There was wisdom on those post-its stuck in the book next to the elBulli 7 Bowl System (my birthday is this week, wink wink). I made a batch last night, and it was ggggooooooooooddddddd. That’s “good” not “god” by the way.

I only had a pound and a half of Cabot extra-sharp Hunter Cheddar, so I had to supplement with a half-pound of Tillamook Extra Sharp and a half-pound of Tillamook Monterrey Jack. The notes called for 5 tablespoons of butter in the roux, so I went with five of flour, like I planned and I bumped the dijon up to a tablespoon. I really should have gone with more red pepper flakes and remembered black pepper, because it was surely under-seasoned, but it is so tasty.

My only concerns are that the sauce might just be too dense, and that some of the topping clumped, so the bigger chunks browned and hardened faster. Simple solutions: 1/2 cup of reserved pasta cooking water in the sauce next time and taking an extra 30 seconds to chop up the topping before I put it over the mac.

My mother makes a mac and cheese from four ingredients with a recipe that takes all of five minutes to prep, and I can’t say that mine is any better, but if nothing else, it’s thicker. This one is my best yet, if you want to give it a shot. I’ll post the recipe soon.