Name: Basic Cheese Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: for 600 g (21.1 oz)
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 30 g butter (1 oz); 30 g all-purpose flour (1 oz); 300 ml milk (10.5 oz); 50 ml dry white wine or Vermouth (1.8 oz); 1 bay leaf; 50 g Gauda cheese, grated (1.8 oz); 50 g Cheddar cheese, grated (1.8 oz)

Basic Cheese Sauce

Basic cheese sauce recipe, where have you been all my life? Do you guys make your own cheese dip, cheese sauce for chips or pretzels? Or for pasta, vegetables? Well, at my household we are all incredible cheese lovers so we never managed to make a good cheese sauce at home, because we always ate the cheese :) However, last week Jernej and I sat down comfortably on our couch, ready to watch How to get away with Murder, we opened a bag of chips, which we haven’t bought for ages and then it hit us both at the same time “why on Earth we never make our own homemade guacamole dip or an easy cheese sauce”. We couldn’t wrap our head around it so here we are today, with a brand new, super versatile, super easy and quick homemade, creamy cheese sauce, that’s made in just 15 minutes. The base is similar to béchamel, it’s actually called a roux, white roux to be exact. It’s a combination of flour, butter and then some milk and wine. Oh yes, it’s so good. We added a mixture of Gauda cheese and Cheddar cheese to the white roux mixture, but you can use any cheese you like, just make sure you always buy high quality for this sauce or it might turn out not as good as you wanted it. It’s a cheese sauce after all people. This one is perfect for all sorts of pasta sauces, gnocchi sauce, chips and pretzel dips, vegetables dip, sandwiches, burgers, fondues and more. Also great for all kinds of celebrations like Christmas, Birthday parties, picnics, New Year’s appetizers and more. Yes, it’s not the lightest sauce in the world but it’s ahhmazingly delish.

So what's important?

First, you need to make sure that the roux (so the mixture of butter and flour) doesn’t get burnt. The flour must be cooked, but not brown, it must remain white.

Gradually add the milk to the white roux and only add milk when the previous amount of milk is completely incorporated into the mixture. This way the cheese sauce will be silky and without any lumps.

Add the cheese when the mixture is removed from the heat, or the sauce may fall apart, making it lumpy.

Roux is a mixture of flour and fat (butter in our case) that is cooked and its purpose is to make the sauce nice, thick and delicious. There are three types of roux: white roux, blonde roux and brown roux. In this case, we are making the white roux.

If your sauce has been in the fridge for a couple of days and you want to use it, then add it to a saucepan, place over medium-low heat and cook until the sauce is hot, make sure to whisk constantly and make sure you don’t bring the sauce to a boil or it may fall apart and become all greasy.

Ingredients

Basic Cheese Sauce

30 g butter (1 oz)

30 g all-purpose flour (1 oz)

300 ml milk (10.5 oz)

50 ml dry white wine or Vermouth (1.8 oz)

1 bay leaf

50 g Gauda cheese, grated (1.8 oz)

50 g Cheddar cheese, grated (1.8 oz)

Tools and equipment

saucepan

whisk

jar

METHOD

make white roux

Add butter to a saucepan and place over low heat. Add the flour and 1/4 tsp of ground black pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes over low heat, mixing constantly with a whisk. The butter and flour mixture must remain white. In a jug, combine milk and white wine.
make white roux

Mix 1/4 of the liquid (milk and white wine mixture) into the flour mixture. Mix vigorously until you get a nice, smooth, thick mixture, then gradually pour in the rest of the liquid, whisking constantly. Add the bay leaf, increase the heat and bring to a light boil, still whisking constantly.
Add the cheese

After about 5 minutes of cooking, remove the saucepan from the heat. Remove them bay leaf and stir in the grated Gauda and Cheddar cheese. Mix very well to get a nice, silky sauce. Season to taste and optionally add a pinch of nutmeg.
Usage and storage

This simple, basic cheese sauce can be used right away in different sauces or for tips, gratin, burgers, sandwiches or you can store it in an airtight container in a fridge for up to 4 days.