How do I keep Parmesan cheese from clumping ?!


Question: I made a new recipe last night that called for adding parmesan to the sauce while it was simmering, but the parmesan cheese clumped together in the pan and then just ended up sticking to the spoon in a big lumpy mess. I was disappointed but I know Parmesan is popular for pasta sauces so please let me know what I did wrong, thanks alot.
PS
I was looking for a different way besides sprinkling the Parmesan on top of the dish right before serving, I wanted the sauce to be mixed well with the cheese. Thanks again!


Answers: I made a new recipe last night that called for adding parmesan to the sauce while it was simmering, but the parmesan cheese clumped together in the pan and then just ended up sticking to the spoon in a big lumpy mess. I was disappointed but I know Parmesan is popular for pasta sauces so please let me know what I did wrong, thanks alot.
PS
I was looking for a different way besides sprinkling the Parmesan on top of the dish right before serving, I wanted the sauce to be mixed well with the cheese. Thanks again!

Your friend and the one other person who mention the temp isses are right, I am a former chef and worked with both Italian and other places were fresh and other pasta dishes were served, the protein in the cheese are dry and when heated to high as you said clumped into a mass in the pot, any good Italian mother or restaurant cook will tell you to add it off the heat and right before your served it.

Unlike cheddar and swiss cheese which need time to breakdown and melt, they tend to thicken a sauce were parmesan will not, it is what is refered to in the trade as a dry cheese it and Romano, Gran Padana and certain others have been aged in a warm humidity free areas, allowing the moisture to leach out make them dry and crumbly.

Your best to add it at the table or if you are serving family style as you plate entire dish, pastas like carbonara a bit can be add it the pan off the heat along with alfredo, these sauce as they have cream in them or eggs tend to hold the protein together better.

They have parmesian that comes in a block and you twist the cap and it comes out smootly.. its very nice =]

Add it slowly and keep stirring

Hmmm...maybe you could try shredding the Parmesan over a cheese grater into the sauce a little at a time. That way, the heat from the sauce could slowly melt the cheese bit by bit as you stir it.

Once you add parmesan let it simmer so absorbs into the sauce before you stir.

If you use the kind you get from the deli, you'd need to grate it with a grater....it melts and blends really well
The kind from that can, tends to clump, esp in damper climates, like your fridge....

Instead if buying the stuff in the green can, which I buy on occasion, buy block of Parmigiano-Reggiano, the shave it with a vegetable peeler into you dish.

I assume you weren't using fresh. What you were putting in was probably already crumble as you were shaking it in. Next time make sure you have the clumps out before adding it in.

Your sauce might have been to hot also when you added it.Add it when it is just below a simmer..

Don't pour the cheese in all at once but by small increments stirring constantly. Also use the parmesan that is like a powder instead of grated as it dissolves easier. Leave the fresh grated for the serving table.





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