Ingredients:

For the topping:

2 strips of bacon

1 tbsp of butter

9 Ritz crackers (or similarly buttery cracker)

¼ cup panko breadcrumbs

4-5 fronds (stalks? Stems with leaves?) of parsley

Grated parmigiano reggiano 

Salt and pepper

Flakey salt (like Maldon) (optional)

For the mac and cheese:

4 tbsp of butter

4 tbsp of flour

¾ cup of cream

1 ¼ cup of milk 

Salt and pepper

Nutmeg (optional)

2 tbsp of philadelphia cream cheese

⅔ cup of white cheddar, grated

⅔ cup of gruyere, grated

⅔ cup of low-moisture mozzarella, grated

8 oz of dried elbow macaroni noodles (I like Barilla, they have lots of nice edges and ridges) 

Instructions:

1. Grate all of your cheese, except the parmigiano, using the large holes on a box grater (this is a lot of work and you want to do this early, do NOT use pre-grated cheese because there are anti-caking agents that will mess up your sauce). Set aside in a bowl. Preheat your oven to 350℉. 

2. Place strips of bacon in a small, cold, nonstick skillet. Warm the skillet over medium-high heat, occasionally flipping until bacon is browned and most of the fat is rendered. 

3. Meanwhile, put your Ritz crackers in a zip top bag. Pound the crackers repeatedly with a rolling pin-- you’re going to want larger shards and smaller bits and bobs for a mix of textures. When you’re satisfied with your varying sizes of crumb, you may stop hitting the crackers with the rolling pin. Remove the leaves of parsley from the stem and finely chop the leaves, set aside. 

4. When the bacon is browned, remove bacon from the pan and let drain on a paper towel. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in the skillet with the bacon fat until the butter starts to foam. While the butter is melting, coarsely chop your bacon. When the butter is melted and foamy, add crushed Ritz crackers and panko bread crumbs to the pan, toast lightly until most of the fat in the pan is absorbed. Add chopped bacon and parsley, season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Right before your bread crumb topping is golden and delicious, use a microplane to grate about ¼ cup of parmigiano reggiano directly into the pan (doing this will allow some of the parm to melt and get crispy thus adhering to individual crumbs before even going into the oven). Toss everything to combine and set aside in a bowl. 

5. In a small saucepan, melt 4 tbsp of butter. Add 4 tbsp of flour and whisk constantly so no lumps remain, making a roux. Let your roux begin to bubble until you can smell the nuttiness of the flour beginning to toast, maybe 2 minutes or so. Working in batches, continually whisk a mixture of the milk and heavy cream into your roux to make a bechamel sauce (you want to whisk the mixture in gradually to avoid a lumpy sauce). Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg (if using). Whisk together and let your bechamel simmer for about 2 or 3 minutes until thickened. Take the bechamel off the heat and add ½ of your array of grated cheeses (about 1 cup) and all of the cream cheese to the sauce. Whisk the added cheeses into the sauce until the cheese is mostly melted and the sauce is smooth. Set aside (you can put a piece of parchment directly against the surface of the sauce if you don’t want a skin to form, but I don’t care about the skin, just whisk the sauce together before using it). 

6. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. When the water is boiling, add your salt so the water is salty like the sea (I use about two small handfuls of Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and that may seem absurd, but I promise you it is not). Add your pasta to the boiling water and stir to avoid any pasta from sticking to the bottom. Cook for about 2 minutes less than package instructions since the pasta will continue cooking in the oven. Drain your pasta.

7. Combine your cheese sauce, cooked pasta and about ¼ cup of cheese in a large bowl. Prepare an 8x6 baking dish (about 6 cups or 1.5L volume) by greasing the insides of the baking dish with butter until all sides are coated (or don’t, I forgot to and I had no problems with stickage). Add about half of the pasta mixture to the baking dish and top with about ¼ cup of cheese, then add remaining pasta mixture and top with an additional ¼ cup of cheese.

8. Add ¼ cup of assorted cheeses and flakey salt (if using) to the topping mixture and toss with your hands to combine. Top mac and cheese with all of your topping and bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. 

9. Let mac and cheese cool for 5-10 minutes and serve. 

*** Warning signs that your mac may be in peril, if you check your mac and you’re starting to see a fair amount of oil rising to the top of the bubbly mac and cheese--take it out! You do not want the cheeses’ emulsion to break otherwise you’re going to have a greasy mac and cheese!