How to Make the Best Nacho Cheese
When it’s game day, you’ve got to bringyour snack situation to the next level,
and why not do that with alittle bit of chemistry?
I’m talking nachos today folks,and in particular how to make
the ultimate nacho cheese.
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You can break nachos down into two camps:
real melted cheese andgoopy processed cheese.
Both have their benefits, but some nacho chefsaren’t thrilled about the flavor
of cheese from a pump and prefera nice melted cheddar.
What if I told you that you can havethe best of both worlds, that process
cheese texture alongsidethat real cheese flavor.
Nacho connoisseurs know, if you tryto melt cheddar in a pot, you get
an oily, gritty mess, so meetyour new friend Sodium Citrate.
Also known as an emulsifying salt, this stuffcan help you melt your cheese
into a silky smooth textural delight.
If you want to blow your friend’sminds get online and buy yourself
some of this stuff ASAP.
When you get it, here’s what you doto make a phenomenal nacho cheese,
or just regular old cheese dip.
First put a pot on the stoveat low to medium heat.
Then take one cup of your favoritebeer and pour it into that pot.
Grab your Sodium citrate and add 2teaspoons, stir it until dissolved
and bring this thing to a simmer.
Then take four cups of your favoritecheddar or Colby or Jack, whatever
floats your boat, and slowly stirin your cheese until nice and smooth.
To take it to the next level, youcan add in minced peppers or a dash
or two of your favorite hot sauce.
And remember folks, this recipe coversthe basics, you can get clever.
To understand how Sodium Citrate allowscheese to melt evenly, you first have
to get the basics of cheese down.
Cheese is made of up mixture of fats,moisture and little clumps of casein
proteins called micelles that areheld together by calcium ions.
When a cheese with a lower pH is heated,the calcium breaks off to mingle outside
the micelles because calciumdissolves in acid.
This allows some of the proteinsto mingle with the fats and moisture,
to keep everything melting evening.
If the pH is too high, the calcium staysput, which keeps everything in place,
except the oils and moisture whichescape the cheese when heated up.
Hence, your gritty oily mess.
I’m going to keep it really simplesimple for you folks, the key to
sodium citrate is that it’s in thebusiness of straight up calcium robbery.
When introduced to cheese, citrate ionsbind with the calcium that’s usually
helping keep in the micelles together.
This bond pulls those calcium ions awayfrom their posts and replaces them with
sodium ions that are happy toleave their old citrate partner.
Sodium Citrate also increases the pHof the cheese which causes the casein
proteins to gain a net negative chargeand repel away from each other.
Although normally a higher pH makeseverything stay put, having sodium
ions replace the calcium helps freeplenty of casein proteins which then
act as an emulsifier, or in other words,they help keep all the oils and moisture
mixed evenly throughout your cheese.
So the more free casein youhave to work on your melt, the
more smooth your cheese is going to be be.In case you’re wondering, sodium
citrate is one of the key ingredients
of processed cheese, otherwiseknown as those yellow squares.
Also, you don’t have to keepthis cheese trick to just nachos.
Think cheesesteaks, macaroni andcheese, steamed vegetables, I mean
anything that you can think of.
If any of you out there tried this out,let us know how it went and if bonus
points if you came up with anew recipe or way to use it!
Thanks for watching folks, we’ve gotplenty more food chem on our channel
so make sure to check outeither of these videos.
Subscribe and hit thumbsup on the way out.
This week Reactions is all about that snack science. We're using chemistry to help make the best nacho cheese possible. The Superbowl is just around the corner, we're excited too, but let's stay focused here. It's all about the snacks, so today we're slamming you with some next level DIY chemistry advice to help you step up your nacho game. The secret ingredient? A little thing called sodium citrate. My advice to you is to order some now, watch the video, and get ready for the Super Bowl of a lifetime. Here's the recipe: 1. Put a pot on the stove at medium heat. 2. Add one cup of your favorite beer 3. Add two teaspoons of sodium citrate and stir until dissolved. 4. Bring beer to a simmer and slowly add your favorite cheese, preferably a cheddar, and whisk it in there until you've got yourself a smooth, creamy cheese sauce (mix your cheese and get clever) 5. Take it to the next level with your own special ingredient(s). Hot sauce? Peppers? Onions? Whatever floats your boat. 6. Pour over your nachos, or hey, it works great as a solo dip as well. 7. Become a Superbowl snack legend. 8. Profit. ****WE WANT YOUR OWN CUSTOM RECIPES! POST THEM IN THE COMMENTS! Find us on all these places: Subscribe! http://bit.ly/ACSReactions Facebook! http://facebook.com/ACSReactions Twitter! http://twitter.com/ACSReactions Tumblr! http://tumblr.com/ACSReactions Writer & Producer: Kirk Zamieroski Executive Producer: Adam Dylewski Scientific consultants: Jeniffer Kimmel, Ph.D. Sophia Cai Darcy Gentleman, Ph.D. Sources: What Sodium Citrate Does to Dairy - http://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(03)73912-5/fulltext#Cheese%20Injection On Emulsifying salts & Process Cheese - http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/articles/2000/02/understanding-process-cheeses.aspx Ever wonder why dogs sniff each others' butts? Or how Adderall works? Or whether it's OK to pee in the pool? We've got you covered: Reactions a web series about the chemistry that surrounds you every day. Reactions is produced by the American Chemical Society.