Cheese sauce always too thin.

My Cauliflower cheese is proper tasty, but the sauce is always a bit thin, kind of strong soup consistency rather than proper sauce. It gets to that stage in a reasonable time, then just remains without thickening. Is it just a case of more roux needed, or is there another trick?

More roux properly cooked out before you add the cheese. Or preferably ski[p the cauliflower and just enjoy a nice piece of cheese (see golf is a good walk ruined etc)

More roux, less milk, more cheese….

I don’t use a ‘proper’ roux as such but cornflour. 3 or 4 teaspoons in a cup, mixed with just enough water to turn it into a paste first, then a thick liquid. Add to your cheese sauce at the end of cooking and stir until it thickens.  Add a little more if needed, but don’t overdo it, it’s easy to end up with a jelly brick if you do!

like so many things in life… needs more cheese. Just keep putting more and more and more in until you’re happy that it’s thick and cheesy enough. Remember… you can NEVER have too much cheese!

As an example of the correct consistency, Mrs Binners did this beauty last week. It was her take on the bloke on Masterchef (no, not him) doing a deconstructed baked spud with cheesy beans.

This culinary masterpiece is baked baby spuds, dripping in butter, with homemade smoky baked beans, proper thick cheese sauce with bacon and chorizo. Oh… and more cheese grated on top for good measure. Frankly it’s one of the best things I’ve ever eaten 😀

Are you mixing the sauce and cauliflower before serving? I always find this thins the sauce considerably.

@binners – recipe please.

@binners – recipe please

And does she have a sister?

Are you mixing the sauce and cauliflower before serving?

No, all in an oven dish then bake for 25 mins or so.

I’m not parmesan* parsimonious either

* Actually mature cheddar, but couldn’t think of a pun for that.

Oh… and more cheese grated on top for good measure

She must have done that after the picture was taken, because you surely cannot be referring to the barely visible dusting on that plateful.

No, all in an oven dish then bake for 25 mins or so.

In that case, I blame the cauliflower for thinning the sauce. Mrs S has the same results.

recipe please.

She used this recipe for the Baked Beans but added in chorizo as well as the bacon lardons to make them extra smoky, then made a buttery cheese sauce with extra mature cheddar and Red Leicester and lots of black pepper, then poured both over baked baby spuds, smothered in butter. She then grated Parmesan on top, just in case there wasn’t enough cheese

It was truly awesome!

And does she have a sister?

No sister, I’m afraid. She’s truly unique. God only knows what she’s doing with me, but there’s no accounting for taste 😀

Once you’ve parboiled your cauliflower drain and leave to steam off for 5 mins, sauce will be much less watery

Best cheese sauce recipe I’ve used is Heston’s, nothing else comes close IMO, though I’m not posh enough to have any truffle oil handy. It’s not roux based either. I steam the cauliflower to keep it a bit drier, and leave it to rest uncovered for a few minutes before covering in the sauce, topped with grated Gruyère, before popping it in a hot over for 20mins or so, until golden on top. Mmm. ?

https://www.cookipedia.co.uk/recipes_wiki/Heston_Blumenthal%27s_perfect_cheese_sauce

I really wanted this thread to link to a news story.

More roux. Or try melting salts. https://blog.modernistpantry.com/advice/the-meltiest-cheese/

plus steam or roast the cauliflower. Boiled cauliflower – yuck.

Proper butter and full fat milk for the sauce to be thick and rich, and obviously enough roux too.

Once you’ve par boiled the cauliflower then toss it in a little oil, onion salt and a light sprinkle of mustard powder then roast it.

Cook out the flour and butter, add warm milk until it’s like runny porridge then add too much cheese, can be let down a little with more milk. You can always add but never take away.

Yes more cheese….but can I suggest everyone take a look at the cholesterol thread…..

This culinary masterpiece is baked baby spuds, dripping in butter, with homemade smoky baked beans, proper thick cheese sauce with bacon and chorizo. Oh… and more cheese grated on top for good measure

With a side order of cheese that would be perfect

Yes more cheese….but can I suggest everyone take a look at the cholesterol thread…..

La-La-laaaaa….. not listening 😉

Drain cauliflower well – leave it in the colander to steam dry.

0.5-1 tablespoonful of cornflour mixed with a small amount of water to get rid of lumps, then add slowly to cheese sauce as you are making it. Beware, it doesn’t start to thicken until it gets nice and warm so don’t use too much

More cheese, I use a mix of mature cheddar and red leicester

Won’t thicken it, but add some mustard.

Steam dry Cauliflower I already do. And mustard actually. Don’t tend to cook the roux for long and sounds like I just need more. Will also have some cornflower mix on standby if needed next time, that’s a good idea.

Thanks all.

My cauli always goes in the microwave in a steamer (as does most “boiled” veg, eg broccoli and carrots). For some reason I still boil spuds in a pan though. Not sure what that’s about really.

I’ve always found cheese sauce is easy enough, some flour and butter to start, but can always be rescued with cornflour at the end if required. Welsh rarebit is basically cheese sauce and my recipe actually uses cornflour for some reason.

I don’t bother baking it in the oven because life’s too short. 15 mins start to finish and by that I mean including the eating, with something like mango chutney or brinjal pickle.

Yeah you want to roux to be biscuit coloured.

The sadly late wife of a friend of mine used to always get the giggles when I spoke about my cheese sauce!

That Heston recipe is just a runny fondue. Although it sounds good (maybe too good for cauliflower).

I always make the roux quite dry, almost like breadcrumbs, take the pan off the heat to cook out the flour with the residual heat. Add milk a bit at a time and beat like crazy until it’s like a runny custard then back on the heat to thicken. Then add so much cheese mixed heart goes into meltdown.

You could use an element of the Heston recipe where you coat the grated cheese in cornflour before adding to the sauce.

Cornflour in mine – nice and easy, works, stops the cheese separating.

Also top tip for cauli cheese – mustard in the sauce.  And if you want, horseradish.  But only a tiny bit!

Another top tip – do both broccoli and cauli all in.  A surprising variety of vegetables are greatly improved with the addition of cheese sauce, not just brassica.

We had cauliflower cheese last night. It’s always a race to make it as Mrs BigJohn likes a pouring consistency whereas I like to slice the sauce. Blanch the cauliflower and let it drip dry in a colander. Butter and flour to make a nice roux, let it darken a bit. Garlic, mustard powder, worcester sauce then a bit of milk. Loads of cheese. If we plan ahead its half and half cheddar and Gruyere plus all the hard bits knocking about in the cheese box. Into a baking dish with the cauli, grate more cheese over the top, parmesan, pecorino or gran padano if you have it, and 20 minutes in the oven till the top is all brown with burnt edges.
As Molgrips says, sometimes Mrs BigJohn likes to add some broccoli, but she’s kind enough to keep that abomination up her end of the dish.

My cheese sauce tip… use butternut squash. Ideally roast it first if you have time. If not soften an onion as if you were making soup, add chunks of squash, some stock powder, and enough water to steam the veg. When soft, blend it up so it’s a thick soup. Add it to a thick roux, and add cheese and extra milk as required for taste/thickness. Also works as a vegan option with dairy-free milk. Turns out nice and orange, as if you’d used a coloured cheddar.

This recipe from Yottam Ottolenghi works very reliably for me. You can do just the cheese sauce – top tip is to make sure your milk is hot when you add it (microwave FTW) to make the sauce thicken quickly.

I used to make my sauces with a roux, but then stumbled across the cheats method;

500ml milk

4tbsp flour

50g butter

Bung it all in cold, whisk as it heats and then add 100g cheese (so that’ll be about 250g then really!)

I’ve not done a side by side comparison vs the roux then tediously add small sploshes of milk whilst stirring, but the cheats method seems pretty satisfactory. Any arguments that I should be using the traditional method?!

Bung it all in cold, whisk as it heats

But but but… When you make a roux, you cook the flour in the butter so it adds a biscuity flavour. I know, you did say cheat’s method but there’s always going to be a compromise on flavour.

When you take the dish out the oven do you leave it to cool a bit, say 10 mins?  Makes a load of difference with other stuff  to help them thicken up a bit.

Also more roux and in case no one mentioned it more cheese too 😉