I have always excelled at making sauces and found this beer cheese sauce is good with anything but really good with soft pretzels homemade, or store-bought doesn’t matter. This can also be added to pasta as a sauce too.
Ingredients
4Tablespoonsbutter
3Tablespoonsall purpose flour
½teaspoononion powder
½teaspoongarlic powder
⅛teaspoonsmoked paprika
1cupmilkheated to just below simmering
⅔cupdark beer I used Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale
1teaspoonDijon mustard or whole grain mustard
1teaspoonWorcestershire sauce
2cupssharp cheddar cheeseshredded
1cupsmoked gouda cheeseshredded
Instructions
In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter, and the flour, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Cook for 1 minute or until the smell of the raw flour is gone and the roux starts to change color.
Slowly stir in the milk and beer, whisk until smooth after each addition. Continue cooking over medium heat, add in mustard and Worcestershire, cooking sauce until thick and bubbly. Do not boil.
Reduce heat to low, add cheeses a bit at a time, and stir just until melted and smooth.
Serve with pretzels or chips or on top of pork whatever sounds good!
Notes
On the cheese it can not be added when the sauce is hot it can make the sauce grainy. It needs to be added with lower cooking temps.
Also, make sure the milk is lukewarm or warm but not boiling.
For this sauce, you want a wheaty beer, not an IPA no hops. Hops equals bitter, which will make the sauce bitter.
Do not get the pre-shredded cheese it has cellulose and makes the sauce grainy in texture. So shredded the cheese at home you can use a food processor to make it faster than manually shredding the cheese by hand.