beer cheese breaking down

[Darth Sushi]

So, at Mr. Delicious Cheesecake Cafe and Bakery, also lunch, dinner, and sushi, we have been trying to find a way to keep the beer cheese soup we make from breaking down when we heat it up for service. It is kind of a pain, any ideas on how to either slow this down or stop it completely would be great.

[slkinsey]

Doesn't starch help to prevent curdling in cheese fondue?

[ilikefood]

Doesn't starch help to prevent curdling in cheese fondue?

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McGee agrees so on p. 65. He also suggests lemon juice or a white wine (for the acid) to help prevent or fix a cheese sauce (p. 66)

[Qwerty]

It would be helpful if you told us a bit more about the recipe.

Starch will help.

Cream would help stabilize.

Not heating it up so hot might help

Heating it up to order or in smaller batches

As mentioned earlier, acids help as well...the beer might not be acidic enough for the effect

[Darth Sushi]

veggies, roux, chicken stock, beer, and cheddar are the main ingredients. we have to heat it to 160 degrees before we can bring it down to a holding temp, and thats when it breaks down.

[kitchenhacker]

My initial reaction was to think about a beurre manié instead of a roux and adding it when you heat to 160... but that wouldn't solve the problem of heating the cheese.

Could you simply add the cheese after heating the liquid to 160?

If you want to add acid without having an effect on taste... you can cheat. Don't add acidity, but subtract something non-acidic instead, raising the pH that way. My thought? Add the chicken stock (should be close to neutral pH) when the beer-cheese reaches the holding temp.

[vice]

Could you simply add the cheese after heating the liquid to 160?

that would be my first shot. think bechamel or other sauces with cheese as an ingredient. it's often added at the very end, after the product has seen all the heat.

Edited April 22, 2009 by vice (log)

[Darth Sushi]

we do add the cheese at the end, the problem comes because we make enough of the soup to last 2-3 days, and have to keep reheating batches of it as we go through the day.

[rooftop1000]

No, I will not be suggesting you use a velveeta like product but I recently saw a show about why and how it was made.

It was made because melted cheese breaks...and it is made by whipping at at a high temp...with oils and acids....

So perhaps a really good shot with an immersion blender will help break things up to be more homoginized

tracey

[kitchenhacker]

we do add the cheese at the end, the problem comes because we make enough of the soup to last 2-3 days, and have to keep reheating batches of it as we go through the day.

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I guess the question is how hard would it be to make a big batch of the soup sans cheese and add the cheese individually to each smaller reheated batch? It might be prohibitive time-wise. It might be relatively simple.

[Mr. Delicious]

we do add the cheese at the end, the problem comes because we make enough of the soup to last 2-3 days, and have to keep reheating batches of it as we go through the day.

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I guess the question is how hard would it be to make a big batch of the soup sans cheese and add the cheese individually to each smaller reheated batch? It might be prohibitive time-wise. It might be relatively simple.

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I know thats the best answer however, and would definately provide the best soup, it would be a little bit of a pain though. I will try next time i make soup.

[Qwerty]

It can't be that hard. Surely you make a large batch and reheat in bathes in a bain or 3rd pan of soup, right? You could figure out how much cheese goes into a 3rd pan (or whatever you store it with) and melt the cheese when it comes to temp. Just have the cheese already measured and portioned for when you need to reheat.

[thomasdavis81]

i work at a brewpub that serves a beer cheese soup we heat it up slowly and when it does break you can pour in some cold heavy cream and re-emulsify it. Sometimes it breaks during service in the steam table slowly pouring in some cream while stirring it brings it back together.