cheese sauce help needed quickly

[Kazzo]

Does cheese sauce thicken when it cools or do you just keep stirring until it is thick?

[briggsy's girl]

it will thicken a little, but not that much from my experience - i tend to keep stirring til it's almost as thick as i want it

[Kazzo]

so if I have been stirring for 30 minutes and it is not getting any thicker is that as thick as it will get and can I make it thicker somehow?

[~clover~]

add some flour? & extra cheese for extra flavour?

[briggsy's girl]

i wouldn't add flour - given it won't have been cooked off first, it may leave it with a floury taste and ruin the sauce (in my experience)

if we need to thicken it up more, we throw in more grated tasty cheese - as it melts it thickens the sauce

ETA - the floury taste is lost at the start when it's cooked off with the butter - i have found if you add flour to the white sauce without it being cooked off like that, it just doesn't have the right flavour

[Traveller]

take some of your sauce out, add some flour to this small amount and whisk it until the lumps have gone. Add this back to your sauce and it should thicken without going too lumpy.

[Kazzo]

Thanks ladies. I think I salvaged it. I did what traveller suggested and it did taste a bit floury so I added more cheese. It taste alright now, just very cheesey. The girls will love that anyway. It did thicken up a touch like you said BG when it cooled a bit and that was enough.

Oh boy, I made the decision that 95% of what we all eat should be completely made by me and so far so good, but the recipe I had for the chhese sauce was so vague. I will get better in time I guess, untill then I always have BB for a quick rescue.

Thanks again

[briggsy's girl]

cheesy isn't bad lol

with cheese sauce, mum always taught me to add milk in really small amounts so that it thickens before you add more. easier to add a bit of milk to a sauce that is too thick, than to scramble to thicken it later and maybe ruin it kwim? that's probably the only bit of mums white/cheese sauce i follow though lol

[~clover~]

lol, i usually use google for recipe's & find the best one

[Kazzo]

thanks BG, that makes a lot of sense.

clover, that is what i always do except I was following a lasagne recipe and when I went over it I did not pay to much attention to the cheese sauce section and all it said was combine and stir to desired thickness.

My lasagne turned out fantastic though, they did not even notice the onion or mushrooms in the meat sauce DH is the fussiest eater I know and he said it was the best he had ever had so I am pleased with my first attempt. Their is such satisfaction when you have worked hard to make a great meal and it is liked.

Thanks again ladies

[Netix]

Well done Kazzo! (I also put finely chopped carrot in my lasagne... A restaurant I used to work in used to finely process the carrot, onion and celery for their lasagne)

I know its "late", but another good bit of cheese sauce (or any white based sauce), is to have the milk warmed ("very" warm) before adding it to the roux (cooked butter and flour mix). That way you don't need to wait for it to heat through and start to thicken before adding the next bit of milk. That's what my Mum taught me about white sauce And my note, powdered milk works just as well (I always add a little extra powder to what the directions say).

[Lisa]

I know its "late", but another good bit of cheese sauce (or any white based sauce), is to have the milk warmed ("very" warm) before adding it to the roux (cooked butter and flour mix). That way you don't need to wait for it to heat through and start to thicken before adding the next bit of milk. That's what my Mum taught me about white sauce

I do it this way now too. I was taught the 'bit by bit' way but saw Hughy do it this way and now I am converted. I heat my milk in the microwave first.




This post was brought to you by Lisa's iPhone. Keeping Lisa sane since 2011.

[Kazzo]

Thanks Netix, I was very proud of my effort and it tasted even better today for lunch. I always add heated milk to my mash so it makes sense to do it for the cheese sauce. I think I have a better understanding of how to do it for next time. I have no trouble getting the girls to eat carrot, peas and corn so I just gave them a side of vegies. I heard baby spinach leaves adds a nice flavour so might try that next time.
Thanks again for all the tips.
So far this week I have made every meal from scratch, yay me!