"Deepak Saxena" > wrote in message
...
>
> Made a butternut squash gratin/casserole for new years dinner and
> while it tasted good and everyone seemed to enjoy it, I was personally
> very dissapointed b/c my cheese sauce ended up turning into lumps
> of cheese and a lot of grease. After it set for a bit, I sucked up a
> bunch of the grease with paper towels. So the question is..what did
> I do wrong. Procedure follows:
>
> Saute onions, garlic, sage in butter/oil (4 tbsp butter, 1tbsp EVOO)
> Mix with cubed, peeled butturnut squash (about 6 cups)
>
> Melt 4 tbsp butter
> Add 4 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp sage (dried crushed)
> Stir around till cooked
> Slowly wisk in 3.5 cups whole milk
> let it thicken for a bit
> wisk in shredded cheese (elmentar and gruyere)
>
> Mix sauce with other ingredients and bake at 350 for 1 hour.
>
>
> The sauce was nice and thick when I made it, howerver, I was in
> a bit of a hurry due to starting late, so I didn't let the
> bechamel base thicken as much as I usually do before adding the cheese.
> Could this be the casue of the problem? Or do certain cheeses just
> not work well as sauces? Any hints welcome.
>
> Tnx and Happy New Years!
> ~Deepak
> --
> Deepak Saxena -
I tried something very similar for a Mexican style baked chicken, and my
cheese sauce also broke. Now I realize that the problem was that I baked
the cheese sauce. If a sauce of this type (sauces with emulsions of
fats -i.e. cheese and butter- and water) are heated above boiling after
being emulsified, they will break. Next time, try using a mornay (I'm not
sure how a mornay is diffeent from the cheese sauce you described, but i
know you can bake a mornay) or try pouring the sauce over the gratin after
baking.
I hope this helps,
Adam