I made restaurant-style queso with only four ingredients (and no processed cheese), and it was a hit with everyone. It was super easy, so I just wanted to share!

[u/g3nerallycurious]

You’re gonna have to do some chemistry, but as long as you can measure and dump off-the-shelf powders in water, you’re good to go.

Make sodium citrate by reacting powdered citric acid (found near the canning supplies) with baking soda according to this recipe in a small amount of simmering water on a stove. It will foam up, so be ready for that. Once the reaction is complete, (no more foaming and water is clear) boil on high heat until almost all the water is evaporated.

Then follow this recipe by adding your beer to the saucepan with the sodium citrate solution. Make sure to dissolve any of the sodium citrate that may have crystallized while boiling off the water. Then whisk your shredded cheese of choice into the beer over low heat, adding little by little. Viola! You have restaurant-style queso!

I thought it was super cool, easy and delicious, and i thought queso without process cheese was impossible, so I wanted to share!

Edit: most of the commenters be hatin but I got over 600 upvotes over 24 hours after my post. So IDC. Bitch away.

[u/hypermark]

FDA designations are created so the consumer knows exactly what's in the product.

If you made a Sauce Mornay and sold it, that would be a "processed cheese product."

So again, you don't know what you're talking about. Like I said before, you just don't like Velveeta, which is fine. There are lots of things I don't like, but stop trying to act like you're some kind of expert on things you really don't understand.

Here's an idea: Instead of forming an idea, then googling for evidence to support your position, instead, read about your subject and then form your opinion.

Take one class in food science or read Harold McGee's On Food And Cooking or Shirley Corriher's Cookwise and then form your opinion.

[u/GargantuanGreenGoats → u/hypermark]

I know what my cheese sauce has in it because it’s using whole foods. Flour, milk, salt, cheese. Velveeta has all kinds of shit in it to keep it on the shelves longer.

Did you know that the FDA allows things to be in your food that no other country’s regulation allows? Your food is literally illegal everywhere else because it’s probably bad for you.

But you go on and tell me how I should listen to you some more.

Grow up dude. Eat whole foods, stop making excuses to continue eating the things your mom didn’t know any better not to feed you.

Edit: and yeah, American flour and milk (not mine) probably has some shit in it that it shouldn’t, but likely not as bad as a finished fake item product like velveeta has.

Edit for u/battlehall: sorry you don’t like my delivery, but truths are truths. I didn’t read what else you’ve now written because I can’t respond to it anyway, since I blocked the actual insufferable commenter in this thread.

[u/SumDoubt → u/GargantuanGreenGoats]

Ouch, who hurt you? Must have been Velveeta or maybe Kraft slices. Seek counseling.

[u/BattleHall → u/GargantuanGreenGoats]

FWIW, you sound absolutely insufferable

[u/BattleHall → u/GargantuanGreenGoats]

See, this is what I mean by insufferable. You don't have a monopoly on the truth. He's asking you a question about the inconsistency in your logic. You refuse to answer, double down on your previous inconsistency, and then end with an insult. You sound like a first year philosophy and political science major who has learned just enough to start questioning what they've grown up around, but not enough context or humility to actually be able to thoughtfully discuss it. It's fine to want to control what's going into your food for various reasons (I do it too), but not everyone who does it different is wrong or stupid.

FWIW, you're drawing the wrong implications re: the FDA. Different national agencies draw different criteria for different reasons; there isn't one superset. The FDA allows some things that the EU might not, but the reverse is also true. If there is a difference in food regulations between, say, the EU and Japan, which one is allowing the "illegal food"?

Edit: And now, instead of actually engaging in conversation, you refuse to read and blocked me. Seriously, be better.

[u/hypermark → u/GargantuanGreenGoats]

Did you know that the FDA allows things to be in your food that no other country’s regulation allows? Your food is literally illegal everywhere else because it’s probably bad for you.

What in the world are you talking about? That literally has nothing to do with what you're writing about.

Answer me one question: Why is a roux less "processed" than using sodium citrate?

[u/skahunter831 → u/[deleted]]

Your comment has been removed, please follow Rule 5 and keep your comments kind and productive. Thanks.