- Let's zhoosh up some box mac and cheese.
That's what the [beep] world needs.
[upbeat music]
Alright, action.
- You're gonna love this,
this is a great way--
- To kind of zoosh up--
- A box mac and cheese.
- And like, take it to a different planet.
- It's so good.
- Maybe I will eat this.
- Tell me what you think. Oh!
- It's really good, right?
[neck cracking]
[screaming]
[laughter]
[upbeat music]
- Quiet, quiet on set, boys.
Oh, Peg--oh son.
Oh, son.
- [Peggy] It's just paper, we color.
[laughter]
- Personally, I like classic,
but it's gotta be ripping hot.
As soon as it starts to
get a little cool, no good.
Oh, and I might add a little bit,
I got this little fantastic,
there's actually a video
teach you how to make it,
little show called, 'It's Alive'.
But it's a little fermented
garlic and ginger paste, okay.
The ginger might be a little weird.
But maybe just a little,
maybe just a little dab.
I got my water already ripping hot
'cause that's the kinda guy I am.
- [Producer] Cory, Brad,
is this what we want
for the camera?
- [Cory] Yeah, let's get
it from a sideways shot.
- [beep]
- [Cory] You're out of--.
- [Brad] Yeah, I get it, Cory.
[laughter]
I feel like I might be out of the frame.
We're back.
I'm like Morocco, my time,
you probably can't see it.
My time's dialed in, alright.
I'm telling ya.
Oh she's done.
She's done.
All right, beautiful, okay.
Put that on low, okay.
Get a little bit of
butter going, all right.
Use as much as you want.
Imma do a little dab of this garlic.
And then I'm gonna hit it
with a little Calabrian,
oh there goes giving some to the kids huh.
Then you add the pasta, imma hit it with a
little bit of water, then we
hit it with a little milk,
and we'll get that going,
yeah, get that going.
Imma start putting in this
packet, you know, I guess.
Do you have to use the packet?
Okay, um, confirmed packet must be used.
Part of my zhuzh plan
is to, I'm just gonna
seed it with some grated sharp cheddar,
come on, who we foolin',
little black pep,
get out of town.
The Calabrian chili in there, woo!
And that's it, zhuzh up your pantry pasta,
use whatever you want,
I like a little spice
but I like to kinda keep
it classic, ripping hot,
adios, out of my kitchen.
- Box mac and cheese, one of those things
I feel like I never had in
my household growing up,
my parents were kind of
like health food fanatics,
so I'm kinda gonna try
to like make up for it,
all in like one day.
So basically I took the
box mac and cheese, uh,
I made it as is, as per the
instructions on the box,
then I added, uh, a good amount of um
whole milk mozzarella, um,
big handful of sharp cheddar cheese,
and then also another
handful of grated parm.
I then let the mac and
cheese cool over night
so I could get really good scoops of it,
okay, I mean they're not gonna be perfect,
but nothing is, you know.
We're then gonna dredge them in flour,
got egg, and I've got
Panko, just wanna make sure
flour is completely
coating the mac and cheese,
the egg completely coats the flour,
and the Panko completely coats the egg.
Boom, all right, not a
perfect sphere, all right,
but hey, clocks are now
synchronized, here, here,
here, here, so, I heard
you, I changed the clocks
they're synchronized, okay, it's fine.
So let's do a tester,
I'm tryna keep this oil
at about 350, any hotter
than that and it might
just fry a little bit too quickly,
any cooler and you're
gonna have a situation
where, um, you know you could get some oil
kind of like getting into, you know,
past that dredge and into the kind of
mac and cheese mixture itself, which I
definitely don't want.
So if you don't have a thermometer,
it's really not a big deal,
you're just gonna have
to go somewhere in the
neighborhood of like
three minutes or so as
probably a reasonable
amount of time.
Oo, that is starting to look
really good, just saying.
Okay, attempt at a cheese pull, take one.
[unsatisfied groan] we
didn't quite get a pull.
[sigh]
it breaks my heart a little bit,
that it's like so cheesy and yet
we didn't get like a big strand.
It tastes very good, and
we'll try a few more,
maybe we'll get one, I
think in a little bit
maybe we'll get the kids in here and see
what they think about all this, all right.
I think because you're
holding it upside-down.
[laughs]
All right, so here I'm
gonna cut up some of these
Calabrian chili peppers,
put a little high quality
olive oil in the third Calabrian chili's.
Okay, wait, ooo.
That was awesome.
Careful, dear God, that
things pointy, okay.
[child laughs]
[Man] - Do you wanna try
this? It's mac and cheese.
[Child] - No.
[Man] It's mac and cheese!
- No!
[frustrated groan]
- I'll try it!
- Oh, all right, try this
see that stretch? All right,
and I'm gonna do a little condiment,
[talks over child] Careful, oh dear God,
did you stab that thing?
- Look! I made a choo-choo train!
- The Calabrian chili
just like brings like,
a little funk, you need
some balance to this thing,
and heat definitely delivers.
There is cheese stretching
from this child,
to this this nug of fried mac and cheese,
just pointing that out.
[upbeat music begins]
[Man] - well we nailed it in the end.
- What do you think?
[inaudible]
- Hey, uh, welcome back to my kitchen
here in the East village, and um today
I'm gonna show you how to
make mac and cheese pancakes.
How's that?
What are the actual directions?
Boil. We're gonna follow that one.
So, these pancakes are actually an owed to
Kenny Shopsin, his restaurant
was really important
to us when we first
came to New York because
we were working in all these
fancy-shmansy restaurants
and his philosophy is like
the total, total opposite
he would use things like
Aunt Jemima pancake mix,
so I feel like using Kraft
for this is very Kenny.
[macaroni pouring]
This is B.A.'s best buttermilk pancakes.
So in here I have flour,
baking powder, baking soda,
sugar, and salt.
That's getting really foamy.
This thing's too powerful.
All right, here I've got
a couple eggs, buttermilk
and I'm gonna whisk in my melted butter.
That exploded.
[laughs and groans]
Oh great.
[inaudible]
This happens a lot.
Oh too far.
[laughs]
No
I lost a tablespoon or so, but who cares?
So I'm gonna whisk my
wet and dry separately
and then bring them together,
and we have pancake mix.
Nice and fluffy already.
It's been about five minutes.
I think it's ready to go, I'm gonna drain.
Okay, I'm gonna prepare
my cheese packet while my
pan preheats, and I'm gonna
dunk it in this little sifter.
I'm gonna add a little
Ghee, because why not?
So we'll do just a little
guy to see how it cooks up.
All right, test pancake came
out great, nice and fluffy.
Now before the batter sets,
I'm gonna sprinkle macaroni.
Uh, its a symphony of textures.
Sprinkle on my cheese packet.
[clinking metal]
And I have no idea how
that's gonna cook up.
So these guys have cooked to
the point where there's little
bubbles on the top,
and that's how you know
it's ready to flip.
Okay, we got there.
Alright, Clementine.
You want a pancake?
[groans]
Okay, Clementine tell me what you think.
Oh, she likes it.
[deep breath]
Alright, let's see how these are doing.
This cheese packet did
get some good color.
Some of the macaroni
got a little bit crispy,
which I think is cool, and look
at how fluffy the pancakes are.
A little honey, a little
hot sauce, the dogs are just
staring at me since I gave
him a taste. They know
what's up here.
One of these days they're
gonna kill me in my sleep.
[upbeat music]
[claps]
I think this is a winner.
You're gonna love this.
This is a great way to take
it to a different planet.
[upbeat music]
- Kitty come here.
You guys can tell, I'm tryna
make a star out of this cat.
So that I don't have to work anymore.
But now go away.
It has been quite a while
since I've made a box of
Kraft Mac and Cheese, but I have to say,
what's not to like about
mac and cheese from a box?
It's taste so good.
I went actually kind of
fancy, and decided to do
caramelized onions, which I
have under this upside down
pie container, cause I
didn't want them to dry out.
Hold it closer to the
camera so you can see.
So I sliced, thinly sliced,
six or seven small or medium
onions, and then I pretty
much constantly stirred them
for a good 35 to 40 minutes.
It's just like a delicious,
delicious ingredient to add.
Which is why I make a lot and save some.
So I'm gonna put these in the fridge.
[gasps]
Felix! Don't be such a bad kitty.
[groans]
Okay. What is it, four
tablespoons of butter?
I'm gonna put that in this
skillet, generous pinch of
red pepper flakes.
[noodles entering water]
I'm gonna strip a couple of
sprigs of fresh thyme leaves.
So, you don't need a lot though.
So I'm adding the milk to the skillet.
That orange color man,
real Kraft mac and cheese.
Okay, so now I'm gonna
grate some of this parm.
It really is like the mushiest pasta.
All right, so let me give this a taste.
The onions make it pretty sweet.
To balance it out a little
bit, I'm gonna add more parm
and maybe a pinch of garlic powder.
Let's see if I can do
this without spilling,
so far it's not going well.
Okay, now I'm gonna rinse this out.
I'm gonna throw in a nob of butter,
a little bit more fresh
thyme, and now I have the
biggest thing of Panko
known to man, and they
crisp extremely well.
I'm gonna add a pinch of
garlic powder, a little
bit of salt, in a little
even layer, kind of
spread it around.
A little more parm on top, and
then that goes into the oven.
There both over here.
I'm not gonna feed you.
Oh, it's hot in here. The broiler is hot,
and it's really close to the broiler, so
oh, oh my God.
Well, it's done. That went real fast.
Come here.
Oh. Okay, so here's my mac and cheese.
It got golden, oh. It got
golden brown and delicious
in the oven. It happened
very fast, cause the
broiler was very hot.
It smells delicious.
Um, this is, for me the
most sophisticated box of
mac and cheese I've ever tasted.
It's delicious.
Perhaps the caramelized
onions are a little bit of a
labor intensive step, but they
make everything delicious,
so why not?
Kitty, bad kitty, kitty.
[groans]
So annoying, but cute.
[upbeat music]
- All righty, today I'm
gonna make macaroni,
these are spirals, cheesy spirals.
I'm gonna make macaroni
and cheese carbonara or
Cacio e Pepe vibe, without
the bacon, and I'm gonna
top it with a bunch of
crispy, crunchy, garlicy
Panko breadcrumbs because
that's something that I also
have in my pantry.
So, I'm gonna add these to
this water and I'm gonna
take a couple of tablespoons
of olive oil, and just
sort of generously coat
the bottom of the pan.
I'm going to add, this Panko.
We're looking for even
golden brown color all over.
Okay so I'm grating in two garlic cloves
and season it with salt first,
And now, I'm taking parsley,
and I'm just snipping
so I don't have to dirty
a cutting board right now.
Kitchen shears for the win,
So here's our parsley, Panko breadcrumbs.
In the meantime, I'll get my butter.
Now I'm gonna add a big
handful of these frozen peas.
I'm not gonna measure
it, it doesn't matter.
I'm gonna scoop out and reserve
some of that pasta water,
to help emulsify our sauce,
and I'm gonna go drain this.
[water pouring]
So now everything's going into
the skillet with the butter,
And the cheese.
Oh wow.
That's kind of [bleep] up.
It's literally day glow orange.
Okay so I'm adding some of
this reserved liquid, to help
incorporate the cheese into the sauce.
Black pepper and peas is
a delicious combination.
And then we'll plate a little up.
How many people does this serve?
Two servings, two servings per container.
I could definitely see someone
eating this whole thing.
And now, I'm topping it with
my crispity, crunchety, garlicy
Panko breadcrumbs.
Smells so good.
Um.
Absolutely delicious.
Honestly, you would not know
that this came out of a box.
[upbeat music]
Except for the fact that
it's day glow orange.
- Hey guys its Carla.
I'm here in my home kitchen today
and I'm gonna show you how to kind of
zuzsh up a box of prepared
mac and cheese.
What I think about when I
think about this delicious
cheesy, powder. Is I think
about my other favorite food,
popcorn.
I'm actually gonna pop it
in regular vegetable oil.
I think this is peanut oil.
After many years of experimentation,
I have discovered that
a third of a cup of popcorn,
which is probably four times
as much as what they tell
you is the perfect amount of
popcorn for one person.
[popcorn dropping in pan]
[popcorn popping]
Slowing down, a little bit. Yeah
Guys, guys guys guys.
Leave no kernel unpopped,
you know what I mean?
So I know it seems crazy.
I'm gonna add a little bit of olive oil.
This is kosher salt.
See and cause it's all
spread out, you don't really
need to toss it that much.
Okay, cheese powder oh ho.
God it's gorgeous. It's just transforming.
A little cayenne, garlic powder, aleppo.
This is black pepper,
oh and I almost forgot.
Don't ever forget the nutritional yeast.
It's so good on popcorn.
I bring nutritional yeast
with me, to the movie theater.
I'm that person.
This is really the best
use of that cheese packet
I swear to God.
Kaz
- Yeah
- Come here.
- It tastes like that Mexican
street corn that you get.
- Ooh. Tastes like Alote he said.
Now we gotta figure out, about the noodle.
Want to just try one of these?
- Yeah, really crunchy.
- Very crunchy.
- My neck hurts a lot.
- Your neck hurts?
- Yeah.
- Tell me why.
[neck cracks]
- Oh [laughs]
- That's better.
[crackling]
[laughing]
- Obviously if you actually
want to cook these noodles,
and um butter them up
and put some, any kind of
cheese on them.
Do that, but kind of can't
get enough of this joke.
[neck cracks]
[upbeat music]
[groans]
- Dad have you ever filmed a video before?
- Uh [inaudible]
[laughs]
So my version of a, sort
of juiced up version of
boxed mac and cheese involves
stirring in a bunch of pesto.
When I was leading these
camping trips in college,
I'd usually just buy a jar
of pesto cause I didn't have
access to a kitchen to make my own,
but today we are gonna make our own.
We've got the basil, which
is a little less than ideal
it was left out in the
garage by someone who will
remain nameless.
[laughing]
Put a little bit of garlic,
and to kind of spruce up
the green flavor, I'm
gonna add like a little bit
of frozen spinach that I've thawed.
A little parm, pine
nuts, you can use walnuts
if you don't have pine nuts.
I mean you can use almonds,
and then we're gonna add
some olive oil.
I think that's probably good.
Go light on the salt, and
if it's a little less salty,
that's okay.
All right cool. So we're
gonna blend this up.
[blending]
it's not quite as verdant
as I want, but it's still
gonna taste really good.
Shells better than tubes. In my opinion.
So our mac and cheese has been cooking.
I'm gonna reserve a
teeny bit of the water.
Got the milk.
I'm gonna play fast and
loose, and not measure.
Uh all right.
We're gonna add like half of this packet.
This is white cheddar shells.
Hey Mom, would you mind
cutting a little piece
of butter?
She's using a butcher's
knife to cut butter.
Okay that's a lot of butter.
[laughing]
So I'm gonna put in, maybe
two spoons of this pesto.
Like that.
It has combined to make
this really verdant color.
Man, this turned out great.
I guess it's all the butter.
[laughing]
All right, so I'm just gonna
put a few breadcrumbs in here,
until they start to get golden brown.
Cool. As you can see, the
sauce is nicely incorporated.
We've got those beautiful flecks of basil,
our crunchy breadcrumbs.
Huge upgrade from your box stuff.
Um it's really good.
- Can I have some?
- Yeah, here.
[laughing]
- It's really good right?
Yeah, you can have another bite dad.
[laughing]
[upbeat music]
- Hey this is Andy, I
am out of Long Island
I am supposed to be making
some kind of mac and cheese.
I'm gonna go a little bit
differently with this,
and a little bit more
my style, more greens,
a little brighter, a little lighter.
I'm gonna kind of get my
situation with the flavor
components for the sauce.
I'm gonna pour some milk into the blender.
I'm gonna add this ball of greens.
I just blanched it in hot water and then
put it in ice water to stop the cooking,
but it really can be
any greens you'd like.
A tablespoon of miso.
[blending]
I added more greens.
[blending and pouring]
Oh, that's some [bleep] crazy
ass, cheddar looking [bleep].
Smells like cheddar.
Oh high Goldie.
[kissing]
She's perfect, she's
beautiful, she looks like
Avangelique, she's a model.
[kissing]
She gets like forty kisses a day.
All right, we'll work with that.
I'm gonna scoop up some
of the pasta water.
Oh my God, it's cooked already.
Six minutes my ass.
I'm kind of treating this like pesto.
I'm gonna pour that over
with some butter,
Some lemon zest, some salt.
It smells divine.
[angelic music]
And then sprinkle on the cheese powder,
parmesan, and sesame seeds,
and a little bit of pepper.
Not bad, right?
Brida calls me the master platter.
I challenge you Sola.
Let's do it. Smells good.
It tastes pretty good.
You get a little bit of the
miso and the black pepper.
[upbeat music]
I'm pretty happy with this.
I would eat this for lunch.
Maybe less cheese powder, but still.
[upbeat music]
I hope that was fun.
I hope it was useable.
I probably sound like I'm on cocaine.
[laughing]
