Cheese sauce grainy

The rescue

1. Take it off the heat immediately. Every extra second makes it worse.
2. Whisk in a splash of cold milk or cream. This drops the temperature and often brings it back on its own.
3. If that is not enough, blend it with a stick blender. Shearing the protein clumps back into suspension works surprisingly well.
4. Add a slurry of a teaspoon of cornflour in cold milk and warm it very gently, whisking. Starch stabilises the emulsion and is the most reliable repair.
5. A small amount of an emulsifying salt — the reason processed cheese never splits — will fix it completely, though few kitchens have any. A spoonful of cream cheese does something similar.
6. If the cheese has gone completely stringy and rubbery, it will not come back. Strain the sauce, keep the liquid, and start the cheese again.

Why it happened

• The sauce boiled after the cheese went in. The single commonest cause. Cheese goes in off the heat, always.
• Reheated too aggressively. A cheese sauce that survived being made will split on a hard reheat.
• Too much cheese for the sauce. There is a limit to how much fat and protein a béchamel can hold.
• A cheese that does not melt well. Very hard, very aged, or very low-fat cheeses break easily.
• Pre-grated cheese. Coated in anti-caking starch, which gives a slightly gritty texture even when it does not split.
• No starch in the sauce. Cheese melted into plain cream splits far more readily than cheese melted into a béchamel.

Cheeses ranked by how well they behave

Gruyère, Comté, Emmental

Excellent. Made to melt, and they taste better in a sauce than cheddar.

Mature cheddar

Good, if grated finely and added off the heat.

Young cheddar and Monterey Jack

Very reliable, milder flavour.

Cream cheese and mascarpone

Extremely stable. A spoonful added alongside another cheese is good insurance.

Parmesan and pecorino

Do not melt smoothly alone. Use with a melting cheese.

Feta, halloumi, very aged cheeses

Do not melt into a sauce at all.

Low-fat cheese

Splits readily. Fat is part of what keeps it together.

Making it so it does not split

1. Make the bechamel properly and simmer it for a full five minutes, so the starch is fully gelatinised. Starch is what stabilises the cheese.
2. Grate the cheese finely. Large pieces need more heat and more time to melt, and that extra heat is what breaks it.
3. Take the pan off the heat completely and wait ten or fifteen seconds before the cheese goes in.
4. Add the cheese in two or three handfuls, stirring each until melted before the next.
5. Do not return it to the heat afterwards. If it needs to be hotter, warm it very gently and stop well before a simmer.
6. If it will be baked, remember the oven will heat it further — a sauce that is at its limit on the hob will split in the dish.

Common questions