Pit Buddies Smoked Mac and Cheese

Prep time:

30 minutes

Cook time:

80 minutes

Difficulty level:

Intermediate

Where to begin with Mac and Cheese? To most southerners, it’s home. It’s comfort. It’s sitting around the dinner table with your family and talking about your day.

The smokey, gooey goodness is definitely not your waistline’s best friend, but it is certainly your taste buds best friend. If you were to make this dish for a holiday gathering or a get together, you won’t be bringing home the leftovers, because there won’t be anything left to bring home.

One fantastic ingredient is bacon fat… so after you cook bacon for breakfast one morning, run the grease from the pan through a strainer and into a heat resistant container, cover it, and store it in the fridge until you are ready to make this dish. Don’t want to use bacon fat? You can also use regular old butter.

There are three different types of cheese in this dish, but you can easily substitute one type of cheese out for another your prefer, but make sure to trade it out for a cheese with the same cream and melting consistencies so you don’t end up with a funky texture.

It is easy to think of mac and cheese as the ultimate children’s dish, but trust us… this dish will please even the most grown-up adults. YUMMY!

To see more from Pit Buddies BBQ, click here

Ingredients

1/3 cup bacon fat or butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp smoked paprika
4 cups grated white american cheese
4 cups half and half (additional may be required for desired consistency)
1.5 cups grated Monterey Jack cheddar
1.5 cups grated Parmesan cheese (for topping)
1 lb cooked & crumbled bacon
1 box panko bread crumbs
1 tbls olive oil
Hasty-Bake Rub ‘N Spice
Disposable foil pans
Smoking Wood

Instructions

Prepare Hasty-Bake for grilling (without heat deflector). Once grill is ready, put large cast iron dutch oven on grill grates directly over flame, bring water to a boil and prepare pasta according to package. Pasta should be slightly under-cooked as it will continue to cook during the baking process. Drain and mix cooked pasta with olive oil and set aside in another dish.
Lower firebox down to smoke level without heat deflector. In same cast-iron pot, heat bacon fat or butter until melted. Add flour, salt, ground mustard, and smoked paprika until well mixed and slightly brown.
While stirring constantly, slowly add half and half. Continue to stir while simmering and mixture thickens and clumps dissolve.
Add the white American cheese and stir constantly until all cheese melts. Pour pasta into the cheese mixture and stir until well combined.
In disposable foil cake/casserole pan, immediately create layers as follows: 1) half of pasta/cheese mixture 2) half of Monterey Jack cheese 3) half of parmesan cheese 4) half of bacon crumbles –Then sprinkle with Hasty-Bake Rub ‘N Spice and Panko bread crumbs. Repeat process to form a second layer.
Raise firebox to bake level (with heat deflector). Then bake for approximately 1 hour or until bubbling. Add 1 to 2 fist size wood chunks of your choice directly to your charcoal for additional smokey flavor.