A Word About: Cheese Sauces

Cheese sauce. Adults like it. Kids love it. It gets along famously with pasta, vegetables, chips, and more. It can transform a plain dish into something special and will make an eager eater out of the pickiest of kids. Yes, a cheese sauce done right makes marvelous fare indeed, but pulling it off can be a bit tricky. It seems like a simple thing, to melt some cheese and make a sauce, but if not carefully prepared, a cheese sauce can turn into grainy, curdled, lumpy, or chewy mess. Here are a few tips I have found with a little research... and a lot of trial and error. I hope that from my fromage failures, you will have cheese sauce success!

• The less time cheese is heated, the better your sauce will turn out. Cheese should be the very last thing you add to your sauce. Most of the time, you can even remove your pan from the stove and let the residual heat from the sauce base melt your cheese.

• Never let your sauce boil after the cheese has been added. This is a surefire way to make a curdled sauce.

• Shred, crumble, or finely dice your cheese before adding it. This will ensure that the cheese melts quickly (requiring less heat) and evenly. It is almost always easier to shred, crumble, or dice your cheese when it is cold.

• Once your cheese has been diced, let it come to room temperature before adding it to your sauce. Since the cheese isn't cold, it will take less time, and heat, to melt it. Seeing a trend here?

• Using starch, such as all-purpose or potato flour, in your cheese sauce will help keep it from curdling. If using all-purpose flour, it should be added before the cheese so it can be cooked for a few minutes to remove its starchy taste.

• Acidic ingredients can help reduce stringiness in your sauce. Most cheese fondues, for example, have a white wine base. To cut down on stringiness in just about any cheese sauce recipe, just sprinkle your shredded cheese with a little lemon juice before adding it to your sauce.

• Beware reduced or fat free "cheeses!" These products have a higher melting point and tend to have a funky texture once melted. If you want to lower the fat content of your cheese sauce, use a smaller amount of a more strongly flavored cheese. For example: if the recipe calls for 2 cups of mild cheddar cheese, try using 1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese instead.

• Click here for an easy, classic cheese recipe!