They just appeared, suddenly and out of the blue. At first it was just one or two. But they have grown, and now they are impossible to get away from. In a space designated for confrontational political posts, too many “An Open Letter to…” articles and of course, hundreds of pictures, they have infiltrated Facebook at every click and keystroke. That’s right: I’m talking about Tasty videos.
Plenty have caught my eye. The cheddar-stuffed cheddar biscuits looked particularly appetizing, the video for one-pot chicken alfredo looked easy and practical and the recipe for ranch bacon cheese fries was nothing less than amazing. But after I got the idea to test a recipe, I wanted to try something I had never seen before, something unique. Enter: pizza mac 'n' cheese. While initially wary of the copious amount of cheese, which I’ll get to later, my mom and my sister, who acted as taste testers, encouraged the selection.
My goals in testing the recipe centered around two aspects: ease of preparation, and of course, taste. I decided to try and follow the video as closely as possible, attempting (where I could) to refrain from using the instructions posted below in the comments section of the video. I soon realized this would be difficult, since the video doesn’t address how much of a particular ingredient is needed at each stage.
The ingredients needed.
The first step (following the video) is to make a cheese sauce base for the macaroni. This was easy: I simply melted butter, added garlic, chopped up pepperoni and Italian seasoning, and cooked the ingredients until the pepperoni and garlic began to color the mixture. (I forgot to buy parsley.)
Next came the flour and milk, to thicken the budding sauce. Here came the first minor speed bump on the road to cheesy glory: the video is accelerated to bridge the gap of time between longer steps. With nothing to go on but “stir until thick," I wondered if I may have cooked the milk for too long. It took maybe 25 minutes for the sauce to thicken: 15 minutes of this time I spent thinking I screwed up.
During my wait for the sauce, I prepped the cheese. The recipe calls for eight ounces of cheddar and eight ounces of mozzarella. I grated the cheddar, expecting eight ounces to be about half a block. So when five minutes later I was scraping the last shreds onto a plate full with cheese, I was a little shocked. After busting out the mozzarella I knew there had to be a mistake with the recipe; there was no way all the cheese would melt, let alone fit in the pan.
Both of my assumptions were proven wrong, as the sauce began to swallow the cheese as soon as the two made contact. Be warned: cheese is the predominant force in this dish; don’t be surprised if the needle on the scale finds itself in new territory the next day.
About 6 ounces of the cheddar cheese.
At this point, the sauce was done. After adding the boiled macaroni, I encountered another mild problem. Similar to the time issues from earlier, the video doesn’t say when you pour the mixture into a skillet. I didn’t know if I needed to cook the macaroni more, or dump it in the sauce and go. I made a judgment call after five minutes, and checked that the oven was ready.
Here came my biggest (although not gravest) problem. In the video, a small skillet appears to be used by the demonstrator. I soon realized, after beginning to pour the mac 'n’ cheese, that my chosen pan was way too small. My next choice was too small as well. Therefore, I had to break out the big guns, switching to a 12” cast iron skillet.
While it wasn’t a deal breaker in the slightest, most recipes do have some sort of suggestion regarding the size of a dish needed, which is always helpful. From my perspective, that was two pans I could have avoided having to add to a sink already overflowing with dishes.
Things got a little messy here.
Last came the “pizza” part. Marinara sauce is spread evenly over the top and covered with fresh mozzarella slices and pepperoni. It baked for 25 minutes, and came out almost comically cheesy, with a slight bubbly crust covered by a thin film of cheesy oils.
Before the dish went into the oven.
The video makes it appear that the dish can be enjoyed right out of the oven, which my mom and I did. While it was delicious, we realized it would probably be better if it sat so it could cool.
The finished product.
After cooling for about 15 minutes, I asked my mom and sister for reviews:
Pros
- “Wow, this is good.”
- For some reason, it doesn’t feel like a very heavy dish.
- The garlic and Italian seasoning can be tasted.
- Good amount of cheese sauce/macaroni/marinara in each bite.
Cons
- A lot of cheese.
- Even though I added a lot of pepperoni, it was completely cooked and had a lack of texture.
- Where there was texture, it was the stringy gumminess of the cheese.
Overall, the recipe was generally easy to make by following Tasty's video, and took around one hour and 15 minutes to prepare before baking. I love cheese, but it danced on the line of excess for me. However, I recommend trying the recipe—though I would suggest adding ham or bacon or sausage or something to give the dish a bit of a bite, or at least a bite that isn’t pure cheese. And while I did experience some cheese overload, I see cheddar stuffed cheese biscuits on my horizon.
Mom: 8/10
Sister: 9/10
Me: 8/10
