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Joined: Jul 2007
Don't have one with cream cheese, but I can tell you how we made Mac & Cheese at the restaurant where I worked.
The amounts of everything were rather "free form" and, of course, much more than one would use at home (i.e. one or two 6" hotel pans at a time - in other words, Mac & Cheese by the gallon), but you should be able to do a very good facsimile of this even if you start with one of the el-cheapo boxed mixes.
First, make a sauce using the powdered cheddar cheese mix. In the restaurant, we used Nestle's "Trio," but that is not available to home consumers (unless you can find a good restaurant-supply store that may have some). In this case, the big bag of Trio says to mix it into four quarts of boiling water. FORGET THAT! We used FIVE quarts of boiling (i.e. scalded) HEAVY CREAM!!! This is one rich, creamy sauce!
Cook and drain the macaroni.
Mix JUST enough cheese sauce into the macaroni so that the macaroni are not completely swimming.
Add in generous amounts of Mozzarella and Fontina cheeses (we used the already shredded blend of Mozzarella and Fontina that we usually used on our pizzas).
Add in a generous amount of freshly ground Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Stir it all together well, cover with foil (if you happen to have plastic wrap that can withstand heat as the restaurant-grade stuff will, cover with the plastic wrap, THEN the foil - it prevents sticking to the foil), then bake until the internal temperature is at least 140F.
At this point, we would usually hold it in the Alto-Shaam until needed, then place some of it into a smaller tray for use on the line.
Just before serving, remove the foil (and plastic, if used), and cover the Mac & Cheese with a generous layer of Mozzarella and Fontina followed by a generous amount of Parmigiano-Reggiano, then put the whole thing under the broiler to melt the added cheese layer (and make it crispy, too). In the restaurant, we would do this last step on the line by putting the tray into the 675F, wood-fired, beehive pizza oven.
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?