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Cheese Soup - FAIL; why?

11 years ago

My BIL had surgery on his mouth. He cannot have any food with any particles of any sort in it; for example, even applesauce has bits in it, tiny bits, but bits nevertheless.

BIL wanted cheese soup. I had never made cheese soup, but how hard could it be? I found an Alton Brown recipe with good reviews.

I followed the directions except I didn't dice the veggies. I left them in large chunks to make them easier to strain out later. When I added the cheese, it wouldn't melt. I used Swedish fontina. My choices at Fresh Market were Swedish or Dutch. I had to re-strain the soup to get the cheese curds out. Then my SIL strained it again with a finer strainer whenever she would heat some for my BIL.

I thought fontina was supposed to be a melting cheese.

Any ideas what went wrong?

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Comments (5)

lindac
11 years ago
How long did you cook it after you added the cheese?
I'll bet you brought it to a boil.....and that curdled the cheese.

If he has a yen for cheese soup.....try making a good stock b y simmering the veggies in chicken broth for easily 30 minutes.....strain and add chunks of Velveeta...keep the soup hot but NOT boiling.....and stir....keep adding cheese until it's cheesy enough for you....will take about 1 cup of cheese chunks to 2 cups of your veggie stock.
bbstx
Original Author
11 years ago
Lindac, you may well be right, but I don't have an accurate recollection. I was cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen using an unfamiliar recipe and trying to amend it on the fly. Nevertheless, your advice will make me more careful in the future, if/when I try to make cheese soup again.

I wish I had had your recipe two days ago! We are back home now. My SIL does not cook, but your recipe sounds simple enough. I may send it to her, in case she wants to give it a shot.
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lindac
11 years ago
I am sure with recent mouth surgery he won't be choosy about flavorings etc.....so just something like Velveeta in warm milk would probably be enough different from shakes to please him.
bbstx
Original Author
11 years ago
Good idea, Linda! I'll pass that along, too.
Cloud Swift
11 years ago
The fondue recipe that I have says that the cheese should be diced rather than shredded as it is likely to clump that way. It also says that acid helps keep it from clumping so it calls for a dry white wine and says that if it isn't going smoothly add lemon juice.

I don't know if that's true, but I've always diced and used dry white wine and it has always come out smooth. Perhaps try adding some lemon juice or a bit of vinegar to the recipe.

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