Mumsnet Talk

I've tried heating butter and corn flour
heating normal flour and butter
heating milk cornflour and buter and then adding cold milk... tried everything.
Sauce never thickens, is always lumpy and it doesn't matter what i do, it always tastes increadibly bland.
Ds is 6.5 months old and i am desperate not to resort to baby cheese sauce from a packet!
Any tips at all appreciated

You add the milk very, very slowly.

mix grated cheese a little at a time into double cream which has been gently warmed.

much faster and creamier too.

Ok.

You melt about two tabelspoons of butter in pan. When it is all melted you add two tablespoons of flour and whisk it into the flour quickly, so you end up with a paste. Then you pour the milk in, whicking the whole time, encorporating the paste into the liquid without lumps forming. You countinue whisking once all the milk is added and while it thickens over a low heat.

Once it has thickened and doesn't taste floury (taste it), you add salt, pepper, all your grated cheeses (any mix of cheese works, apart form soft cheeses like cottage cheese lol) and a grating of nutmeg.

You didn't actually mantion adding cheese in your OP, are you forgetting this and just ending up with a white sauce?

Once cheese is added, you mix it until it is all melted over a low heat. At no point should it start to boil. Once cheese is melted it is done, don't overcook it.

look here

It's just a basic white sauce with cheese added.

Thank you, thankyou
Overymydeadbody- no I hadn't been forgetting cheese, i just thought I'd describe the part that i thought you do to make it thicken
Ooooh double cream sounds nice foxytocin, i may try that.
I'll have to let you know how it goes!

Make sure the heat is very low, and give the flour/butter a couple of minutes so the flour cooks so you don't get that floury taste. Add milk bit by bit, only adding next bit once you have a relatively lump-free sauce. DO NOT STOP STIRRING - EVER!

grated nutmeg is nice in it.

i do swear by the Little Dish cheese sauce, get it on ocado.com has nothing in it apart from milk, cheese, cream etc....

so when we say low heat, mine goes from 1-9 on a cermaic electric hob, so heats and cools very, very quickly. I normaly boil things on a 7, and simmer on a 5. Are we talking a 3 or 4?
I do stir but maybe i am not stirring vigerously (sp!) enough?

have you got one of these hand whisks? they are brilliant for no lumps.

yes a 3 i would say...

Oh, and for all those who probably think i am pathetic for not knowing how to do this by now: My mother didn't teach me how to cook anything. ever. So I am self taught for my childrens sake and still learning!

I'd say 2 or 3 till you've got the hang of it! You do need to stir quite vigorously to start when you add the first bit of milk, but once you've got a fair bit of mil in you don't need to stir THAT vigourously.

3 i'd say. don't get impatient and raise the heat early on. give it time. once it is warm, the mixing in goes faster.

Oooh amidaiwish, i think i do have one of those..have often wondered what it was for...

this is the recipe i use. Works every time. I used to struggle to make a lump free sauce, not any more.

My sauces were revoltingly lumpy until I bought (and used!) a balloon whisk. Using a fork just doesn't work right for me.

i don't think you're pathetic, my mum didn't teach me much either. i have a lot to thank annabel karmel for actually... very basic cheese sauces, chicken stocks etc. i only started cooking from scratch like this when i was weaning dd1. before i was M&S central

Oh yes, should have mentioned, it has to be a proper whisk, not a fork.

I would say a 3

You have to stir quite vigorously and you can't leave it

Make sure you cook the flour and butter for a minute or two (this helps to "cook" the flour and take out the floury taste)

Add a tiny bit of milk to start and mix it in really thoroughly - you can then gradually add a bit more milk each time. If you get lumps, get rid of them by whisking before you add the next bit of milk.

I always add nutmeg, some mustard powder, and I stir in the cheese at the end with the sauce off the heat. I find if you melt the cheese in over the heat it loses some flavour.

(Macaroni cheese is my signature dish - I have honed the sauce over the years )

Creme fraiche and grated cheese, heat through enough to melt cheese - guaranteed no lumps!

I use this for vegetable lasagne (just mix it together and bung on top, oven does the heating) and it's great. Could never be bothered to do lasagne before because of faffing white sauce - tho' I can make one. Now I have no fear of lasagne

I mean ONLY creme fraiche and grated cheese - no butter, no flour etc.

yes a 3 would be fine.

You are not pathetic. No one just 'knows' how to cook. Everyone needs to start somwhere and learn, so don't worry!

A good tip, if you find your sauce has gone lumpy, is to just blend the lot up with eithe a hand-hald blender or a normal blender, makes it all smooth again!

thank you lovely people
Hopefully ds's first experiance of cheese sauce won't put him off for life now. Poor dd runs screaming from the kitchen if i mention "mummys homemade macoroni cheese"

You're not pathetic at all.

I wasn't taught or shown how to do anything by my mum either (I learned more from my dad who only cooked very occasionally - his repertoire mainly involved omelettes and french toast)

I am not a great cook by any means but I am proud of my cheese sauce