Cheese Sauce

Courtesy of Serious Eats

There’s nothing more delectable that a sumptuous cheese sauce. It goes with any type of pasta and can even make eating broccoli a treat instead of a chore.

I typically make it for macaroni and cheese. The best part of this sauce is that you can add whatever kind of cheese you have on hand. While it may be the usual choice, it doesn’t have to be cheddar. Feel free to use anything from fontina to gouda to port salut. Hard or soft, any cheese will do.

Other recipes will call for just melting the cheese in hot milk. But I like to start out my cheese sauce as a béchamel. Melt butter in a pan, add flour to create a roux, and deglaze with milk. Stir constantly to create a good thickness. Add dry mustard, a dash of Tabasco, bay leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Once those flavors blend you can add the cheese. I just think it makes a better sauce—a little richer with a little more substance.

Here’s my go-to recipe:

½ stick of salted butter

½ c. all purpose flour

5 c. milk

3 bay leaves

1 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground black pepper

¼ tsp. of Tabasco

5 c. shredded or cubed cheese

Melt butter and add flour to create roux. Pour in milk slowly while stirring until all of it has been incorporated. Add the bay leaves, mustard, salt and pepper, and Tabasco. Continue to stir until slightly thickened. Remove bay leaves. Add cheese. Allow it to melt and incorporate fully into sauce.

Enjoy!