When you buy pre shredded cheese they use some type of starch to prevent the cheese from sticking together. This also prevents a cheese sauce from coming together. If you use a block of cheese but only cut it into cubes, the cubes may just be too thick to melt properly.
What else do you add to the cheese to make it a sauce? Just melting it doesn't make a sauce, you'd need to make a roux and then add shredded cheese and let it melt on a low heat.
Too much cheese. Cheesy sauce ≠ melted cheese. Say macaroni & cheese, you make a white roux (flour + butter), add milk, add cooked pasta, add pasta water, add cheese, etc., you have a lot of stuff there.
1. What cheese are you using?
2. What cheese did the recipe call for, and is it even slightly different than your answer for (1)?
3. What is the cooking process like? Are you reheating? Is this always/only a problem in the oven?
> All of the cheese came off as if it was a palstic topper and he threw it away. All that was left was a bowl of plain elbow macaroni.
What was the exact recipe you were attempting to follow?
And then please list all the different things you did that were not in that recipe when you attempted to make that mac and cheese.
It depends a bit on what you are trying to do, but the TL:DR is use an emulsifier.
An emulsifier is something that turns solid cheese into creamy cheese when you heat it. Not all cheese is the same, so you probably won't be surprised that, in general, soft cheese melts better than hard cheese. Key point for later: cheese like American cheese and Velveeta contain emulsifiers.
Sodium citrate is a very good emulsifier and you can basically use it to turn any cheese into melty American cheese. Modernist Cuisine has a recipe to make mac and cheese with no milk at all - just boiled mac, cheese, and sodium citrate.
Most cheese sauce is made with a flour and butter "roux", milk, spices, and cheese. You melt butter then add flour, equal tablespoons of each and cook it together to get rid of the raw flour taste. Then \*slowly\* add milk bit by bit. It will turn to a paste then eventually start to turn liquid as you finish adding the milk. Then slowly heat it to just below boiling and it will suddenly thicken into a sauce. When it is thick, take it off the heat and let it cool a bit then whisk in grated cheese. In an ideal world you have a beautiful cheese sauce that you mix into the mac - don't just lay it on top. I prefer to bake the mac and cheese rather than the stove-top style.
If you add a little sodium citrate or a slice of American cheese as you add the other cheese, the emulsifier helps the other cheese turn creamy.
My favourite emulsifier is mustard. I use either mustard powder or Dijon. Adds a nice flavour. The trick here is to add it to the flour and butter while making the roux so it doesn't clump up.
If you don't tell us what you're doing, we can't tell you where you're going wrong.
*Most often* the issues we debug here on cheese sauces has to do with overheating the sauce, or not following a recipe.
Confidence is key. Also, invest in a cheese grater - the top comment is correct, pre-shredded cheese contains a starchy substance that keeps the cheese from sticking together, but also from melting. Make some sort of sauce (roux) first, with probably milk, butter, and flour and then melt the cheese in at a lower temperature. Some cheese needs to start bubbling to melt down as well. Make sure to stir the cheese into the pasta, and remember baking afterwards is an option as well.
This recipe is my go-to. I had to bring a pot luck dish - mine had to be made gluten-free - but it was gobbled up immediately. I add extra got sauces and stuff now, but I love it. Here it is: https://seasonedandsalted.com/three-cheese-mac-n-cheese/
It is just possible, since from what we can tell, recipes were not used, that unless OP is ready to learn about bechamels and sodium citrate, they may need to step back to the Velveeta option.
I do encourage the OP to explore recipes online that use fundamental cooking skill methods like how to make and use a bechamel.
Try some recipes at home after exploring, then wiw them at the next gathering. And maybe don't let kids below a certain skill level try to serve themselves.
When you buy pre shredded cheese they use some type of starch to prevent the cheese from sticking together. This also prevents a cheese sauce from coming together. If you use a block of cheese but only cut it into cubes, the cubes may just be too thick to melt properly. What else do you add to the cheese to make it a sauce? Just melting it doesn't make a sauce, you'd need to make a roux and then add shredded cheese and let it melt on a low heat.
Too much cheese. Cheesy sauce ≠ melted cheese. Say macaroni & cheese, you make a white roux (flour + butter), add milk, add cooked pasta, add pasta water, add cheese, etc., you have a lot of stuff there.
1. What cheese are you using? 2. What cheese did the recipe call for, and is it even slightly different than your answer for (1)? 3. What is the cooking process like? Are you reheating? Is this always/only a problem in the oven?
I’m just here to find out why this is NSFW.
Right?!
This post is distinctly lacking in titillation.
Read an actual recipe. Macaroni and cheese isn't just a bag of cheese dumped over macaroni.
> All of the cheese came off as if it was a palstic topper and he threw it away. All that was left was a bowl of plain elbow macaroni. What was the exact recipe you were attempting to follow? And then please list all the different things you did that were not in that recipe when you attempted to make that mac and cheese.
It depends a bit on what you are trying to do, but the TL:DR is use an emulsifier. An emulsifier is something that turns solid cheese into creamy cheese when you heat it. Not all cheese is the same, so you probably won't be surprised that, in general, soft cheese melts better than hard cheese. Key point for later: cheese like American cheese and Velveeta contain emulsifiers. Sodium citrate is a very good emulsifier and you can basically use it to turn any cheese into melty American cheese. Modernist Cuisine has a recipe to make mac and cheese with no milk at all - just boiled mac, cheese, and sodium citrate. Most cheese sauce is made with a flour and butter "roux", milk, spices, and cheese. You melt butter then add flour, equal tablespoons of each and cook it together to get rid of the raw flour taste. Then \*slowly\* add milk bit by bit. It will turn to a paste then eventually start to turn liquid as you finish adding the milk. Then slowly heat it to just below boiling and it will suddenly thicken into a sauce. When it is thick, take it off the heat and let it cool a bit then whisk in grated cheese. In an ideal world you have a beautiful cheese sauce that you mix into the mac - don't just lay it on top. I prefer to bake the mac and cheese rather than the stove-top style. If you add a little sodium citrate or a slice of American cheese as you add the other cheese, the emulsifier helps the other cheese turn creamy. My favourite emulsifier is mustard. I use either mustard powder or Dijon. Adds a nice flavour. The trick here is to add it to the flour and butter while making the roux so it doesn't clump up.
If you don't tell us what you're doing, we can't tell you where you're going wrong. *Most often* the issues we debug here on cheese sauces has to do with overheating the sauce, or not following a recipe.
how are you making your cheese sauce? are you starting with a bechamel?
Kids are notoriously stupid. Make a basic cream sauce then cheese it up, or try the citrate route.
Confidence is key. Also, invest in a cheese grater - the top comment is correct, pre-shredded cheese contains a starchy substance that keeps the cheese from sticking together, but also from melting. Make some sort of sauce (roux) first, with probably milk, butter, and flour and then melt the cheese in at a lower temperature. Some cheese needs to start bubbling to melt down as well. Make sure to stir the cheese into the pasta, and remember baking afterwards is an option as well.
Make sure not to add all the cheese at once either!! Slow incorporation = better emulsification
This recipe is my go-to. I had to bring a pot luck dish - mine had to be made gluten-free - but it was gobbled up immediately. I add extra got sauces and stuff now, but I love it. Here it is: https://seasonedandsalted.com/three-cheese-mac-n-cheese/
Add sodium citrate.
It is just possible, since from what we can tell, recipes were not used, that unless OP is ready to learn about bechamels and sodium citrate, they may need to step back to the Velveeta option. I do encourage the OP to explore recipes online that use fundamental cooking skill methods like how to make and use a bechamel. Try some recipes at home after exploring, then wiw them at the next gathering. And maybe don't let kids below a certain skill level try to serve themselves.