Green chile queso mac and cheese
Up front: this is another sodium citrate appreciation post.
Green chile mac sounds great in theory because it’s basically mac n queso, two foods that are great on their own and sound like they should be even better together. For my first attempt, I did a hybrid of a tried and true baked mac recipe and an easy quick and dirty stovetop technique. And honestly, it wasn’t bad. But have you ever gotten restaurant mac and found it almost spongey, like the cheese turned to almost pasty curds instead of a cheesy sauce? One that scratches the itch well enough, but for the bomb of dairy you know is in it ought to have been a lot smoother and more charming than it was? That’s more or less what I got. It was an ok date. But it was not the queso I was expecting from the profile.
Round 1. Can you tell it’s a multi-shape hodgepodge of noodles from the ends of various mismatched bags?
So I started looking into what others did. The most common answer is also the simplest: they use velveeta. But since I didn’t grow up in a velveeta house, I started digging into the chemistry of why velveeta seems to queso-ify in the first place. The reason is sodium citrate, a salt of citric acid that’s commonly used as an emulsifier, which in human terms means it’s able to make cheeses want to do things they otherwise don’t want to do.
Emulsion basically forces two incompatible substances together in harmony; it’s the equivalent of a marriage arranger bringing two people who have absolutely nothing in common except their need for an arranged marriage. But cheese is already an emulsion on its own, and it’s so averse to adding a potential partner to its monogamous relationship with itself that it will actually self destruct rather than agree to join the offending outside ingredient (relatable). But sodium citrate is a rare emulsifier that cheese trusts completely, and therefore it can break down the barriers that make cheese otherwise so emotionally unavailable—allowing it to bind to just about anything and melt into a fluid queso version of itself that goes with the flow and has fun. This includes with WATER. Not so picky now, are we?
The difference in texture is night and day. Yet than the cheese and the tiny bit of oil to fry the panko topping, there is no other fat in this recipe. It is fast, consistent, and scientific. You can use any cheese, any toppings, and it will work exactly the same. It can be reheated with no change to the sauce texture. You can FREEZE it. Sodium citrate changes cheese into a version of itself I’ve never met before. I was skeptical too, to see it this way. But once you do it, you’ll understand.
This dumb 1 lb bag of sodium citrate is probably going to live as long as I do, but if you want the cheesy mac of your dreams and you’re willing to get a little weird to find it, then sodium citrate is the matchmaker to put your faith in.
Recipe
Queso dip meets stovetop mac and cheese. Sodium citrate makes a smooth, creamy cheese sauce, studded with green chiles and topped with toasted panko and chives. You’ll you forget you ever met Velveeta.
Effortful time: 5 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
Makes 2 large bowls or 4 small bowls; this is a great side for chicken
You need
8-10 oz pasta; I like cavatappi
2/3 cup water or milk
2 tsp. food-grade sodium citrate, available here
2 cups shredded sharp white cheddar
4 oz can chopped green chiles, undrained
Pepper to taste
2 tbsp. panko
1 tsp. avocado oil
15ish chives, minced
make it
Cook your pasta. Boil salted water for pasta in a 10” deep skillet, as much as you need to cover the noodles. Cook to al dente.
Make your topping. While the pasta cooks, mince the chives and toast the panko. In a small skillet, heat oil over medium and toss the panko until just starting to brown. Take it off the heat right away.
Drain the pasta. No need to save the water tonight! I just scoop mine out with a straining spoon into a bowl to hang out while this last step happens.
Create your sauce. Back in your skillet, add the water or milk and the sodium citrate, and turn on the burner to medium low. Whisk to dissolve. When it’s nearly simmering, start whisking in handfuls of cheese. Whisk it fast, and it’ll start to blend in smoothly. Make sure it’s smooth before you add the next handful.
Spice it up. Once you’ve used all the cheese, lower the heat to very low and stir in the canned chiles.
Mix it all together. Fold in the pasta into the cheese sauce until evenly coated in sauce. Top with the toasted breadcrumbs and chives.