Cheese Sauce for Fries with Sharp Cheddar

Cheese sauce for fries is a topping I offer with fries for weeknight home meals if I want to offer more toppings than ketchup. It includes butter and flour as a roux, whole milk, and sharp cheddar cheese served with fries, nachos, baked potatoes, and other foods.

I make cheese sauce in a medium saucepan using a whisk by cooking flour in butter for 60 seconds and then slowly adding milk. To prepare the milk mixture, cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly with a spoon until a spoonful of the mixture leaves a coating on a spoon. Take the saucepan off the heat and add cheese in small handfuls. Leftover heat from the saucepan will melt the cheese.

I like to grate brick cheese freshly from the block with a box grater. Prepackaged shredded cheese has additives to keep it from clumping that can interfere with its melting properties. When preparing a cheese sauce with milk, cook over low to medium-low heat. High heat can cause clumping of the cheese proteins and curdling of the sauce. The cheese sauce may be ruined.

Serve it with traditional fries or Garlic Parmesan Roasted Potatoes and other appetizer items like soft pretzels, tortilla chips, broccoli, and cauliflower to serve more people. One of my other uses for this recipe is as a base for macaroni and cheese casseroles instead of fries. Other possibilities include pickled jalapeños and their pickling liquid and bacon and smoked paprika.