Grandma's Cauliflower Cheese Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do I stop my cauliflower cheese from going watery? ›

Drain well

Make sure you drain the cauliflower really well after it's boiled up and before you add it to the dish, otherwise it will end up too watery.

How long can you keep Cauliflower Cheese in the fridge? Once you've put it out, ideally you should eat it within 4 hours. If you allow any leftovers to cool, make sure to refrigerate in a container with a lid and chill. You can keep leftovers of Cauliflower Cheese in the fridge for approximately 3 days or so.

The watery problem happens when the cauliflower is either overcooked or not drained well enough after a quick blanching.

Cooking the cauliflower cheese at too high a temperature can sometimes cause the cheese to split, resulting in a slightly oily, grainy texture. What is this? A split sauce can also be avoided by removing the sauce from the heat before adding the cheese.

The trick with cauliflower is: Don't cook it till is too soft. just 4 or 5 minutes but taste to be sure. then drain into a colander, (sieve with big holes) and leave to drain for a few minutes, asking every minute. tap dry with a little kitchen paper or a clean tea towel.

“Salts such as sodium citrate and sodium hexametaphosphate are known in the cheese industry as melting salts. Their primary purpose is to swap sodium ions for calcium ions bound to the casein proteins in cheese. In doing so, they loosen these proteins and make them water-soluble.

It can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the fridge until ready to cook. It is possible to freeze cauliflower cheese but unfortunately the sauce can sometimes turn thin and sligtly watery on defrosting, so we prefer not to freeze the dish if at all possible.

Ideally, we should all eat food straight after it has been cooked. This is when it's at its freshest and likely to taste the best. In terms of food safety, however, so long as you reheat the food at the correct temperature and for the correct duration of time, it can in fact be safely reheated multiple times.

Hard cheeses such as cheddar, Swiss and Parmesan can be stored in the refrigerator six months before opening the package and three to four weeks after opening. It can also be frozen six months. Processed cheese slices don't freeze well but can be kept in the refrigerator one to two months.

Baking it, I find, has a tendency to overcook the cauliflower before the top browns. Adding the cheese sauce hot means there's no need for any further baking – the top will bubble and brown in minutes, before the cauliflower has time to soften any further.

How do you keep cauliflower from getting mushy? ›

The key to nonmushy cauliflower lies in how you cut it: Break apart the large head into smaller florets. Now take your knife, and starting at the stem end of the floret, slice about halfway down and snap apart.

Fuzziness is caused by the lengthening of the leafy floral bracts of the bud or flower giving the surface of the curd a velvety or hairy appearance. It frequently develops around the edges of the curd before appearing on other portions.

Overcooked cauliflower releases water, which will seep into the rest of the dish. So even if your sauce was thick when it went in the oven, if its in there too long, the water from the cauliflower will cause it to go watery. I would advise to not bake for longer than 20-25 minutes.

Cauliflower provides essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients, but it can also cause stomachaches or abdominal cramps. The culprit behind the stomachaches is cauliflower's fiber content, which becomes most troublesome when you increase your fiber intake too rapidly without giving your body time to adjust.

(Don't worry if it's lumpy - you can mix the lumps out, or whisk the sauce). Once you've got a runny sauce, put the pan back on the low heat and stir as often as you can until it starts to boil. Let it boil v v gently and keep stirring, adding more milk until it's the consistency you want.

If you're going to put your cheese in bags, just wrap them in some parchment paper first. The paper will absorb any excess moisture. Again, change the paper often, to make sure it doesn't get too wet. Plastic containers or any containers, including glass, metal, etc., should be treated the same way as the bags.

"Be sure to give each floret a bit of room so that the they have space for airflow. I'd also recommend baking them on a silicone baking mat," says Blay. The edges will get much crispier than they would if you baked them on parchment paper.

Flour or cornstarch can both thicken a liquid. In a small separate bowl, mix a tablespoon of either flour or cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cheese sauce until the mixture is smooth. Add the mixture back to the milky cheese sauce, and stir until combined and desired thickness is achieved.

No need to worry – the liquid on the outside of your cheese is just excess moisture, or liquid whey. Wipe off your cheese with a napkin or paper towel and enjoy! It's common for naturally-aged cheeses to develop a small amount of moisture inside their packaging.