American cheese is just normal, cheddar style cheese but with the addition of some sodium citrate.
Sodium citrate is a fun little food chemical that give the cheese a slight citrus bite, but more importantly acts as an emulsifier. It keeps the oil and water inside the cheese bonded together. This means the cheese melts and then never becomes greasy.
You can abuse this. You can make a super creamy cheese sauce for a higher brow mac and cheese by using some shredded cheese, a couple slices of American, and a few splashes of the pasta water.
American cheese is just normal, cheddar style cheese but with the addition of some sodium citrate.
Sodium citrate is a fun little food chemical that give the cheese a slight citrus bite, but more importantly acts as an emulsifier. It keeps the oil and water inside the cheese bonded together. This means the cheese melts and then never becomes greasy.
You can abuse this. You can make a super creamy cheese sauce for a higher brow mac and cheese by using some shredded cheese, a couple slices of American, and a few splashes of the pasta water.
This person emulsifies.
American cheese, like sliced bread, is an amazing achievement of food science. And then people shit on it because they don’t understand it’s purpose.
Same thing for tomato ketchup.
yep i have been a sodium citrate convert since i watched an adam ragusea video on the topic. https://piped.video/watch?v=KcM_MZoJWOo
i picked up a bag off amazon for cheap and it really is magic.