Beer cheese sauce
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1⁄2 cup Oktoberfest beer (or any non-hoppy lager)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1⁄4 teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika
- 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (or cheddar or pepper jack cheese)
Directions:
In a medium pot over medium heat add 3 tablespoons of butter and allow it to melt. Once the butter is melted, add 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and stir to ensure all of the flour is mixed in with the melted butter.
Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often. This gloopy, and pasty mixture of butter and flour that you've made is called a roux.
Add beer to the flour and butter roux and whisk everything thoroughly until there are no lumps.
Add milk and bring the entire mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow the liquid to simmer.
Add the salt, black pepper, and paprika to the mixture, stir and then slowly add shredded cheese, a handful at a time. Keep stirring to make sure everything gets combined and the cheese melts. Whisk often during this process.
Once all the cheese is added, reduce the burner heat to low and keep the cheese sauce warm until you are ready to serve. This beer cheese sauce will start to thicken as it cools, so keep it on low heat or move it to a warm crock pot if you want to keep it smooth and dippable for a long time.
See notes below for reheating instructions.
Notes:
To reheat, you can add 3 or 4 tablespoons (or double) of the cold cheese sauce and 1 to 2 tablespoons of whole milk to a small pot and slowly warm it up on the stove. Keep whisking. Once it becomes smooth again, you can reduce heat to low until you are ready to serve.