About the Recipe
Using the technique in this recipe, you can make a cheese sauce with any cheese, or blend of cheeses. Just substitute the cheese in this recipe with another, or a blend of others, of your choosing. Since cheeses vary in flavor intensity, you will have to tweak the quantities and judge by the taste to determine how much cheese to use. Keeping this in mind, don’t add too much at a time. It is best to use sharp cheese.
Ingredients
190 grams of Chaussée aux Moines cheese
190 grams of Champfleury cheese
50 grams of Cold Pack cheddar cheese
⅓ cup of butter
½ cup of all-purpose flour
450 ml (nearly 2 cups) of chicken stock
450 ml (nearly 2 cups) 2% milk
1 teaspoon of chicken bouillon concentrate
¼ to ½ teaspoon of salt (to taste)
1 bay leaf
➡️ Prepare all of your ingredients in advance (Mise en Place).
Preparation
➡️ Please read the entire recipe before proceeding.
Making a flour based sauce begins with making a roux, which is a mixture of flour and some type of fat. In this case, the fat is butter.
This recipe calls for chicken stock, which can easily be substituted with other stocks. It all depends on how you want to serve the sauce. In addition, the cheese can be substituted with any other cheese you desire.
Melt ⅓ cup of butter in a saucepot over medium heat.
Let the butter simmer until the milk has boiled off.
Regular butter still contains a small amount of milk.
Add ½ cup of all-purpose flour and whisk it well to blend it with the butter.
The mixture should have a consistency similar to a thick pancake batter. If the mixture is too dry, add a bit of butter.
Let the flour mixture cook for about 2 minutes, whisking it constantly.
Gradually incorporate most of the stock, whisking constantly.
Depending on the flour, more or less liquid will be required to achieve the desired consistency. So, it’s a good idea to save some of the stock until then end to ensure the sauce is not too liquid.
The mixture will thicken quickly. The idea is to incorporate the liquid slowly at first to prevent lumps from forming.
Gradually incorporate the milk. Pour in approximately 1 cup at a time, whisking constantly and letting the milk have a chance to be well blended with the mixture before adding the next cup.
Use a wooden spoon to loosen any roux that might be stuck to the bottom edges of the pot.
Once you have incorporated about 75% of the milk, add the chicken bouillon concentrate, bay leaf, and salt.
Add the remainder of the milk and continue whisking.
Once the mixture comes to a light boil, assess the thickness of the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit more of the stock. Bear in mind that the sauce will thicken a bit more once the cheese has been added.
The final sauce must be allowed to simmer boil for about 5 minutes to cook the flour.
Regardless of which cheese you choose, it should only be added once the sauce has fully cooked.
Remove the saucepot from the heat.
Remove the bay leaf
Add the cheese and whisk well.
Taste the sauce and add salt if needed.
The sauce can be reheated at a low temperature after the addition of the cheese but should not be left to boil for an extended period of time.
Serve on your favorite pasta, on chicken, pork or anything else that inspires you.
Variations
Variation 1
Substitute 1/2 cup of the chicken stock with ham stock and use Swiss cheese to make a sauce for Chicken Cordon Bleu.
Variation 2
Substitute 1/2 cup of the chicken stock with seafood stock and use Swiss cheese to make a sauce for Scallops Mornay.
Variation 3
Substitute the cheese with sharp cheddar to make a sauce for macaroni.