Why does my cheese sauce taste like flour/paste? [duplicate]
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Possible Duplicate:
How do I make my roux taste less like flour?
I'm trying to make a basic cheese sauce for putting over broccoli, etc. A typical recipe I've tried is:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons unbleached white flour
- 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- Sea salt, to taste
- 1 cup low fat milk
- 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- White pepper, to taste
Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk in flour, mustard powder and salt to taste. Gradually stir in milk, whisking over med-low heat until thickened. Add cheese, stirring until completely melted. Season to taste with white pepper.
The problem is that it always ends up with a flour/paste undertaste. Am I just not cooking the Roux sufficiently before adding the cheese or what?
Best Answer
It seems like you are not cooking the roux. Even a white roux should be cooked. A roux made with butter froths when it is cooked, after that you can add the milk. You can try adding it gradually, if it works for you, I find that dumping it at once and stirring vigorously is better for me - else the first small amount of milk gels the roux into too-hard lumps which the next portion of milk doesn't dissolve. Also, "until thickened" is a bit of a hit-or-miss. I wait until I see bubbles of cooking - not the rapid small bubbles of boiling water, but big, slowly rising bubbles plopping here and there, only then I stop cooking the sauce.
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How do you get the flour taste out of cheese sauce?
Just keep it on a low heat, stir lots and 'cook out' the flour. It will take a good few minutes and you might need a bit more milk. Thanks wow that's quick! I have tried adding milk and cooking longer, no joy yet but may try again as otherwise the whole (huge) pan is going in the bin.Why does my sauce taste like flour?
How to get rid of that? You have to cook your roux longer. You have to cook your roux just a bit before adding the liquid to it.Why does my cheese sauce taste powdery?
Dairy sauces are prone to becoming grainy or gritty, and it's due to curdling. Dairy products like cheese sauce are made from fat and milk. The proteins contained in the mixture have a tendency to try to separate. Too much heat, not enough fat, or too much acid are usually the main reasons graininess occurs.Why does my mac and cheese taste floury?
While it's tempting to start adding the milk to make the white sauce as soon as the roux comes together in a paste, don't. Make sure you cook it gently for as long as it takes for the raw flour taste to go away. It'll likely take four to five minutes or more, but will prevent that floury taste in your mac and cheese.Why is my cheese sauce grainy?
More answers regarding why does my cheese sauce taste like flour/paste? [duplicate]
Answer 2
I don't use flour for my cheese sauce, I use corn starch. If you use one cup of milk you'll need about one or two tablespoons of corn starch, depending on how thick you want it. Experiment.
Your recipe has cheddar cheese, which for me always clumps, so I use american cheese or a bend of three cheeses, mozerella, cheddar and american. I've used all sorts of cheese for cheese sauce, as long as it melts smooth.
Make a corn starch paste instead of the flour paste and you won't have the pasty flour flavor. Corn starch clumps just like flour if you just toss it in the hot mixture, so as with flour, make the smooth paste first before adding it in the pan.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Katerina Holmes, Rachel Claire, ready made, Katerina Holmes