Mac and cheese can be a nice simple comfort food if you’re in the mood. As several have mentioned, lobster meat is a common addition but although I like lobster I’m not a fan of that combo. Other than perhaps some dried cayenne pepper flakes before baking, I can only suggest using some flavorful cheeses, baking to a hint of golden brown for optimum texture, and having it with grilled smoked sausage.
I once tried mac and cheese with truffle, which is a standard overpriced offering at one of the groceries here. Didn’t like it. But they’ve had it for years so somebody must be buying it.
Jalapeños have already been mentioned, but I think hot green chilies are perfect. My wife and I have had it from Trader Joe’s, and Heim’s Barbecue. Both were damn tasty, so we decided to prepare Alton Brown’s stove top method and throw a can of Hatch chilies in it. MMMMMMMM, better than either that I’d had before. I’ve only had it using Hatch chilies, but any variety should work.
If you don’t have or don’t want green chilies, but want spicy mac, you can always just sprinkle red pepper flakes on it before you eat it.
ETA: Heh, should have read the post before mine before adding the last part.
And my wife bought frozen truffle mac n cheese recently. We split it. I kind of liked it, but thought it was rich. I would probably want to stop at a side dish of it. She hated it, and was working to get the smell out of the house all day long.
When buying the cheese, go to the deli counter and ask for cheese ends. They cost less than the price of any of the regular cheeses, and you get a nice blend of different cheeses.
It will tend to be heavily American, but American melts well.
I tend to avoid having too much provolone or Swiss, as those can tend to string a bit more than I prefer when making the cheese sauce.
Make the sauce thinner than you’d think, and undercook the noodles prior to mixing and baking.
Cheeze-its! for the crumb topping (or stale biscuits tossed with olive oil and some herbs & garlic/onion powder.
All my suggestions have been taken already, except for one which isn’t in how you make it, but in how you eat it.
Normally, you’d eat Mac & Cheese served on a plate and with a fork. However… what if you served it in a small bowl and ate it with… Tortilla Chips…?
What if you had another small bowl next to it with salsa?
Image that both are on a coffee table in front of you as you are watching a new movie or binge-watching a series playing on your big screen TV in front of you…?
Imagine that when you are done, all that you’d have to wash are the cooking pot and two bowls…? Who likes washing dishes again…?
Yeah, yeah… and they laughed when Ironman ate Shawarma.
“Jarvis, what’s the current cheese-cleaning protocal?”
“Sir, might it not be easier to just make a new suit…?”
I’m with the changing the cheese crowd. I like to use various cheeses, with at least one being smoked cheese. It may be a local thing, but we have a cheese in the St Louis, MO area called Provel. It’s a very creamy cheese that melts well and helps my mac and cheese from being too stringy.
I’ve made it with 1/2 cheddar, 1/2 smoked gouda the last couple times and it was amazing. Inspired by the commercials for a mac and cheese convention that I couldn’t manage to fit into my schedule and a great deal on smoked gouda.
