Melba Wilson is a mac and cheese connoisseur.
The New York City chef and cookbook author is the woman behind Melba's, the iconic Harlem restaurant where she's served the likes of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
So when Wilson sat down with Insider to talk about all things Southern cuisine, we had to get her pro tips for making the best homemade mac and cheese.
"If I don't make great mac and cheese, I'm going to be thrown out of the kitchen," she said with a laugh.
Wilson shared the three biggest mistakes she sees people make with mac and cheese — and how to fix them.
Never make your mac and cheese on the stovetop
"I'm not a stovetop mac and cheese girl, I'm an oven mac and cheese girl," Wilson said. "My grandmother would come up out of her grave if I used a stovetop."
Wilson said baking your mac and cheese in the oven helps give it a perfect crust on top.
"It's all about the two T's — the taste and the texture," she added. "You're going to get a nice cheese crust on the top, and then you're gonna take your fork and dig in and it's gonna be a cheesy gooeyness of love, and that's what you want to get."
Don't undercook or rinse your noodles
Wilson said it's essential that your noodles are al dente. Problems will arise if your noodles are undercooked or you use the wrong ratio of water to pasta.
"You want to make sure your water is boiling before you put the noodles in, it's very important," she added. "You want to make sure that your water is salted and that it has come to a complete boil before you add your noodles. I've seen people put the water in their pot, add the noodles, and it's a recipe for disaster."
And once you've cooked your noodles, don't rinse them.
"You want the sauce to be able to stick to the noodles, so you don't want to rinse your noodles," Wilson explained. "When you rinse the noodles, what you're doing is adding more water to them. But you need to drain all the water from your noodles before adding your cheese."
And don't just use one type of cheese
When she's making mac and cheese at Melba's, Wilson always uses pepper jack, mozzarella, and cheddar. But when she's whipping up the dish at home, Wilson will experiment with different cheesy combos.
"I like using smoked Gouda or regular Gouda," she said. "And I'm a big sharp cheddar girl — you want to use sharp cheddar if you want a little bit of bite."
Wilson said she'll also sometimes throw in "a little Velveeta" for added creaminess.
"Don't tell anybody," she added with a laugh.
