Keep macaroni cheese creamy after refrigerating
I occasionally make Macaroni and Cheese with a béchamel/roux (and tuna, but I still call Macaroni and Cheese). I make the sauce with butter, corn flour and milk and add the cheese later. I use a lot of milk and after I've just cooked and served the dish the sauce has a beautiful creamy/liquid texture.
I cook the sauce in one pot and the pasta in another. When both are cooked I quickly drain the pasta and add both it and the drained canned tuna to the sauce. I then heat it just long enough to raise the temperature of the tuna without changing the flavour by recooking it.
However, when I refrigerate the leftovers and reheat them I just end up with clumps of pasta (and tuna) stuck together with an almost solid sauce. The flavour is still good, it's just the texture that's changed. Is the pasta absorbing extra moisture before it cools? How can I prevent this so I have creamy reheated Macaroni and Cheese?
Best Answer
Having made this dish again recently and experimenting with it based on the comments here can report the following:
A good creamy texture in the pot after the initial preparation will become a single hard lump in the fridge. Adding more milk before refrigeration will:
- Prevent it from solidifying
- Reheat (e.g. in a microwave) to a close enough texture to the original
The amount of milk that needs to be added is about the same quantity as went into the dish originally, i.e. if you used 1 litre in the dish before serving it (assuming only a small quantity removed) add another 1 litre of milk before refrigerating. If you served half of it, only add half a litre of milk, etc. The only downside is that the extra liquid separates slightly in the fridge, leaving watery pools on the surface of the food. This extra moisture can simply be stirred back into the dish before reheating.
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How do you keep mac and cheese creamy in the fridge?
Add 1 tablespoon of milk per cup of mac and cheese and mix to incorprate as much as possible. *If you'd like to add more creaminess and flavor, substitute half-and-half or cream. 3.How do you keep mac and cheese from drying out when reheating?
Add one tablespoon of milk per cup of macaroni and cheese. Reheat at 50 percent power, stirring every minute or so. When the mac and cheese has reached its desired temperature, add a touch of butter to bring it back to life.How do you keep mac and cheese creamy after cooking?
Cook your noodles in milk instead of water Cooking your noodles in milk instead of water makes your resulting mac and cheese creamier. According to The Kitchn, cooking your noodles in milk instead of water makes the sauce creamy before you even add the cheese sauce.How do you make cheese sauce creamy again?
To fix grainy cheese sauce, remove it from the heat and let it cool. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice to detangle the protein molecules and whisk to achieve a creamy smooth texture. If you don't have lemon juice, you can use high-fat cream instead.how to reheat macaroni
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Answer 2
You can't keep it creamy after refrigerating because the fats solidify. So this is all about reheating. It is the perfect use for a low temperature water bath (sous vide), though a pot of hot water could work just as well...as long as you monitor the temperature. Just store the leftovers in a ziplock bag. Heat water to 65C. Place bag in bath 45 min to an hour, perhaps agitating every so often. As Doug mentions above, a little extra milk will help.
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