Two Ways To Do a (Lump Free) Cheese Sauce
Turns out sharing a roux, or in fact, a cheese sauce, online, can stir up some emotions! People have strong opinions on how to do a cheese sauce. Here I go through my two fool proof methods, but I’d love to hear yours too!
Causing a stir
Okay so let’s start by being accurate here: some people use “roux”, “white sauce” and “cheese sauce” interchangeably. But a roux is actually flour and fat (most commonly butter) mixed together, and this can be the base of different sauces, or used as a thickening mix for lots of different cooking. When you add milk, you get a white sauce, and when you add cheese as well, you get a cheese sauce. So though the roux is present in all of these, a cheese sauce is… a cheese sauce. Not a roux.
Anyway!
You may have seen my new recipe for cauliflower broccoli cheese. I shared a video of this as well, with a lovely cheese sauce (of course!) to go with it. The inspiration for the recipe was one of BBC Food’s cauliflower cheese recipes (this one!) and it had an interesting method which I decided to try, and it worked brilliantly. This is also what I did in the video. It’s basically: milk in a pan, add flour and then butter (all cold) and start whisking as the butter melts, and whisk continuously for about 2 minutes as the sauce bubbles and evens out. It worked perfectly! No lumps whatsoever, quick and easy. Then fold in the cheese.
But people had some thoughts! On both Instagram and TikTok, I got some comments on this. Some people were confused as there was no roux at the base so to speak, and others shared their preferred way of doing a cheese sauce, almost like they were a bit worried about how rogue (rouxgue?) I was going - I got the feeling doing it this way around got some people’s eyes twitching a bit!
I get it. We’re taught how to do certain things (especially something as traditional as a roux, white sauce or cheese sauce) a particular way, and as we are deadly afraid of lumps (oh god, not lumps!!!), we sometimes think that if we do it any other way, it’s going to go completely pear shaped. But the truth is, there are more than one way to skin a cat. Could a new, slightly less morbid saying be: There are many ways to do a lump free cheese sauce? Just a suggestion.
So as a semi-experienced home cook, I can tell you with confidence that these two ways of doing a cheese sauce work for me, no lumps, no stress. Try the one that you prefer - or try both and report back about which one was best! My best tip: stir with a whisk, not a wooden spoon or similar.
Cheese sauce - method 1
(Amounts are examples and can depend on recipe)
50g butter
1/3 cup flour
500ml milk
100g cheese
In a saucepan, melt butter gently and add flour, keep whisking until you have a lump-free roux. Slowly add in the milk (cold), and keep whisking. Finally fold in the cheese and stir until you have an even sauce.
Cheese sauce - method 2
(Amounts are examples and can depend on recipe)
50g butter
1/3 cup flour
500ml milk
100g cheese
In a saucepan, add milk, flour and butter all at the same time and turn the heat on. As the butter starts to melt, keep stirring continuously for about 2 minutes until you have a nice, thick, even sauce. Fold in the cheese and keep stirring. Voila!
British Michelin chef Marco Pierre White says that his “secrets” to a lump free sauce are: always more butter than flour, and cold milk and warm butter, or warm milk and cold butter. So take with you anything that could be useful from that, too!
Now - do you have a totally different way of doing a cheese sauce? I’d love to know! Or do you have something else you make using a slightly unorthodox method, which works well for you? If so, let me know in a comment below!
