14.4 Cooking with cheese

Dairy recipes →

Then judge four things:

• how much fat separates out;
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• the flavor;
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• how tender the cheese stays;
• how stringy it gets.

The tests change three things:

• how ripe or aged the cheese is (mild against sharp);
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• whether the cheese has been processed;
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• how hot it gets, and for how long.
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Cheese in a sauce

To make a cheese sauce, the cheese goes into a white sauce that has already thickened. Use 56 g (2 oz), about half a cup, of shredded cheese for each cup of thin white sauce. Compare sauces at 45°C, at 75°C and at a boil. After the cheese goes in, bring the sauce back to the same temperature, stirring often.

Macaroni and cheese shows the order of work:

• Bring the white sauce to a full boil, then take it off the heat.
• Wait 45 seconds before you blend in the cheese.
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• Stir in the cooked macaroni and top it with buttered crumbs.
• Set the dish on a rack in a pan of hot water, and bake it uncovered at 350°F for 30 minutes.
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Cheese under dry heat

A grilled cheese sandwich is a simple test of dry heat.

• Butter one side of each of two slices of bread, and put the cheese between the unbuttered sides.
• Heat a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium-low heat.
• Press the sandwich lightly and cook it for 3 to 5 minutes until the bottom is golden.
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• Turn it and cook 3 to 5 minutes more, until the second side browns and the cheese has melted.

Pan-frying itself is taught with the other dry-heat methods. see chapter 8: How much fat

Open cheese toasts show how oven heat and time change cheese. Bake slices of each cheddar on bread at 300°F until just melted, then leave some in for 10 more minutes. Repeat the test at 500°F, this time leaving some in until the cheese is brown and bubbling. Taste each one as soon as it comes out.