The Steakhouse Condiment Anthony Bourdain Used To Elevate Mac And Cheese

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Anthony Bourdain was well known for being a fan of allowing classic dishes to retain their natural form with minimal modifications. For example, when it came to macaroni and cheese (one of Bourdain's favorite dishes to make at home), he liked to keep things simple, scoffing at those who utilized truffle oil or lobster while making the dish. However, one place where even he differed from the status quo was what simple ingredient he liked to add to the dish; Bourdain's go-to mac and cheese recipe featured a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, the thin condiment popular at steakhouses across the globe.

Bourdain used Worcestershire sauce not as a topping for his mac and cheese but rather as a core ingredient in the cheese sauce he'd make for it. In the "No Reservations" host's cookbook titled Appetites, he detailed that the condiment gets added to a mixture of milk, butter, and flour alongside mustard powder, cayenne, and Parmigiano-Reggiano — ideally the authentic kind — to enhance the creamy cheese sauce and give it a simultaneously sweet and savory boost.

Worcestershire sauce is a hidden ingredient in many of our favorite dishes, making its inclusion in Anthony Bourdain's macaroni and cheese slightly less surprising. Nevertheless, the sauce commonly found in steakhouses benefits the dish greatly as a result of its contributing ingredients; while not all Worcestershire sauces are the same (and there are some you should outright avoid), the sauce typically features vinegar, fermented onions, fermented garlic, molasses, tamarind paste, salt, sugar, and cured anchovies. These ingredients come together to create a strong umami flavor that lends itself best to saucy or creamy foods like mac and cheese.

Anthony Bourdain isn't the only person who suggests adding Worcestershire sauce to mac and cheese; it's actually quite common in the classic dish found in the Southern United States. These recipes are usually for baked mac and cheese, which elevates the dish even further by using breadcrumbs to give it a much-needed crunch in every bite.