bacon, cut up w/kitchen shears into chunks. I fried it in the chorizo grease on low for 60 min to get it crispy but SO INFUSED w/the Wagyu chorizo flavor! Drained and set aside for a day in the fridge, together.
1 lb pasta, cooked/drained.
Cheeses: Beemster Goat Gouda 8 oz, Pepper Jack 8 oz, Smoked Gouda 8 oz, Velveeta 4 oz (helps with creaminess)
Wisk the flour, corn starch w/ 1/2 c powdered whipping cream, 1 T Spanish Garden taco seasoning (or Pensey’s chili seasoning) then mix with 1 cup water.
In large mixing bowl, add the drained pasta, the above flour/milk/spice mixture + 1 tsp. Liquid Smoke.
I cut green onion tops and Rosemary from my garden, snip them up and add along with minced garlic to the mess and fold up. Once the liquid is well incorporated, I add an 8 oz tub of full fat sour cream. This is not a diet dish! and get that mixed in.
Then comes the cheeses being folded in and finally the whole thing goes into a non-stick sprayed, deep-sided 13×9 pan. I sprinkle the seasoned bread crumbs (more Spanish Garden seasoning, but lightly) plus shredded sharp white and yellow cheddar over the top. I bake covered at 350F for 30 min, then uncover and bake another 15min. or until the cheese & bread crumbs on top brown up nicely.
It stayed hot, though we stashed it right back into a low oven to keep warm. For some of the folks, it was the main dish, over the fish. Very, very rich. Easy recipe to play with, and the Wagyu Chorizo & infused bacon were perfect together. I would say that ground beef could also have been cooked in the chorizo grease quite successfully. The oil infuses its flavor fantastically. I saved the drippings in a glass jar and don’t you know I will use it in the future!
I had to transport it
Did ya try it? Let us know how it went!