Cheese sauces take many forms, and there are many regional variations. Some are based on a white sauce (bechamel) and are therefore thickened with flour. Others use eggs and/or cream. Others are seasoned with beer or wine. Many cheese sauce recipes involve several different types of cheese.
Whichever recipe you choose, you’ll need to make sure you’ve chosen a variety of cheese that melts well. Some cheeses separate when heated, leaving a rather greasy and sticky mess. When in doubt, try some of your cheese on a piece of bread under the broiler; if it softens and browns well, it should be fine in your cheese sauce.
Mornay sauce
The classic French type of cheese sauce is called Sauce Mornay. It is a bechamel sauce with melted cheese. Half Gruyère cheese and half Parmesan cheese are typically used, although different combinations of Gruyère, Emmental, or white cheddar appear in different recipes.
My favorite recipe for Mornay Sauce is enriched with egg yolks and cream for an absolutely delicious result. Of course, you can skip the egg yolks and cream for a less expensive (and less fattening) version. Here is the prescription:
Ingredients
- 30g butter
- 30 g plain flour
- 500 ml of milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 50ml cream
- 100 g grated cheese (Emmenthal, Gruyère or Cheddar)
- pinch of nutmeg
- salt and pepper
method
Make a bechamel sauce, using butter, flour and milk. Season to taste with pepper and nutmeg (no salt until cheese is added).
Mix the egg yolks and cream in a bowl, then add the mixture to the Bechamel, whisking continuously. Let the sauce simmer for about a minute, then remove from heat and add the cheese, whisking all the while until melted.
Taste for seasoning, especially salt, and add what your taste tells you is needed.
Serve over pasta, fish or vegetables.
swiss fondue
The term fondue simply means “melted”, and in traditional Swiss fondue the cheeses used are one or a combination of Gruyère, Emmenthal, and possibly Raclette. It can also be made successfully with generic “Swiss” style cheese or even Jarlsberg. The cheese is melted in white wine and flavored with Kirschwasser. Long forks are then used to swirl pieces of crusty bread into the cheese sauce, which is kept warm on a tabletop burner.
Kirsch or Kirschwasser is a distillate of cherries and is clear. Some recipes call for cherry schnapps as a substitute. I haven’t tried using regular cherry brandy in a cheese fondue, but I think cherry brandy will make the fondue too sweet since it contains a fair amount of sugar.
welsh rarebit
Welsh Rarebit (often pronounced “rabbit” and both pronunciations are considered correct, so use what your friends say) is a mixture of melted cheese in a white sauce made with beer that is poured over toast, then all browned in the oven .
The Welsh Rarebit has a relative that originated in Kentucky and is known as “Hot Brown”. This uses a cheese sauceas one of the main ingredients. In this it differs from the French “croque-monsieur” and “croque-madame”, which are effectively variations of cheese on toast, since they use slices of solid cheese instead of a cheese sauce.
Four Cheese Sauce
This is an extremely rich sauce that is used primarily as a sauce for pasta, including gnocchi. Keep in mind that there is a LOT of fat and salt in this type of dish (cheese has a lot of salt)!
