I have never made any sort of cheese 'sauce' by just adding milk to grated cheese. And that sort of melting process would tend to cross-link the proteins and result in a globby mess rather than a smooth sauce.

Typically a cheese sauce is made from a white sauce or bechamel base, with the grated cheese added at the end and just allowed to melt and blend. And add just a touch of acid in the form of white wine, sherry or lemon juice. This binds with the calcium and keeps the sauce smooth and flowing.

Hum, well I make melted cheese all the time but I have never had this happen. Usually, I'm making it for a cheese dip and have good luck melting cheese with some milk.

Melting a high fat cheese like colby-jack releases the fat and fat and milk do not bind or amalgamate well, hence the separation and clumping of the cheese. That is why cheese is added at the end of the process with just sufficient time to allow it to melt. Even a bechamel based cheese sauce will want to separate if left on the heat too long.

I honestly do not think it is an issue with the cheese itself but rather your methods.

IMPE, if its processed cheese like Velveeta or American singles, etc., you can melt it with little more than milk.

"Real" cheese, unless it's a very soft, high fat cheese, tends to coagulate as described above.

Better to use a béchamel sauce, as recommended above. When you add cheese, it is then a Mornay sauce, which is one of the five or so basic sauces. Mornay is typically made with some sort of Swiss cheese, such as Gruyère or Emmental, but you can substitute cheddar or a combination of cheddar and jack.

Normally, the "sauce" that I make for these chili cheese fries is made from melting pre-shredded cheddar cheese with milk and I have never had it coagulate like that. Is it that I used colby jack? Maybe I need to stick to cheddar? I used the colby jack because it's what I had on hand. We managed to pour it over the fries and it tasted fine but the pouring was a bit difficult. It has to be a cheese sauce for the chili cheese fries...nothing else would work for this dish.

I have never eaten or seen a recipe for chili cheese fries that called for anything other than just grated cheese over the chili covered fries and popped into a hot oven (or under the broiler) for a or minute or two to melt. Why the need to 'sauce' it first?

The pre-shredded cheese works because the starch used to keep pre-shredded cheese from clumping also helps it melt smoothly (just like the flour in a béchamel or cornstarch in fondue). If you shred a block by hand, that starch is missing. You can replace it by tossing the shredded cheese in some cornstarch before trying to melt it in your milk.

gardengal, we have a restaurant that makes the best chili cheese fries EVER and they have a cheese sauce poured on top. We love them so I am making them here at the house for us.

OK Biondanonima, that makes sense then. I guess I'll maybe make a milk and flour sauce and add the cheese to that next time.

It can still break if you don't handle it right, but done right the flour/milk sauce (béchamel) will bind the cheese beautifully. If you aren't scared of bare food chemicals, and just want melty gooey, you can add sodium citrate. The fancy chefs are doing it. It's what's in process cheese that makes it gooey.

I second the use of Sodium Citrate. I use it for cheese dips, mac and cheese, and cheesy potato bake. I also make my own American cheese slices for burgers.

Interesting stuff! Who knew it was so difficult to make a cheese sauce? HAHA! I was watching Pioneer Woman make mac and cheese one day and swear, all she did was mix milk with cheese that she grated herself. I need to go back and rewatch that video though because I may have forgotten something.

EDIT: I just looked up her recipe and there is flour in the cheese sauce...

Where does one purchase Sodium Citrate? It is anything like citric acid? I have some of that.

Anyplace with molecular gastronomy supplies, many with cheese suppliers, some with high end cooking supplies or restaurant suppliers.

Amazon.

If you click the link, you'll see some labelled food grade. I don't know if there's industrial grade. One would assume pharmaceutical grade would be a higher standard, but likely unnecessarily more expensive. Food grade will do you.

ETA--I forgot to say, no, it's not the same thing as citric acid, and is used pharmaceutically in combination with citric acid. And I just looked at one sodium citrate on Amazon and it says that there is industrial grade. :)

I'm in a rush, so I'm going to go back and look at the comments more closely in a bit arkansas girl. Just wanted to say I Hate when things like that happen -- what was going to be a 1, 2, 3, turns into 4, 5, 6, .... project. I will say that I always warm milk (or whatever liquid) ingredients I use before trying to make a sauce. That may have not bearing on the "meltability" of your cheese, but just something I do.

CathyinSWPA

I'm really glad that I started this thread because I really did learn something from it! Thanks to everyone that chimed in and let me know that I wasn't doing it right! :) Never too old to learn something new!

Islay is correct. But I'm not sure if she is familiar with our, ahem, rubber-rectangle- cheese-products. I'm surprised it is allowable to call them 'cheese'. A technicality I suppose... : )

Even some great quality cheese have melting issues,...some preferred over others.

Never made cheese fries but have had them. Béchamel would be ok but I would look at good fondue recipes that use cream, cornstarch, a bit of cream cheese, white wine,etc over flour.

Sodium citrate would be good to have on hand. I do have modified corn starch that does not need heat to thicken and other science.

Some things just need 1,2,3 in exact order or it globs. And no going back.

The cheese sauces that use the white sauce as a base are good, but they will never taste the same as the sauce used on cheese fries.

When I used to make Mac and Cheese for my boys when they were little, I cooked and drained the macaroni. Added margarine (at that time butter was bad), let melt, whole milk, and grated cheddar cheese. (Pre-grated didn't exist) It never clumped. I think it might have been the oil in the margarine that helped.

I would try heating the milk, adding some olive oil or margarine, and then grated block cheddar cheese, a little at a time. I think it might have been the colby that didn't work.

They have dry aged cheese in Europe too, though I don't know about rubber blocks, unless you're talking about art gum. Decades ago finding an art gum in Europe wasn't easy if you didn't know where to go, but it's not a cheese. :)

I can make a wonderful cheese sauce from very aged gouda by starting with a béchamel. It doesn't matter how dry and crumbly. It does take a bit of skill to get it smooth and keep it from breaking, but it can be done.

Soft cheeses are naturally melty, but we're not talking about those here.

Sodium citrate will prevent cheese from breaking as it melts.

I wonder if it's really the fat in Sherry's margarine, or the moisture, that helped bind the sauce? There's a lot of water in margarine.

Here's a good article that seems to know what it's talking about on the subject of how cheese melts:

https://www.finecooking.com/article/the-science-of-melting-cheese

Cheese is fat. Why add more?

Isn't creme fraiche thin fat?

It is the method/process depending on the cheese to get it incorporated and cream properly. Some cheeses will never work for a cheese sauce.

Add warmed milk or cream, off heat, to a grated bowl of room temp cheese tossed in a bit of corn starch and whisk until incorporated. Place bowl on a simmering pot of water, (double boiler style) to keep fluid and warm. Add a bit more milk/cream if needed.

If it cools down it will firm up a bit. Back on the simmering pot it will return to a sauce. Could even fridge it and use it again by same method.

Youtube search 'cheese fries sauce'. ShakeShack has a video. Or 'fondue'.

Faux cheese....ie processed cheese food always melts well. Natural cheeses also melt well....but your problem is not that it didn't "melt" but that it didn't mix with the milk.
In the future, try warming the milk and then stirring the grated cheese slowly into the hot milk.....and learn how much better a cheese sauce is with good cheese rather than than processed carp!
did you ever stir some grated cheese into a hot bowl of onion soup? and it turned gooey and globby? but heat the soup gradually and it will melt. The clue is to warm the cheese before it gets too hot to allow the protein in the soup to seize.

Sleevendog, the cornstarch will bind the cheese in your version. Same as the flour in the béchamel.

It's not about melting the cheese, it's about keeping the cheese from breaking--from having the fat separate--as it melts into the milk/sauce. Linda makes a good point that slow and gentle can also keep it from breaking.

The reason compounded cheeses (those made by combining different kinds of cheeses, as in American cheese) are so melty without breaking is the sodium citrate ("sour salt"). People add Velveta to recipes just to get at that, so adding your own and skipping the frankencheese.

Sleevendog, I believe you that there is cheese that can't be made into a cheese sauce, but I've never found one...

Currently, Velveeta contains no actual cheese....just milk and whey and chemicals. It used to be made from bits of this and that, ground up, melted down and formed....but no more!

Ew. I mean, milk and whey is real food. Sodium citrate is in everything, and while it's a chemical, it's a food chemical like baking soda. In fact, I read that you can make a wet version from baking soda and citric acid, which is irrelevant but cool. I must have been served it sometime, but I don't remember knowingly eating Velveeta, so I only know what I've been told...

I know there's fake American cheese that's like that too. Double ew.

I like American cheese, but it has to be real cheese and milk.

Sleeve, i didn't express myself very well. I meant why add oil. Of course cream is fat too. Perhaps I'm just so unfamiliar with your food........

Arkansas girl, If you haven't found a cheese sauce you like, this might work. I made it exactly by the recipe. (I always do the first time.) If you leave out the Mexican spices, it should be what you want. The texture was perfect. It melted well and did not clump. I am going to use mild cheddar next time and adjust the spices.

Homemade Nacho Queso Dip

8oz block of sharp cheddar cheese (I will use mild next time), grated

12oz can evaporated milk

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 - 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Optional milk for thinning sauce as needed and toppings as desired.

(I didn't use any extra milk or any other toppings)

Off heat, place all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and stir to combine well. Be sure cornstarch is fully dissolved. Turn heat on medium and stir until mixture is completely melted and smooth.

(I stirred cornstarch and spices into milk, then added cheese.)

http://www.chewoutloud.com/2016/02/04/homemade-nacho-queso-dip/

Thank you so much for the recipe! This is EXACTLY what I needed! I'll try this the next time...heck may even make some dip for chips in the mean time! :) I love cheese dip!

You're welcome. I edited to add grated for the cheese and I had forgot to put teaspoon for the cayenne pepper. The link takes you to the original recipe that I copied.

It was even better the second day.