SETH: Chef, nice to meet you.

JESSE: Nice to meet you, as well.

SETH: Thank you so much for having me at Pennyroyal.

And what is it that you're making?

JESSE: So, today, we're making our signature dish, our smoked brisket and bone marrow mac and cheese.

SETH: Oh, that sounds mighty good.

You know, I make a lot of mac and cheese for my kids, straight out of the box.

I'm guessing, this might just be a little bit of a cut above.

JESSE: Just a little bit above, but you know, not, not hating on the box mac and cheese though, though.

SETH: That's delicious too.

So, how do you, how do you begin here?

JESSE: So, before you got here, today, we've popped in our bone marrow at a nice high temp, about 450 for about a half an hour.

I'll just grab the bones.

All right.

So, here you go.

You can see all the fat starting to pull out from them.

All right, so first, we're gonna take our bones and scrape out the marrow.

A little hot, but I'm kinda used to it, by now.

Uh, we'll just take it.

SETH: Oh, that stuff comes right out.

JESSE: Yeah.

It's working.

And we're just gonna scrape that clean.

You get every bit, for now.

Oh, we could see too, we've already got a good amount of fat sitting at the bottom of the pan.

SETH: And this isn't just, um, about the fat too.

I mean, that bone marrow is gonna give it a real, just kinda richness that you wouldn't get from any other flavor.

JESSE: Exactly.

Because it's from the bone, you get some extra like, darker, deeper flavor.

There we go.

We're just gonna take this guy.

Get it in here.

So, this is gonna become the base of our roux.

And we will add a bit of butter in, as well, uh, just because why not.

We are, you know, making Southern food here, right.

SETH: If we're making it rich, why not add a little more butter.

JESSE: Yeah.

It never hurts.

SETH: So, for this roux, I mean, this isn't a gumbo.

You're not looking for something, you know, super dark here.

JESSE: No.

You could, but this is really not necessary for this.

So we're just gonna get this melted, we're gonna grab our flour.

And this is always like, you're kinda eyeballing it, because every bone's different, right.

SETH: You're looking for probably a one to one ratio there.

JESSE: Just, just about, yeah.

See now, we've got that nice and bubbly.

We're just adding our milk and cream into the roux.

SETH: We've got the marrow, we've got the butter.

Why not add some cream to it?

JESSE: Why not, oh, I know, right.

Okay.

So, while this is going, we're gonna add a couple of our spices.

So, we have some ancho chili powder, put a dash in there.

This is more of a chili mac, so this is why we're adding the ancho chili powder.

That, and you start to feel it thicken up from the roux.

Add a little garlic powder in.

So now, we're at the point, where we wanna add our brisket in.

SETH: And this is brisket that you guys are smoking here, at Pennyroyal.

JESSE: Yes, we smoke it in-house for about six hours.

SETH: Wow.

Already so much flavor in this.

And you have to keep stirring too, right.

I mean, if you stop, this thing's gonna start to burn in the bottom.

JESSE: Yeah, yeah.

That bottom will scorch really quick, so we're gonna make sure we keep working it.

All right.

So now, we're gonna add our mac.

Let this warm first, into the sauce.

Oh, yeah.

There we go.

(laughs) SETH: That is just thick, that is creamy.

JESSE: Now, everyone's favorite part, of course, the white cheddar.

SETH: There are so many good flavors in here, I kind of forgot that the cheese was coming too.

JESSE: Well, you can't have mac and cheese without the cheese, right?

SETH: That is definitely true.

Those noodles are just getting buried in those flavors in there.

I love it.

JESSE: Oh, yeah.

Let that heat up a little bit.

And we're ready to roll.

While this finishes heating through, we're gonna start our plating process.

We're gonna put a little bit of mac down to hold our bone marrow bone.

Then, we're gonna put some mac on top of that.

Once we've plate the mac, we're gonna add a little of our house made garlic and chili oil, some fried shallots, parsley, and then we're ready to enjoy it.

SETH: Thank you guys, so much for welcoming me to Pennyroyal today.

This mac and cheese looks like none I've ever had before.

I cannot wait to try it.

That's just dynamite, Jesse.

JESSE: That's, all right.

Good.

ERIN: And we're waiting for that, right?

JESSE: Just like, waiting to, I was like... (laughing) SETH: That is so good.

That marrow really does add such a richness to it, too.

JESSE: I know.

SETH: It gives it a nice deep flavor.

Like I said, it's almost like you didn't need the cheese, but it certainly worked.

JESSE: It tightens it all up, yeah.

SETH: And even those little, um, crunchy bits that you put on top with the, with the shallots and the chili oil, two things I might not associate with, uh, a good old mac and cheese, but it really works.

JESSE: Yeah.

The, the shallots add a little texture and the chili oil, you know, traditionally, a more Asian ingredient, but it really brings it together.

We don't wanna trap ourselves to just inside the box.

Like, in Southern food, it's really started to make that turn.

If it works, it works.

Don't be scared of it.

SETH: And the presentation too.

I love the marrow bone in here.

And this plate, this table, the salad, this whole space, everything just feels so artistically, you know, put together.

ERIN: I think that goes back to also, reflects Jesse's personality.

And to also, the assets he has with, with him being an artist.

Everything kinda comes together, obviously on the plate.

And when you walk through kind of the streets of Mount Rainier, these are all old buildings.

And it's taking that old with the new, and you just set it up for like, a beautiful, vibrant space that works perfectly together.

GARRICK: Yeah.

This is definitely an area, Mount Rainier, that we really want to come in, and you know, it's all about community here.

You know, and we just know that they were kinda missing that connection like, a gathering spot.

SETH: I mean, if you're gonna build a gathering spot, you know, what better way than just nice, hearty, comfort food like this.

JESSE: Yeah.

I mean, Southern style comfort food, that really brings people together, right.

GARRICK: Jesse is definitely the man, you know.

He takes our staples and put a little twist on it.

And who doesn't love a twist, right?

SETH: Well, I love a twist.

And, uh, this has ruined me for box mac and cheese.

Chef, appreciate it.

JESSE: Still nothing wrong with box mac and cheese still.

SETH: Yeah, but it ain't this.

Thank you guys, so much.

Appreciate it.

GARRICK: Thank you for coming here.

JESSE: Thank you for being here.