# Cheese Sauce



## Ebeasley (Nov 3, 2009)

Any ideas on how to make a healthy cheese sauce with natural ingredients?


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## Dillbert (Nov 4, 2009)

make a white roux (equal parts butter & flour)
thin with milk
add chunks of cheese & melt


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## jabbur (Nov 4, 2009)

Dillbert has a good recipe.  You can make it at rich as you want using real butter, cream and cheese or you can lower the fat content by using margarine and skim milk.  I'd not skimp on the cheese part though since that is what provides the flavor.


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## msmofet (Nov 4, 2009)

i aslo add coleman's dry mustard, salt and fresh ground black pepper.


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## vyapti (Nov 4, 2009)

it depends on what you mean by healthy.  Any sauce made with cheese is going to have an unhealthy amount of fat.  I make a number dairy free cheese sauces that are much lower in fat but they are, of coarse, not actually cheese.


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## Michael in FtW (Nov 5, 2009)

To make it a little easier to melt the cheese try grating it (I grate it fine) instead of adding it in chunks. This allows the cheese to melt quicker and incorporate easier with less chance of messing up your sauce.


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## themonkeytree (Nov 13, 2009)

I sometimes use part chicken stock part milk/heavy cream, that way it is at least a little healthier than all milk or heavy cream.


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## Mama (Nov 13, 2009)

I just read *this article* the other day and it was talking about healthy foods for weight loss and it said that swiss cheese is high in calcium and “Calcium-rich foods reduce fat-producing enzymes and increase fat breakdown.”


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## vyapti (Nov 14, 2009)

Mama said:


> I just read *this article* the other day and it was talking about healthy foods for weight loss and it said that swiss cheese is high in calcium and “Calcium-rich foods reduce fat-producing enzymes and increase fat breakdown.”


The problem is that cheese is high in fat.  Eating cheese to reduce fat is like the old lady that swallowed a spider to eat the fly . . .


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Nov 14, 2009)

Cheese sauces require a bit of technique and knowledge.  They contain a fair amount of fat, sodium, and protien.  The protien makes cheese a challenge to work with.

The cardinal rule of any cheese sauce, whether it's made by adding cheese to a bechamel, or to hot cream or milk, if the sauce gets too hot, then the sauce will break, and the end product will be like mozzarella strands or lumps swimming in liquid.

To avoid breaking the sauce, heat the sauce base to no more than 170', scald the milk.  Remove the pot from the heat source.  Add the grated cheese and stir in immediatley until it is completely melted.  You can add mustard powder or prepared mustard if you like.  Just remember, that too much vinager (part of preapred mustard) will react with the protien as well.

I have made my own cheese product this way, simply adding a combination of swiss, sharp cheddar, and jack cheese.  It's texture when cooled, can resemble everything from a semi-hard cheese, to Velveeta, to Cheese Whiz, to Nacho Sauce, depending on the ratio of milk to cheese.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## Selkie (Nov 14, 2009)

Cheese Sauce... Healthy?


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## PattY1 (Nov 15, 2009)

Selkie said:


> Cheese Sauce... Healthy?



why mess up good food with Cheese Sauce?

Or why mess good spinach with cream sauce?
Why mess up a good steak with steak sauce?


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## Michael in FtW (Nov 15, 2009)

PattY1 said:


> why mess up good food with Cheese Sauce?
> 
> Or why mess good spinach with cream sauce?
> Why mess up a good steak with steak sauce?



Four good reasons would be: Brittany (15), Melonnie (11), Johnny (5), Grace (87). 

Sometimes you have to sacrifice the natural flavor of a dish, that you may personally enjoy, to get a child or elderly parent who doesn't share your adoration of the unadulterated flavor to eat the nutritious goodness underneath the sauce. Thankfully, sauces can be added or omitted at the wish of the diner.

But, hey - a little cheese on your cauliflower once in a while isn't really a sin, is it? And, without the sauce ... Steak Diane would just be another plain pan fried steak.


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