Cheese Sauce
One of the side dishes that disappears fast at our Thanksgiving table is the Cheese Sauce. In many ways, it is really a side of a side dish, served up alongside the broccoli and cauliflower, though I will note that in reality it gets poured over almost everything on the plates, very much like a gravy. I make a lot of cheese sauce for Thanksgiving, using 1 cup of butter, 6 cups of milk, and over 13 cups of cheese.
I can already here the cries of “Holy Heart Attack, Batman, that’s a lot of dairy!”. But I’ll point out the following:
- There will be around 25 people for dinner.
- We are from Wisconsin, after all.
- I use chicken stock in addition to milk in a relatively futile effort to lighten the sauce up a bit.
- There is usually some left over, which people fight over even more than the leftover turkey.
- It is Thanksgiving… get over it.
Here’s the evidence:
Cheese sauce is a great dish to make in advance, which I did, stored in a crock pot, and put in the refrigerator. On Thanksgiving it will be brought out and warmed in the same crockpot, which makes it an effortless and mindless thing to deal with in the uproar.
Recipe:
- 2 sticks butter (1 cup)
- 2 cups flour
- 6 cups milk
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 8 cups cheddar cheese
- 4 cups sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- powdered garlic, onion, mustard to taste
- salt, white pepper, paprika to taste
In a very large stockpot, melt the butter over low heat. Add flour, a little at a time, whisking to avoid lumps. Once well mixed, cook over low heat for several minutes to cook out the flour taste.
Slowly pour 2 cups milk into flour mixture, whisking constantly to ensure smoothness. Once smooth, add the rest of the milk more rapidly, still whisking. Add the cream cheese and allow to melt. Continue to add the rest of the cheese, whisking as you add so that it melts consistently. Once all the cheese is added and melted, use the chicken stock as needed to thin to the right thickness.
Taste the sauce before adding salt, as the cheese can be salty. Add all spices, to taste.
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