For Smooth, Stable Cheese Sauces, Use Cornstarch and Evaporated Milk (2024)
I don't know much about football, but I do know that if you're stuck watching a game at your friend's house, for no discernible reason other than to see New York teams get creamed, you'll be much happier if you've got a bag of chips and a bowl full of cheese dip.
Cheese dip wasn't really a thing in my household when I was a kid. I was first introduced to it by the mother of one of my American friends, who, crucially, had access to the magic that is Velveeta. One moment, we were settling in to watch a bootleg VHS of The Mighty Ducks, and the next, there I was, sticking a chip into an unnaturally yellow pool of hot cheese flecked with bits of jarred salsa. The rest, as they say, is history.
What I didn't know at the time was that you don't need Velveeta to make a smooth cheese dip; all you need, as Kenji discovered years ago, is a little bit of cornstarch and some evaporated milk, and you can transform most cheeses from their semisolid state into a pourable consistency.
The reason Velveeta melts so readily into a puddle of uniform-seeming goo is that it includes sodium alginate, an emulsifying salt that's extracted from brown algae. (It performs a function similar to that of sodium phosphate, the emulsifying salt first stumbled upon by James Kraft circa 1912, which paved the way for the Kraft processed-cheese empire.) Basically, sodium alginate helps the natural emulsifiers contained within cheese (cheese, after all, is a gel),* creating an emulsion that can survive heating beyond the temperatures at which a cheese's emulsion will normally break.
*From Modernist Cuisine: "The casein proteins in milk coagulate to form a gel; they then settle out as curds. This process occurs at the outset of all cheese making. The gel traps the fat droplets in the milk, turning it into a solid emulsion. The solid gel makes cheese a very stable emulsion unless it is heated sufficiently to melt the gel, at which point the emulsion breaks."
If your goal is to produce a stable liquid emulsion with cheese, there are several routes you can take. In one of his two baked macaroni and cheese recipes, Daniel uses sodium citrate, a common emulsifying salt in the modernist pantry. Make a solution of it by whisking it into water or milk, then simply melt cheese into the solution; the sodium citrate will help keep the emulsion stable, just as sodium alginate does in Velveeta. You can also use Kenji's method for making cheese sauce, which relies on the same interplay between starch, liquid, and cheese as his three-ingredient, 10-minute macaroni and cheese recipe.
To increase the stability of the final emulsion, Kenji adds evaporated milk to the mix, which contributes a high volume of milk proteins without adding too much water. To get an idea of how proteins add stability to an emulsion, think of mozzarella, a low-fat, high-moisture, high-protein cheese. It takes very high temperatures to get mozzarella's fat and water to separate out. Compare that to cheddar, a high-fat, high-moisture, low-protein cheese, which starts leaking grease if you hold a piece in your palm for even a few moments.
Apart from the added milk proteins, the emulsion's stability depends on the inclusion of some kind of starch. In the macaroni and cheese recipe, that starch comes from the pasta itself, which is why we use only a bare minimum of water to cook the pasta, thereby increasing the concentration of starch in the cooking liquid. For a cheese dip or sauce, the addition of cornstarch serves a similar function: Starch molecules absorb water and expand, not only thickening the liquid phase of the sauce, but also physically preventing the proteins from binding into long, tangled strands and the fats from separating out and pooling. (Daniel uses cornstarch to play a similar role in his fondue recipe.)
The best way to incorporate the cornstarch is to coat the grated cheese in it, which ensures an even distribution and prevents the formation of annoying clumps. The great thing about this method is that by adjusting the ratios slightly, you can get different consistencies, without worrying about the resulting emulsion breaking. For dips, you'll want to use a tablespoon of cornstarch per pound of cheese, then add at least five ounces of evaporated milk. After that, you can use more evaporated milk to thin out your dip as much as you need.
For dips, you'll want to use a tablespoon of cornstarch per pound of cheese, then add at least five ounces of evaporated milk. After that, you can use more evaporated milk to thin out your dip as much as you need.
Sodium citrate isn't just a fancy name. It's a culinary superhero, playing the dual role of emulsifier and stabilizer in our cheese sauce. This dynamic duo works wonders by preventing proteins from coagulating, ensuring our sauce stays smooth and velvety even at high temperatures.
Flour or cornstarch can both thicken a liquid. In a small separate bowl, mix a tablespoon of either flour or cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cheese sauce until the mixture is smooth. Add the mixture back to the milky cheese sauce, and stir until combined and desired thickness is achieved.
Emulsifiers in the evaporated milk prevent your cheese from breaking into curds and oil, ensuring a smooth and creamy sauce. Making cheese sauce yourself means you can customize it, getting the exact cheese flavor, level of spice, and more right where you want it.
I've made mozzarella from scratch using dried milk (using rennet) in the past and I've made ricotta cheese using evaporated milk. (And yes, I also have freeze dried mozzarella cheese in my storage.)
For Smooth, Stable Cheese Sauces, Cornstarch and Evaporated Milk Are Your Friends. How to make a stable emulsion of melted cheese using two basic pantry staples.
Fat: Cheeses also melt better when they're higher in fat. If you've ever tried to melt low-fat or non-fat cheese, you'll have seen this in action, but this is also true for cheeses whose fat content is naturally lower.
Corn starch is applied in food industry as a thickening agent in desserts and pudding. Starch is often used in combination with other ingredients such as milk in pudding and custard (Master & Steeneken, 1997). Milk thickened with starchy material forms the main ingredient in a number of very popular desserts.
Cornstarch is a common thickening agent in the culinary arts, but if you add it directly to the liquid you want to thicken, it will clump up. To thicken a sauce or soup with cornstarch, you first need to make a slurry, which is a mixture of equal parts cornstarch and liquid (usually water, stock or wine).
One warning when cooking with a cornstarch slurry is to avoid adding too much, particularly when using it with baked goods. Chattman says that overuse of cornstarch can lend a starchy flavor to a dish. It's also important to note that there are some dishes that may not thicken when mixed with cornstarch.
But when left in its thickened, low-moisture canned state, it can also stand in for milk or heavy cream as an enriching agent. Evaporated milk gives body to smoothies, thickens up and sweetens coffee, and adds nuance and richness to creamy soups and chowders, not to mention savory sauces and even oatmeal.
Starch (such as all-purpose flour, cornstarch, or potato flour) will keep the cheese from curdling. If using 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.
It may be possible to substitute the cream with evaporated milk, but we feel that the texture and taste of the sauce will be different and so it is not something we would particularly recommend.
Cheese sauce can be kept from congealing by applying enough heat to keep it semi-liquid but not enough to scorch it or dry it out. A candle or an electric heat source can be used for this. A fondue pot is one type of vessel commonly used for the process.
You can thicken cheese sauce further by adding more flour or even using a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch. In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch or flour with a cup of water. The cold water will create a slurry. Stir the slurry into the cheese sauce over medium heat, and let the sauce boil and thicken.
To try this, boil milk for your sauce's roux, then take the milk off the heat and let it cool before stirring in the cheese. Another way to avoid curdled sauce, per Sara Moulton, is by finely grating your cheese before adding it to the other hot ingredients, so that you don't require as much heat to melt it.
Adding an acid such as a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice or white wine and whisking like the Hounds of Hell are snapping at your fingers may emulsify the fat molecules back into the sauce while detangling the protein molecules that have merrily clumped into unappetizing grainy clusters.
Always add the cheese off the heat. Grate it in advance, add it a bit at a time, whisking until it dissolves, then add more. Don'tget impatient and dump it all in at once. Adding cheese while the pan is on the heat tightens the proteins, which will make lumps in your sauce.
Sodium citrate is an extremely common emulsifying salt that is used to keep the cheese creamy as it melts. It's thanks to this little molecule that American cheese won't break, instead staying glossy and gooey no matter how much you seem to heat it and cool it down.
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Introduction: My name is Cheryll Lueilwitz, I am a sparkling, clean, super, lucky, joyous, outstanding, lucky person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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