The Lemon Fool

As I've grown older I've noticed that my taste buds are not what they were. Does anyone have any ideas how ro spice up a cheese sauce. I don't want to blow my head off but I made cauliflower cheese the other day and the sauce seemed very insipid. I used a strong cheddar but I really had difficulty tasting the cheese.

R6

Mustard powder when making the ruex.

Go blue.

Blue is good, also cayenne or paprika.

Curry cauliflower

Rhyd6 wrote:As I've grown older I've noticed that my taste buds are not what they were. Does anyone have any ideas how ro spice up a cheese sauce. I don't want to blow my head off but I made cauliflower cheese the other day and the sauce seemed very insipid. I used a strong cheddar but I really had difficulty tasting the cheese.

R6

A bit of an aside, but I wonder if your taste buds have changed, or your memory of taste has changed? Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
doolally

Rhyd6 wrote: I used a strong cheddar but I really had difficulty tasting the cheese.

May not be you, may just be the cheddar - from supermarkets I pretty much only use the strongest one these days.

Some Parmesan or similar may also help the flavour - as an aside, Parmesan is really underrated as a cheeseboard cheese.

We were recommended Filippo Berio Chilli flavoured olive oil for spicing up a cheese or similar sauce.

It's amazingly economical because generally just four or five drips are enough to enhance the flavour of a sauce for two - it's hot if used in quantity.

On offer from Ocado at the moment but available from most supermarkets.

regards

Howard

https://www.ocado.com/products/filippo- ... lsrc=aw.ds

Hallucigenia wrote:

Rhyd6 wrote: I used a strong cheddar but I really had difficulty tasting the cheese.

May not be you, may just be the cheddar - from supermarkets I pretty much only use the strongest one these days.

Some Parmesan or similar may also help the flavour - as an aside, Parmesan is really underrated as a cheeseboard cheese.

Yup. Not all cheddar is created equal.
I use parmesan with cauliflower a lot (actually I use it on a lot of veg!) - goes well with the addition of paprika/cayenne/"Cajun spice"

Urbandreamer wrote:Mustard powder when making the ruex.

A bit of French moutarde is my go to but it's easy to overdo it so go easy to start with.

Rhyd6 wrote:As I've grown older I've noticed that my taste buds are not what they were. Does anyone have any ideas how ro spice up a cheese sauce. I don't want to blow my head off but I made cauliflower cheese the other day and the sauce seemed very insipid. I used a strong cheddar but I really had difficulty tasting the cheese.

R6

My typical cauliflower cheese sauce starts with frying a small onion, a decent quantity of tasty mushrooms (or plain buttons if that's all I have), sprinkled with freshly-ground black pepper to taste and a handful of pine kernels. Take off the heat for a few minutes before adding equal quantities of single cream and cheese, and turn on gentle heat until the sauce is smooth (but textured by the mushrooms and pine nuts) and well-melted.

Serve on the cauliflower, either on a really thick slice of bread or on pasta. Lovely with a glass of red wine or decent beer, or something like an apple juice if off the booze.

A strong cheddar is fine, but as others have said, a blue cheese offers an alternative flavour. Though be aware that the saltiness can get a bit much with some blue cheeses.

Hallucigenia wrote:

Rhyd6 wrote: I used a strong cheddar but I really had difficulty tasting the cheese.

May not be you, may just be the cheddar - from supermarkets I pretty much only use the strongest one these days.

Some Parmesan or similar may also help the flavour - as an aside, Parmesan is really underrated as a cheeseboard cheese.

100% agree. Mrs RS just came back from Bologna with a kg of 24 month aged Parmesan...delicious, thinly sliced using a peeler just eaten on its own.

Mature cheddar is not what it used to be. It doesn't cause blisters on the roof of your mouth like it used to

Dicky99 wrote:Mature cheddar is not what it used to be. It doesn't cause blisters on the roof of your mouth like it used to

You get "extra mature" and "vintage" beyond that, in some brands.

Scott.

Rhyd6 wrote:As I've grown older I've noticed that my taste buds are not what they were. Does anyone have any ideas how ro spice up a cheese sauce. I don't want to blow my head off but I made cauliflower cheese the other day and the sauce seemed very insipid. I used a strong cheddar but I really had difficulty tasting the cheese.

For a flavour uplift try Harlech a softish cheese which is lightly infused with horseradish.
We found it in Waitrose at the cheese counter, they seem to have stopped it, but available from the cheese wagon in the Stroud shambles, and perhaps elsewhere.

I used to like the rind of cheddar, when it was sold in rounds wrapped in muslin. In the 50s.

V8

Take a look at recipes for Cajun Poutine.

Poutine is about as close as Canada gets to having a national dish or claim to originality in cooking. It is a mild and bland mush of cheese and chips.

It also became popular in New Orleans, with a variety of spices employed such as paprika and red pepper.

Well if you know the right people, they may be able to get some of this.

https://www.jasperfforde.com/specops/cheeseindex.html

Adding some grated onion helps to lift a cheese sauce, alternatively paprika or mustard as suggested by other posters.

Of course adding other non cheese flavours will make a bland cheese sauce more tasty, like peppery, or salty or mustardy. How about just more tasty https://www.amazon.co.uk/monosodium-glu ... +glutamate
Most of the shops sell Knorr Aromat, all purpose seasoning, only a couple of quid, it's MSG with salt and herbs and pepper. I rediscovered it a couple of years ago and now use it in preference to table salt in a few things like eggs, salads and rice.

Thank you all so much for some fantastic suggestions, I shall begin wotking my way through them starting with the blue cheese suggestion as OH still has a truckle of stilton left from Christmas. Will report on any that are super duper tasty.

R6