sodium citrate with a roux for cheese

fishlessman

can you add it to a roux cheese mix for mac and cheese or do you have to just pony up with more cheese

buzd504

Sodium citrate acts as an emulsifier when you are mixing cheese with (basically) water.  Since roux is fat-based, you probably don't need it.

nolaegghead

Real mac n cheese is a flour/milk white roux with cheese added.  You shouldn't need sodium citrate unless you have separation of your cheese and that's going to depend alot on what cheese you are adding.  Some hard cheeses need it.  I think it has something to do with the acidity of the cheese.

nolaegghead

I guess a better word would be bechamel sauce.

fishlessman

nolaegghead said:

I guess a better word would be bechamel sauce.

bechamel sauce....looks like warm milk instead of water works and i saw buttering the elbows before adding the milk/ sodium citrate works. might keep some flavor that im more used too.  might just skip it for this cook

Botch

This month's Cooks Illustrated had a mac-n-cheese recipe with 1 oz each parmesan, pecorino, two eggs and 3 Tblspns lard.  That sounds odd enough to try.  
 

nolaegghead

Botch said:

This month's Cooks Illustrated had a mac-n-cheese recipe with 1 oz each parmesan, pecorino, two eggs and 3 Tblspns lard.  That sounds odd enough to try.  
 

Those long aged hard cheeses have many times more flavor than your typical soft or short aged cheeses so I can see how the recipe calls for such a small amount of cheese.

lkapigian

nolaegghead said:

I guess a better word would be bechamel sauce.

Roux-then bechamel then mornay 

SonVolt

I think it's supposed to make any cheese melt like Velveeta so it's great for stove top mac, but supposedly isn't good for a baked mac 'n cheese, which typically calls for the roux. 

fishlessman

SonVolt said:

I think it's supposed to make any cheese melt like Velveeta so it's great for stove top mac, but supposedly isn't good for a baked mac 'n cheese, which typically calls for the roux. 

im going to go with the traditional roux method this weekend. sometimes google takes you off the true path. might do a manchego cheddar for some nachos this weekend though with the sodium citrate

though i might make this one with heavey cream

Modern Creamy Mac and Cheese

No Roux! Super easy mac and cheese. No burnt flour. Just melt cheese and add pasta!

Total Time15 mins

Servings: 12 side dish

Cost: cheap

Ingredients

• 1 pound box elbow pasta
• 2 cup heavy cream use any liquid you want but the cream makes it creamy! lol
• 24 ounces cheese, grated, chopped sliced I used what I had. Cheddar, manchego,jack. Use what you want.
• 4 tsp sodium citrate
• seasoning. I used Old Bay just be careful with salt the sodium citrate is a salt. Add mustard, hot sauce, what ever you want.

Topping

• 1 cup panko
• 1/4 cup parmesan
• 1/4 cup melted butter, or margarine, or oil

Instructions

Mac and Cheese

• Cook pasta in slightly salted water until done
• combine the cream, cheese, soduim citrate in a pot over low heat. Stir until the cheese melts and you have a smooth sauce
• Add your seasoning to taste
• fold in pasta and transfer to a 9 by 13 inch pan
• when ready to serve bake at 350 until browned

buzd504

The serious eats recipe is pretty close to that and it comes out great.

https://www.seriouseats.com/sodium-citrate-baked-mac-and-cheese

nolaegghead

Those last two recipes are basically fondue cheese sauce mixed with pasta.  Not criticizing them, they are probably delicious.

The "poor people" version is skimpy on the cheese and the body of the sauce is the roux with milk and (when baked) eggs for viscosity/body.

caliking

I've tried no topping, bread crumbs + butter, and crushed Ritz crackers + butter. Ritz crackers won. 

paqman

Evaporated milk contains disodium phoshate which works the same way as sodium citrate to emulsify cheese.  I use that instead of milk when making mac and cheese.