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To all those in the "works just fine with a whisk" category, have you tried it with an immersion blender?

I was in the "works just fine with a whisk" camp prior to using the blender. It makes a big difference and takes the queso to a level beyond "just fine."

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Have immersion blender but never tried, only tried few batches so far but open to improvements.

Educate us on why it is better. Would be interested in trying if knew what difference was.

I still have to try it with the proper amount of sodium citrate and a whisk, but I believe that making it with the blender whipped a good amount of air into the queso that I didn't get with just a whisk.

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I still have to try it with the proper amount of sodium citrate and a whisk, but I believe that making it with the blender whipped a good amount of air into the queso that I didn't get with just a whisk.

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Agree.

Alright boys, I'm here to eat crow. I did a parmesan/gorgonzola sauce for pasta tonight using just the whisk because I wanted it to be a bit thinner. Well, low and behold it thickened right up and I had to add a bit more skim milk to thin it out to the consistency I wanted.

Based on everything I've done so far I'll have to say that this queso being too thin is based on either too little sodium citrate or too much water.

I'm also back in the "it's just fine with a whisk" camp. But I still feel cooler working the immersion blender.

I've been on the premium board for years, never venturing over here much at all and came across this thread last week.

Couldn't stand it and ordered the sodium citrate and tried 2 batches
1 - beer cheese similar to what has been posted and was awesome served with pretzels.
2 - queso essentially the same as the first recipe posted on page one (sautéed some jalapeños and onions, but it was basically all the same).

Both were amazing, had people over and it was a hit with everyone.

Awesome thread, I'll be over here on the board a lot more now after looking over this thread and also the enchilada thread (plus many others).

Cheers!!

Has anyone tried making a soup base with the sodium citrate? I was thinking about making some broccoli cheese soup with it instead of making a roux based soup. Wondering if cooking up some broccoli, onion and carrots and adding to a cheese base would end up making a good soup or if it would taste like queso with broccoli added. Thoughts?

I made broc cheese soup last week. I had the same thought.

alright I finally ordered some of this stuff. planning on a queso bar for the super bowl along with maybe some fajitas. any recs for things to mix in? I have pretty plain tastes so besides chorizo and maybe some salsa I wont need much.

I was thinking I'd have two different cheese mixes. one heavier on Cheddar and one spicy pepper jack. I'm not into beer but that might good for guests. just to mix it up have "Mexican" blend and a beer blend for things like pretzels.

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Has anyone tried making a soup base with the sodium citrate? I was thinking about making some broccoli cheese soup with it instead of making a roux based soup. Wondering if cooking up some broccoli, onion and carrots and adding to a cheese base would end up making a good soup or if it would taste like queso with broccoli added. Thoughts?

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I cannot come up with a reason why it wouldn't work. Just use more water or stock to thin it out to a soup consistency.

I've used it to make a beer cheese soup. Use more beer to thin it to your desired consistency.

I just used it to make broccoli and rice casserole.

-20oz Colby/Monterrey Jack
-2.5 cups water
-1.5 tbsp sodium citrate
-3 diced Roma tomatoes
-3/4 diced white onion
-4 blistered and diced Anaheim peppers
-2 blistered and diced jalapeños

WINNING!

Sautee onions, poblanos, and 1 or 2 serranos and add to a mix of smoked Gouda, Monterrey jack, and sharp cheddar. The sodium citrate is a gift from the gods.

Superbowl Batch 1: mozzarella blend, basil, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, and fried pepperoni

Superbowl Batch 2: Monterey Jack, rotel, cilantro, and grilled, diced jalapeños

I bought all the fixings to make it but got so full on everything else that I never got around to cooking a batch. Maybe tomorrow I'll make a spicy Mac and Cheese for dinner.

Bought some online. After eating that abomination of a velveeta queso I can't wait for it to come in!

Someone asked for pictures...

Made some Saturday for my daughter's birthday party with some sharp cheddar, Monterrey Jack and a little bit of Colby Jack.

I used 1 cup of water, which I will reduce to 3/4 cup next time (and probably use milk to help get it a little thicker and a little creamier). I'll also drain the Rotel. (1 cup of water and not draining the Rotel left it very thin - way too thin for my liking) My wife pitched a fit about adding sauteed onions, so I had to abandon that idea unfortunately.

All in all, it was pretty solid. Maybe I was expecting more, but the flavor was a little blander than I thought it would be, but still was 100x better than Velveeta. I will also probably experiment with other types of cheeses as well.

And considering how easy this is to make, it will be the staple from now on.

Sunday I made two batches. one with medium Cheddar and one with pepper Jack. both turned out great. I did one batch with 1 cup and one with 3/4 cup of water. I preferred the consistency of 1 cup.

things we're pretty easy with the whisk. I don't think I'll be investing in an immersion blender.

mixings we're assorted veggies, shredded chicken, ground beef, chorizo, and Bacon.

Making the queso with a whisk isn't bad. When you're trying to make things like cheese slices, you'll want an immersion blender.

I screwed up a potatoe cheese soup by adding to much. It is a salty flavor...fyi.
But everything else has been delish.

Using a 3/4 cup in sooners recipe made it a bit too thick for my liking. Too many broken chips. First time making it, so it could've been my fault, but we'll have to see next go around. Still way better than velveeta.

3/4 cups was too thick for me as well. especially after it cooled a bit.

Used a Tillamook medium sharp cheddar for the modernist macncheese.

Turned out pretty damn good.

For those that find 3/4 cup water too thick, are you using preshredded cheese? The preshredded stuff has a dusting of corn starch which could cause it to thicken...or I like it thicker than you which, on the internet, means you're wrong and I hope you drink bleach

Think I found the culprit.

I shredded my own. so I guess I'll go find a bottle of Clorox.

Can someone post the grams of cheese, water, and NaCitrate? I can't find it.

TIA

http://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/melty-queso-dip/

100% cheese
93% water
4% sodium citrate

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Making the queso with a whisk isn't bad. When you're trying to make things like cheese slices, you'll want an immersion blender.

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Why's that?

It's thicker so that it will set up.

I never measure that closely, and it turns out nails.

Gator2, please 'splain your aggie math.

Usually a formula adds up to 100% unless you are using the cheese in the same way as Bakers Percentage uses flour; i.e., 100% and then everything is expressed relative to that.

Edited to add the comparison below.

From your post:

Bakers percentage
100% cheese
93% water
4% sodium citrate

Pulled from a body cavity:

Absolute percent
Cheese 100 = 50.76%
Water 93 = 47.21%
Sodium Citrate 4 = 2.03%
Total = 100%

Also, FWIW: When doing product development work, my personal preference was the latter as it was easier to remember standard ballpark percentages of the total; e.g., soups and stews are usually salted close to 1% of the total. Having said that, however when adding things such as emulsifiers and anti-oxidants one has to figure out the total fat in the product and apply the chemical accordingly.

Since the simple formula used for illustration contains water and no tomato, Rotel or pickled jalapenos, etc. there is no acidic ingredient to make the addition of sodium citrate necessary. I believe what was never explained or has become lost in 8 pages is that the function of sodium citrate is to buffer the acid ingredients, raising the pH to the point where the dairy proteins are not so tightly precipitated that they exhibit a sandy mouthfeel.

I think I have spoken the truth, but it's getting to be evening even on the left coast.



[This message has been edited by JTMW (edited 2/9/2014 10:09p).]

Click on bmc's link, JT, and you'll see the source for the math.