Cheese Sauce

Tips for making Cheese Sauce

Here are some tips I used to learn to make perfect cheese sauce, which always leads to perfect Mac n Cheese.

1. Starch, such as all-purpose flour, cornstarch, or potato flour will keep the cheese from curdling. If you use all purpose flour, add it to the mixture before the cheese; it needs to be cooked for a few minutes to remove the starchy taste.
2. The less you heat the cheese the better. When making soup, sauce or fondue, add the cheese last; then heat it only enough to melt the cheese. Often you can remove the pan from the burner and the residual heat will be enough to melt the cheese.
3. Shred, crumble or finely dice the cheese before melting it. Smaller pieces melt faster. (easier to do with cold cheese)
4. Allow the shredded cheese to come to room temperature before melting it and it will melt faster.
5. Reduced fat cheeses have different melting characteristics than regular cheeses. They take longer to melt and are not as smooth and creamy in texture. You will need a low temperature flame to melt reduced fat cheeses and they must be shredded or finely diced first.
6. And now for a tip I learned at the Melting Pot. A small amount of an acidic liquid will keep the cheese from getting stringy. You can use white wine or lemon juice. Just sprinkle a tablespoon of your acidic liquid over one cup of shredded cheese before melting it. Or use white wine as part of the sauce base.
Mac n Cheese is a crowd favorite and it is as impressive as a home baked cake. I am still perfecting my cheese combinations so I do not have a recipe yet. Why not post your favorite Mac n Cheese recipe for me to try. By the way, this dish serves well with a medium to light bodied red wine or a very crispy white selection.
Chateau-Ste-Michelle-Eroica-Riesling-2008 from www.wines.com is the wine we served with our Mac n Cheese dinner most recently. This white wine is the bottle to bring the hostess this season when you attend holiday parties. Wine Spectator gave this wine 94 points. In fact in each of the four reviews this wine did not score below 91 points.
Happy Holidays.