Which Cheese Melts the Creamiest?

[Kayelle]

I see families at the food bank and when they get a small box of Velveeta, they are so happy. It means their kids can have a lunch that they like. And they can get two days of meals with it. They don't turn their nose up at it. If you want to see folks that aren't purists, go to a food bank to help out. Canned veggies are sometimes the only veggi the kids get. Sugared cereal means they don't have to put sugar on their cereal. They can use it for something else.

I really agree with you Addie, sometimes we really do get caught up in "food snobery" and we need to be more aware of those who can't afford the very best of the best. Actually I think Vit is in agreement on this point.

 

[vitauta]

my point is really about processed foods--our aversion which is sometimes too rigid to let our guard down and admit to a few exceptions without shame or apology.... (but thank you, kayelle, for your support and rescue attempt)

 

[PrincessFiona60]

i guess all i was trying to say, is let's put it out there without the pc for once....

Why apologize? If I use Velveeta in a recipe, I will say so. Yes, for the most part I use natural foods, try not to include additives. Read labels and try not to buy additives. But, if I am making Chile con Queso Dip...the only things that taste right are a can on Nalley's Chili - no Beans and a 1 pound chunk of Velveeta.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

i guess all i was trying to say, is let's put it out there without the pc for once....

I use Velveeta, Cheese Whiz, store bought salsa, potted meat, Vienna Sausage, canned sardines, etc. I'm not a food snob, or food prude. I use whatever is needed to make whatever it is that I'm trying to make. That being said, I prefer to make a home made cheese sauce, combining milk, grated cheddar, grated swiss cheese, and grated Parmesano Regiano. I can't always afford to have all of those cheeses in my fridge at the same time, especially since I'm the only cheese lover in the house. But when I can, I make my own "Velveeta" with real cheese, a bit of salt, and a touch of prepared mustard. The texture is very similar to the store purchased product. After all, the original Kraft used to use ends and pieces of real cheese to make Velveeta. It was a way to use the small cheese pieces that couldn't be sold on store shelves. And it was better tasting than what we can purchase today. and Cheese Whiz is simply Velveeta with more moisture added to make it softer, though in my opinion, it's also saltier in flavor, which is what makes it taste great on a Philly Steak sandwich.

I think that it's safe to say, if I were a rich man, I'd still eat it, and the other things I mentioned.

seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[jennyema]

I think Velveeta is disgusting, sorry.

I do in fact use it in limited quantities in Mac and cheese I make for others.

But bears no resemblance to real cheese. It's plastecine and bland.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I use Velveeta, Cheese Whiz, store bought salsa, potted meat, Vienna Sausage, canned sardines, etc. I'm not a food snob, or food prude.

seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

It is not because I am a food snob or a food prude, I just don't like em.

We do seem to freak or flame, whatever the term is, when someone posts about a food we do not care for. In my case I feel the world is going to come crashing down around me when I submit a post about the evil Crisco. I know it is not good for me. I also know that sugar, white flour, smoked fatty meat and the "recipe" are not good for me. I don't understand why we need to win people over to our point of view or judge the choices others make. I enjoy seeing the different things people use and how they do things. To me the whole thing is a big buffet and I can pick and choose those things that are right for me. Please don't think I am preaching, I am as guilty as anyone. I just don't understand the need that we as humans seem to have.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Well said, Aunt Bea.

I'm kind of a food snob and I'll be the first to admit it. I have my own reasons for not wanting to eat certain foods, but I don't expect everyone to conform to my likes or dislikes.

There are some things I just don't eat, and Velveeta is one of those things. I've never liked it, even when I was a kid. Part of the reason is because I grew up in a rural Wisconsin town surrounded by creameries and cheese factories. Process cheese food was a bit of a taboo in that part of the country.

So be it. Obviously a lot of people do like it or it wouldn't still be around after almost 100 years. You can't knock success.

 

[Addie]

I do use can goods. Tomatoes, evaporated milk, cream style corn, wax beans, tuna fish, tomato paste, Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup for when I am too sick to make it myself, etc. I really have no interest in trying to make these items myself. As sick as I was this past two weeks can you just see me in the kitchen trying to make the noodles and then the broth with the chicken? And who is going to clean the kitchen after? Not me. I will be laying on the floor dead. There are some foods I just plain do not like. White bread, okra, oatmeal, buttermilk, yogurt to name a few. Yet when my kids were small I bought these foods for them (except the okra) because they liked them or were good for them. Now that they have all left home, I no longer have to buy them. Although I do have some buttermilk culture in the fridge for biscuits.

At holiday time, when I have a lot of baking to do, I will buy the refrigerator pie dough. I don't like it, but I will use it to save time. I prefer to bake and cook from scratch. I am a label reader. I have found that since I have been making an effort to keep chemicals out of my diet, I feel much better. I am not always successful in that endeavor.

I prefer cheese. If the product says Cheese Food, Processed Cheese, or any other word with cheese, I tend to avoid it. Years ago the government used to give out food. One of the items was a five pound block of processed cheese. I was very happy to get that cheese. Along with the pounds of butter and other items. Powdered eggs though just couldn't be disguised. The cheese gave my kids a lunch to take to school. And it also went into the mac and cheese. It was often a snack for them.

As you can see, I have been on both sides of the fence. So I don't think I could be called a food snob or elitist. I now live alone and can eat much better than when I had a family of five kids to feed. And as they get older, they too are learning to eat better.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I'm with Bea. I'm a real cheese lover, I eat lots of cheese--usually eat some every day, and I just plain don't like Velveeta. It's got a kind of rubbery texture and one dimensional flavor to me. I just don't like that. It doesn't bother me if other people like it. Other people eat lots of things I don't like and I probably eat a lot of things other people don't like. It's a free country!

My favorite best melting cheese is Gruyere, and I love its taste... As far as the OP's problem, I'd make some Mornay sauce. I learned that from reading Julia Child's cookbooks. It's a lot easier than the recipe looks. Make some roux, check. Stir in some milk, check. Stir in some grated cheese, check. Season it with maybe salt, paprika and a dash of cayenne, done!

 

[taxlady]

"Food prude", I like that term. I think that's me. It's not that I'm not adventurous, I'm just a prude about weird, unnatural stuff in my food.

 

[taxlady]

This is probably politically incorrect, but it breaks my heart when people who like good food tell me they eat Cheese Whizz. One more vote for fake food.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

But TL, Cheese Whizz is so convenient! You just put the nozzle in your mouth and squeeze the button and guzzle it down!

I'm curious. What does Velveeta do when you melt it in a sauce pan? Does it become some sort of pourable thing, or what?

BTW my comment about making Mornay sauce above was intended to agree with the others who had already suggested making Mornay. I had just meant to point out that making a roux based sauce is easier than it may sound to people who haven't done it yet.

 

[HistoricFoodie]

.....but I don't expect everyone to conform to my likes or dislikes.

To me, Steve, this is the crux of the matter.

I have no arguments with how other people prepare food, or the choices they make. What gets to me, though, is the my-way-or-the-highway dogmatism many people develop when it comes to food.

You want to make everything from scratch, using locally available seasonable products (an impossibility, actually, but that's another discussion)? That's your choice. Prefer to use convenience products as much as possible? That's your choice, too. What counts is the end result. You do it your way, and I'll do it mine.

The folks who particularly irk me are the ones who proclaim, snootily, how they never use convenience foods. Uh, huh. Until I ask them if they grew the grain and milled the flour they used in that "scratch" cake. Or if their avoidance of convenience foods means that you won't find, in their kitchens: prepared mustard, ketchup, sugar, granular salt, milk, peanut butter.....well, the list of staples and condiments that they don't make themselves goes on and on. Maybe those products are inconvenient?

And let us not forget that the "secret" ingredient in a Philly Cheese Steak is---wait for it---cheeze whiz. Anything else and you're not getting the true gelt.

Anybody here brave enough to argue against one of the most iconic sandwiches of the 20th century? I'm certainly not.

 

[taxlady]

In Montreal a Philly cheese steak sub doesn't have Cheese Whizz. I guess it's not authentic, but it's danged good with a nice, white cheddar. I just wish they would make them on whole wheat.

 

[Addie]

I love the chefs that say they only use fresh ingredients locally grown. Do they realize that most folks who have worked in a restaurant have seen the Sysco Foods 18-wheeler back up to there delivery door? They are not deliverying fresh and locally grown foods.

 

[Claire]

Sorry, but for chile con queso, velveeta is the name of the game! And Kraft American Deli Delights are a favorite for grilled cheese sandwiches. NOT the ones individually wrapped, they mostly taste like vegetable oil. In fact, I've bought Velveeta maybe 3 times in my life. Just for when I want chile con queso. And, although I use the Kraft American for its smoothness in a grilled cheese, I usually sprinkle a grating of good, strong cheese to it!

 

[Soma]

bechamel sauce.....sounds so fancy, I'd have to look it up. Is it simply a 'white sauce' (what my mother always called it)?....made by melting butter, adding flour, then milk or cream, whisking, cooking on low until thick.....?

I add whatever cheese I have on hand to this, to make a cheese sauce.

 

[Addie]

bechamel sauce.....sounds so fancy, I'd have to look it up. Is it simply a 'white sauce' (what my mother always called it)?....made by melting butter, adding flour, then milk or cream, whisking, cooking on low until thick.....?

I add whatever cheese I have on hand to this, to make a cheese sauce.

It's your Mama's sauce. Fancy name, home cooking.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I love the chefs that say they only use fresh ingredients locally grown. Do they realize that most folks who have worked in a restaurant have seen the Sysco Foods 18-wheeler back up to there delivery door? They are not deliverying fresh and locally grown foods.

Seems like we've strayed far, far, away from the original topic here.

Addie, the point is that chefs like you describe try to select and build dishes around locally sourced ingredients. Of course they don't have their own sugar plantations or wheat fields, but that isn't the point.

While you may scoff and think it's silly, I have a lot of respect for chefs that do that. They are putting money back into their own communities and promoting regional ingredients. And in some small measure, they are also conserving resources that would otherwise be spent on fuel to truck in ingredients from some nameless agribusiness vendor many thousands of miles away. In my humble opinion, there is far too little of that type of thing these days.

Does it make a huge difference? Probably not. But it does draw some attention to the way that we tend to get our food in this country. There are people out there who only think of food as something that comes from the store. They don't give a second thought to the farmers who grow it.

Seven months out of the year, I make an effort to buy vegetables and meat that come from the area where I live (or at the very least from my home state). You'd be surprised how much is readily available. Of course I can't get local bananas or peaches. We don't grow those here. I can't get local sugar, either, so I buy honey that comes from a beekeeper about 10 miles away. I do the best I can with what's available.

As for condiments, I also make a lot of my own. I make and can ketchup from homegrown tomatoes. I grind my own mustard seeds and horseradish. I make hot sauce from peppers grown in my backyard. I also make wine from my own grapes and foraged fruit.

You might be surprised how well you can eat using local ingredients.

 

[ThePurpleChef]

If you want to go through the trouble, you can make a béchamel (white sauce) and add cheddar cheese. Just keep whisking until it turns into a sauce. I don't have an accurate recipe, but I've made béchamel cheese sauces plenty of times. You should be able to find a simple one on the internet using milk, roux (equal parts butter and flour), and cheese.