Entry tags:
Food is Hard
So I have failed at Mac and Cheese?
I don't really understand what happened. This is not the first time that I've made Mac and Cheese from scratch. I've done it twice in the last few months at least. And I'm pretty sure that I followed the same basic steps in order to make the cheese sauce. But this time it did not work out.
The cheese would not join with it's milk brethren to make sauce.
So now I have Mac and Cheese with bacon and onions and not so much a sauce as a slightly more liquidy cheese that I tried to spread as evenly as possible throughout the pasta.
Part of me feels like maybe I added too much cheese... but that can't be because it goes against the most basic tenets of my faith: when in doubt, add more cheese. In fact most of the time when I actually write down a recipe for someone (rare occurrence that it is) if there's cheese involved I always say: "Add lots of cheese. When you think you've got enough then add some more and you'll be golden."
Does Monterey Jack have some weird melting qualities I was unaware of? 'Cause I think that was the only difference between what I'd done before. Teach me to try to use more than just the massive block of No Name Old Cheddar. Clearly I should stick to known cheeses.
It still tastes alright, but it's harder to eat a whole lot because of the solidity of the cheese in places. I think I'll have to get my roommate to help me finish it. Le sigh.
I don't really understand what happened. This is not the first time that I've made Mac and Cheese from scratch. I've done it twice in the last few months at least. And I'm pretty sure that I followed the same basic steps in order to make the cheese sauce. But this time it did not work out.
The cheese would not join with it's milk brethren to make sauce.
So now I have Mac and Cheese with bacon and onions and not so much a sauce as a slightly more liquidy cheese that I tried to spread as evenly as possible throughout the pasta.
Part of me feels like maybe I added too much cheese... but that can't be because it goes against the most basic tenets of my faith: when in doubt, add more cheese. In fact most of the time when I actually write down a recipe for someone (rare occurrence that it is) if there's cheese involved I always say: "Add lots of cheese. When you think you've got enough then add some more and you'll be golden."
Does Monterey Jack have some weird melting qualities I was unaware of? 'Cause I think that was the only difference between what I'd done before. Teach me to try to use more than just the massive block of No Name Old Cheddar. Clearly I should stick to known cheeses.
It still tastes alright, but it's harder to eat a whole lot because of the solidity of the cheese in places. I think I'll have to get my roommate to help me finish it. Le sigh.
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With mine, it was the white sauce that curdled or went lumpy or didn't mix or whatever. It looked wrong before the cheese went in. And I still don't know why.
I've never done it with Monterey Jack though.
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Mostly I just take butter and milk and sour cream and heat it all over medium-low and then slowly add grated cheese so that it melts into everything else and is smooth and creamy and delicious. There is also garlic and onions and black pepper involved. And this time I also added paprika and some cumin. And I didn't have any fresh garlic so I used garlic powder.
I really don't know what I did wrong. And it makes me a little hesitant to try again. Especially with anything approaching good cheese.
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My method is to make a "roux" type cream sauce. That is, melt the butter, stir in the flour and salt until mixed, pour the milk in slowly, heat stirring until it boils and thickens, and then dump in the cheese.
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