Bitty cheese sauce

No, not nana-bitty ;)

I made cheese sauce from scratch tonight, and it went kinda bitty, while still liquid. Does that make sense? Not lumpy, but it was like something hadn't dissolved properly. Here's the recipe I followed (to the letter, I was paranoid about messing it up!)

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50g butter (i used marg, didn't have butter)
2 tbsp plain flour
2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Heat butter in saucepan over medium heat for 2 mins or until melted and foaming.
Add flour.
Cook, stirring with wooden spoon, for 1 min or until mixture bubbles. Remove from heat.
Slowly add milk, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly to prevent lumps forming.
Return pan to medium heat.
Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sauce boils and thickens. Stir in cheese until smooth, remove from heat.

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I followed it all exactly, except after the milk went in it probably took 10 minutes to thicken and boil, not 5. I wasn't timing it, but it sure felt like longer!

Any thoughts on what might've gone wrong? Or does someone have a better recipe?

I don't normally let mine boil! Do you have a stick blender? Give it a whizz in the pot with a dash extra of hot milk.

Start with equal amounts flour butter. Then cook that off for a minute. Then add the milk whisking whilst adding. Don't add it all at once. Add some the as it thickens add more until its all added. And then once its hot add cheese and seasoning.

I don't know why that happened. I'd say it was still lumpy tbh. I find unless you are a saucier using a whisk is important.

I usually take my cheese sauce off the stove as soon as I've added the flour and mix a tiny bit of milk in at a time, being careful to remove lumps before adding more. Once I've added enough milk that its become more 'liquid' instead of thick I put it back on the heat and add the rest of the milk (about medium) and stir, stir, stir

Oh and there's no such thing as cheese sauce that can't be rescued :P I make mine in the microwave- just milk til hot, then stir cheese in, microwave and stir, dash of chicken stock (massel) then take it out and stir thru a tablespoon of cornflour I've mixed in hot water to dissolve. I don't like the butter as the sauce can separate. Cornflour, milk and a stick blender in the right combo can fix any known cheese sauce dilemma

Oh, I was supposed to let it thicken before adding more milk? I just made sure it wasn't lumpy :redface: Funny you should mention the whisk, I thought that would be better but chose the wisdom of the recipe instead, lol!

Oh and i'd say it separated as the roux wasn't cooked off long enough/right temp to sort out the flour cooking situation.

It's just my way of preventing a disaster. And I can make awesome buerre blanc (French butter wine sauce) but in the early days of cooking I destroyed a roux or two with lumps and not stirring quick enough. And back then I didn't have electrical gadgets to save me. So the whisk became my friend. My gf who was a saucier was an insane stirrer. Her arms were almost robotic with how fast she could stir. Her sauces were amazing. And the texture was always divine.

as for the separation? Nah that would just make it taste floury but not be lumpy. Sometimes not enough butter and overcooking the flour can cause undissolvable lumps (yeah I totally made up that word!) because they cook into miniature dumplings in the butter almost.

Did you use packaged grated cheese? I have found that some brands make my cheese sauce a bit lumpy/grainy, almost like they're curdled. I always grate my own cheese now.

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Oh and i'd say it separated as the roux wasn't cooked off long enough/right temp to sort out the flour cooking situation.

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This.

Yeah, cooking the roux correctly is important.

I am different with adding the milk though, I just add it all and whisk away.

Okay clever cookies, what is roux?

The flour and butter. If its undercooked it makes the sauce taste floury. If its over cooked you can actually cook it till it forms lumps that don't dissolve.

Depending on how long you cook it for, it will change colour and also the flavour. Depending on the sauce you may want it to be darker.

And you can use it to make gravy or white wine sauces too.

This doesn't solve your problem as the wisdom above has already done that, but if you add a teaspoon of powered mustard to your roux it will make the sauce amazing.