How to make fantastic mac ‘n cheese, according to a golf-club chef

Welcome to Clubhouse Eats, exactly where we rejoice the game’s most delectable food and consume. Hope you introduced your appetites.

***

We’re here this week to rejoice the fundamentals, which have nothing at all to do with grip, posture or alignment. We’re referring, of study course, to starch, salt and fats.

All those three crucial foodstuff groups type the holy trinity powering macaroni-and-cheese, a comforting vintage and a staple on the menu at Reynolds Lake Oconee, a luxe golfing desired destination outside the house Atlanta, where Zouhair Bellout serves as govt sous chef. For professional cooks, mac ‘n cheese is like a tap-in for a Tour professional: challenging to botch. But since there is no these matter as a gimme in the kitchen, we questioned Bellout for his keys to finding the dish right.

1. No require to noodle all-around

Pasta will come in a assortment of shapes and measurements, and Bellout has tinkered about a bit. But his choice is standard elbow macaroni. Not that you need to have to sweat your selection. When you boil it down, Bellout states, nearly any type of noodle will do the trick. What really matters is not the pasta measurement or condition but the sauce.

2. Cautious not to overcook

Standard macaroni-and-cheese is a two times-cooked dish: boiled, then baked. Acquire care not to acquire the very first move much too much. Boil the noodles to al dente, but no farther, and enable them finish cooking in the oven. You want the noodles comfortable but with plenty of resistance that your mac-n-cheese is not just a bowl of mush.

3. Use fantastic cheese, if you please

Some cooks use mornay sauce in their mac ‘n cheese. (That is béchamel sauce blended with shredded or grated cheese, if you are maintaining rating at household). At Reynolds Lake Oconee, Bellout opts in its place for a minimized cream with aromatics, in addition a medley of a few cheeses: clothbound cheddar, superior-quality gruyere and parmesan, a trio that he says “melt very well together.” In the finish, the option of cheese will come down to particular style. But Bellout says that you want a finished merchandise that doesn’t go away “grittiness” on your tongue. “The clean, velvety cheese we use sticks to the pasta and give the right equilibrium of gooeyness we’re trying to get,” Bellout states. “And what is not to love about making use of a few sorts of top-high-quality cheeses?”

4. To cover or not to protect

You can go either way in the course of the baking course of action. Bellout usually goes with both: included when the dish initially goes into the oven, then uncovered towards the close to get some browning on best.

5. What about include ins?

Cooks make mac ‘n cheese with all kinds of extras, from bacon and scallions to lobster and past. Just about anything at all is fair sport (even though Bellout stands firmly from fish). But it is not a negative strategy to base your selection on no matter whether your mac ‘n cheese is a most important dish or a side. At Reynolds Lake Oconee, where mac ‘n cheese is served mainly as an accompaniment to meaty entrees such as pork chops and steak, Bellout and his crew go without any additions. But they do offer you a pair of to-go possibilities that are intended to stand on your own. People are made with lobster and crab.

Table of Contents

Toggle

Golfing Journal

Subscribe To The Magazine

Subscribe

Golf.com

A golf, food and vacation author, Josh Sens has been a Golfing Magazine contributor given that 2004 and now contributes across all of GOLF’s platforms. His operate has been anthologized in The Best American Sportswriting. He is also the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Acquiring Any Enjoyment Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.