Originally got the concept for this dish from 12th Avenue Grill in Kaimuki. Chef Kevin Hanney has an onsite smoker and smokes Parmesan cheese to give the final product a savoriness like bacon was added, but there's no bacon in the dish. That's what I was trying to achieve. Of course smoking my own cheese seemed a little mendokusai (humbug) so I purchased smoked cheeses from the supermarket which included:
Smoked Gouda (though notice that the smoke flavor is "artificial")
Smoked Mozzarella
Smoked Fontina
Smoked Bleu
Also found this artisanal bread from Safeway with bleu cheese - since I had smoked bleu in the product, I figured this would make a great bread crumb topping.
Diners did think that I added some bacon to the Mac-n-Cheese so I think my attempt was a success. But what's with the 7 Smoked Mac-n-Cheese name... to add additional smokiness, I also used smoked paprika and two types of smoked salt, smoked sea salt and NapaStyle's chardonnay smoked salt. Four smoked cheeses and 3 other smoked products makes... 7.
Comments
"7 Smoked Mac-n-Cheese" sure sounds ono! I'd definitely order that if it were on a menu.
Never heard of smoked salt. Interesting.