If you're looking for the most bomb-tastic recipe of all bomb-tastic recipes then you'll love our Beer Sommelier's Rauchbier Mac n' Cheese Recipe. As is or filled with your favourite additions, we swear, you'll wonder how you lived without it.

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Mac n' Cheese

Cheese, bacon and cream. I challenge you to find a better combination on the planet. Sure, it might shorten your life but at least it'll be a good one filled with cheese, bacon and cream. That's why I love to make Macaroni and Cheese. I get to pick my favourite cheeses, drown them in cream, stir in whatever my heart desires and bake it with a buttery crumby crust.

For a creative spin, I made this recipe replacing a bit of the heavy cream with a smokey German Rauchbier. A Rauchbier is a style of beer dating to the 1500s and originating in Bamberg, Germany. It is known for its intensely smokey--some say ham-like--character thanks to the malts being smoked over burning beechwood logs. While this style is being replicated all over the world, the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen is the standard and the one which all others wish it could be. I like to use it in this recipe because of its clean yet rich malts and intense bacon flavour. If you're looking for a great recipe to cook with beer, this. is. it.

Do it. Do it now.

Recipe: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Mac n' Cheese

Serves about 6

Ingredients

350g (12 oz) pasta (I like orecchiete but rigatoni, small shells or elbow macaroni would be great)

25g (2TB) butter

25g (2TB) plain flour

1 shallot, finely diced

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp mustard powder

120ml (1/2 cup) Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier

120ml (1/2 cup) double cream

240ml (1 cup) full-fat milk

125g + 50g mature cheddar, grated

125g +50g Fontina cheese, grated

125g +50g pepper jack cheese, grated (or any flavour of a good melting cheese you like, really)

25g (2TB) butter, softened

75g (1/2 cup) panko bread crumbs 

Method

Preheat the oven to 175?C (fan assisted)

Boil the pasta until just shy of al dente, drain and set aside (about a minute less than the instructions state). 

In a large pot over medium heat melt the butter, being sure to not let it brown. Make a roux by quickly adding the flour and stir, adding more flour if necessary until you get a mostly dry consistency. Stir constantly for about 3-4 minutes more to cook out the raw flour flavour.

Add the diced shallot, paprika and mustard powder and stir until well combined. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the shallot is softened. Stir often to ensure it doesn't burn.

Slowly add the Rauchbier, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pan. Stir constantly.

Continue to slowly add the double cream and milk, small amounts at a time, stirring after each addition.

Add the 125g of each cheese and stir until melted and then stir in the prepared pasta. Pour the entire mixture into a glass baking dish. Top the mixture with the reserved 50g of each cheese.

Take the remaining butter and panko crumbs and, in a small bowl, work them together with your fingers until you get a uniform consistency. Spread evenly over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the bread crumbs and cheese topping are browned.

Serve and enjoy! Cheers!

Notes

Add any ingredients you like: cubed pancetta, sausage, spring onions. Any vegetables can be cooked in the roux. Meats and the like would be best cooked beforehand and then set aside, stirring in after the cheeses.

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