This Salt Is the Key to Great Cheese Sauce Every Time

At least once a week, I’ll look at my phone or the corner of the laptop and realize that it’s time to make another meal, but I have no idea what to put together. The endless pandemic months have eroded my sense of time and normalcy, so unless I’ve had the wherewithal to pick up or order ingredients for a more well-rounded meal, I usually end up making something with a cheese sauce. A good cheese sauce, like agreat vinaigrette，很容易制作，可以将各种不同的食材迅速融合在一起，并为您的生活增添些许乳制品奢侈。通常，我最终会制作炉灶Mac和奶酪，并用任何可用的面食形状，以及一些烤蔬菜，适合营养。

My go-tocheese sauceuses classic French techniques that were drilled into me at culinary school. You make a roux out of flour and butter, about a tablespoon each, then whisk in half a cup of milk, and then, once it thickens, add in grated cheese until it comes together into a glorious cheesy lava. It’s great, but it has some drawbacks. I don’t always have milk around, which can complicate things, and back in the Before Times when I would cook for friends, the added flour would be a problem for folks with gluten intolerance. Which is why I was extremely intrigued when on an episode of their podcast家常菜, Samin Nosrat explained to her co-host Hrishikesh Hirway that the secret ingredient to making cheese sauce with the meltiness of Velveeta but the tang of whatever your preferred cheeses is the addition of sodium citrate.

正如诺斯拉特（Nosrat）所解释的那样，柠檬酸钠是使美国奶酪具有签名成分的成分。这就是为什么美国奶酪完美融化的原因，无论是在汉堡包的顶部还是烤奶酪三明治。这意味着您可以在您制作的任何基于奶酪的菜肴中加入一点美国奶酪，或者您可以购买bag of sodium citrateoff the internet and experiment at home.

It’s a molecular gastronomy trick that you can use pretty easily at home, as I discovered. Basically, you shred whatever cheese you want to make a sauce from. Harder, shreddable cheeses work best here, your cheddars and Goudas and Parmesans, as opposed to something soft like Brie, but you can do your own experiments if you’re determined. I used about a cup. Then, bring a cup of water to a simmer in a medium-sized pot. Whisk in a teaspoon of sodium citrate until it's dissolved, and then whisk in all the cheese, gradually, until it’s melted and gotten to the cheese consistency you’re hoping for. Taste and season it with salt and pepper to your liking.

这将使稀薄，更可倒的奶酪酱，但对于较厚的酱汁，请减少您要煮沸的水量，然后进行相应地进行。您可以将奶酪，水和柠檬酸钠的数量调整为所希望的奶酪酱量，如果您有很多奶酪，则可以使用浸入式搅拌器结合奶酪，as Daniel Gritzer advisesin his认真吃recipe for modern macaroni and cheese. If the sauce is too thick for your liking, add a bit more hot water, about a tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the consistency you want. Leftover sauce keeps in the fridge—just warm it up in the pot over low and add in a bit more water until it loosens up to the sauciness it once was. That’s it. Toss it with vegetables, eat it with chips, pour it over a bowl of beans and rice—the rest is up to you. It’s easy, it’s cheesy, it’s an element of this year I actually want to keep.