# Grainy cheese sauce



## chefmannydlm (Jun 22, 2013)

Hey there. I recently made a large batch (about 15 gallons) of cheese sauce. When I made it, it turned out grainy. The first thing I did was make a blond roux, then added my milk and allowed the milk to come up to about 200 degrees so the roux could start thickening and start to cook out.  I then added the cheese (shredded cheddar) a handful at a time and allowed it to melt and incorporate before adding the next handful. So where did I go wrong? Why did my cheese sauce still turn out grainy?


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Same cheese, milk and roux mix you've always used?

And this has always turned out before, just not this big of a batch?


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## chefmannydlm (Jun 22, 2013)

The last time I made it I used all the same ingredients, just in a smaller quantity.


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## Apprentichef (Oct 21, 2010)

It's a heat problem. Really need to let your bechamel cool off some before adding cheese.


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## chefmannydlm (Jun 22, 2013)

I had to make the cheese sauce again today. What I did this time is added only half my milk to the roux, allowed it to come to a simmer so the flour flavor cooks out, then I added the rest of my milk to bring down the overall temp of the sauce. When the bechamel was at 150 degrees I started adding the cheese. It also helped that I used an immersion blender to mix it all up. The sauce turned out great!


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Good to hear. Now hopefully you can do that consistently!


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

If you used a good cheddar it will break and throw out oil or butterfat when boiled.  Real cheap cheddar wont because there are stabilizers and food starches added.


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## westbigballin (Jun 3, 2014)

I've had this problem recently with my bechamels and it's driven me crazy.

Will try the half/half additions of milk and will add cheddar only when bechamel is at 150. Also have a handy dandy immersion blender on hand, though I don't know how well that will do in a cheesy bechamel


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## chefmannydlm (Jun 22, 2013)

The immersion blender just does what you are doing with a whisk, only faster.  It helps the cheese incorporate with the milk a lot faster.


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## justacook415 (Aug 21, 2014)

Going through a modernist cuisine recipe on Mac and cheese, I found that they use sodium citrate. This allows the cook to use only milk and cheese, the cheese melts without breaking the emullsification. Thus no chalky flour taste.


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## tony412 (Feb 5, 2015)

Add all the cheese at once instead of gradually, bet you money you won't have that samr problem.


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