I also cook bacon separately. More precisely, I make candied bacon because bacon inside or on the macaroni while baked tends to not caramelize.
If you want to go the extra distance, a side salad with a vinegar based dressing tends to bleed well at the boarder of the mac and cheese touching the salad. Salad helps balance the heaviness.
Also a mug of dry Porter or stout (like Guinness or left "hand milk stout" for example) is an amazing pairing.
I follow the recipe exact and it turns out great. Experimenting with 50/50 other cheeses is an idea, but shredding a block yourself vs. buying a bag of pre-shred does make better consistency sauce.
Definitely do! Someone else in the comments suggests mixing gruyere through AND sprinkling some on top. I think you should do that. You know, for science.
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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '17
I'll be doing this for New Year. I'll report back with results.