How do I smooth out my alfredo sauce?!
Answers: I always get little hard pieces of parmesan and Im afraid of "breaking" the sauce if I cook it too much or too high.
the problem is that you are adding the parmesan too fast, or too much at a time.....use small handfuls, and whisk it in gradually.
if you have parmesan lumps, you can montee' the sauce, by dropping in small cubes of ICE COLD butter, about 1/2 stick for 16-20oz. of sauce.
do this the same way you add the cheese, gradually, wait until each cube is melted before adding the next....this should help to lubricate the stuck pieces of cheese and bring your sauce to a nice velvety texture.
Use a whisk
run it through the food processor or blender... or just use a strainer to get the lumps out...
The butter works when the sauce is made and is lumpy with cheese, to prevent this from happening in the first place, grate your cheese finely, and add very slowly, a small handful at a time until melted, then keep adding small hand-fulls until all cheese is added and melted. Of course let each hand-full melt before adding the next one...yummy creamy sauce is worth the effort!
A couple of things:
Use a very high butterfat cream 35% +
Don't use whole butter instead temper in an egg or two to thicken it
Start with a block of real imported Italian grating cheese - i use a Romano -Parmesan combo-and grate it yourself as needed.
DO NOT USE KRAFT !!!
The hand held rotary drum type graters work best
Stupid chef tricks:
Allow the handle from your sauce pan to rotate and rest against your tummy ,
Slowly sprinke in the cheese whilst whisking all the while
Do the add, allow to fully incorporate then add some more , then taste process
When you get the flavor where want it then temper in the eggs whilst slowly whisking all the while