Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Okay, we all know the velveeta like American Cheese slices used to adorn hamburgers all over the USA. So, Serious Eats had an article/recipe on how to make your own with a more flavorful choice of cheese, but retain that melty gooeyness that makes the American Cheese slices popular. I took a whack at it using some Australian Red Leicester I had in my fridge.

The recipe is simplicity itself. Evaporated milk, gelatin, water, and your choice of cheese. Sharp cheddar, colby, whatever trips your trigger. A instant read thermometer, a stick blender and a plastic wrap lined baking sheet. You're golden! I chilled mine in the freezer for 10 minutes, covered the top with a second layer of plastic wrap and used kitchen scissors to cut it into slices.

Tomorrow I will hit their recipe for cheese sauce to accompany the Belgian-style fries we are making for Burger Night. Very similar to the cheese slice recipe but it uses more evaporated milk for the appropriate consistency and a bit of corn starch instead of the gelatin and water. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's burger night!

Kenji's Cheese Slices Recipe

There is also a recipe for "The American Cheese Slice" and "Cheesy Whip" in Modernist Cuisine I've been meaning to try. Look forward to hearing your results.

Amy

The Cheese Slices are very easy and came out perfect. I did two types, the first a Red Leicester which is similar to a sharp cheddar, the second was a Colby cheese slice. They both worked perfectly and I incorporated older bits of cheese that were dry or aged into them without a problem. We did put the finished burgers with two slices (one of each kind) in the microwave for 10 seconds to get a perfect melt. A heat lamp would have done the trick if we had one, I'm sure.

The Cheese Sauce recipe did not result in such a pleasant end product. This was made with Double Gloucester, which was similar to a medium cheddar. The recipe called for 12 ounces of evaporated milk, 12 ounces of grated cheese, a tablespoon of corn starch and a couple of teaspoons of hot sauce. I only had Tabasco on hand so that was it. The cheese melted but never lost its graininess. That was, according to the recipe, supposed to disappear when it warmed up and was stirred for a bit. We warmed it to bubbling temperature, probably 180F or higher, and stirred continuously. Never lost the grainy lumps and the color was nothing close to the yellow of the original cheese.

Amy, what is the approach the Modernist Cuisine to a cheese sauce?