Recipe

Korean Nacho Cheese Sauce

by Sasha Marx

Classic nacho cheese sauce has a gooey, melty texture but barely tastes like cheese. Aged cheeses, such as cheddar, have rich, complex flavor but make for grainy sauces when melted. At Cook’s Science, we think we’d all be a lot better off if we lived in a cheese sauce world where we didn’t have to choose between texture and flavor—and it turns out, we don’t. In 2011 Modernist Cuisine popularized the use of sodium citrate, an emulsifying salt, to defy cheese logic and make gooey nacho cheese from the good stuff. Check out our sodium citrate explainer for all the geeky science.

The base of this cheese sauce is a supertasty combination of sharp aged cheddar and Swiss cheese. But I didn’t stop there. For this recipe, I wanted to riff on my favorite late-night boozy snack food: cheesy ddukbokki, Korean rice cakes swimming in a spicy gochujang sauce topped with a mound of melty cheese. (Gochujang is a Korean hot pepper paste that has been crowned the new Sriracha by food-trend experts and is therefore getting much easier to find in supermarkets.) Here I fold a quick gochujang sauce into the cheese for a dip that’s spicy, sweet, and salty. It’s a vibrant shade of orange-red—reminiscent of the traditional spicy queso sauce present at so many Super Bowl parties across the United States (but the similarities end there).

Yield
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients

Gochujang Sauce

225 g water
60 g gochujang
4 g gochugaru
8 g sugar
24 g corn syrup

Cheese Sauce

200 g sharp cheddar cheese, grated
100 g Swiss cheese, grated
150 g water
12 g sodium citrate

Gochujang Sauce

1 cup water
3 tablespoons gochujang
2 teaspoons gochugaru
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup

Cheese Sauce

7 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated (1¾ cups)
3½ ounces Swiss cheese, grated (¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons)
⅔ cup water
1 tablespoon sodium citrate
Essential Equipment
Instructions
    • 225 g water 
    • 60 g gochujang 
    • 4 g gochugaru 
    • 8 g sugar 
    • 24 g corn syrup
    For the Gochujang Sauce: Whisk water, gochujang, gochugaru, sugar, and corn syrup together in small saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally with rubber spatula, until sauce has thickened and measures about 225 grams (1 cup), 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. 
    • 200 g sharp cheddar cheese, grated
    • 100 g Swiss cheese, grated
    • 150 g water 
    • 12 g sodium citrate
    For the Cheese Sauce: Combine cheddar and Swiss in medium bowl. Whisk 150 grams water and sodium citrate together in small saucepan until sodium citrate dissolves. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Whisking constantly, gradually add cheese mixture, about 40 grams (¼ cup) at a time, to simmering water, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding next, about 2 minutes. (Mixture will be very thick.) 
  3. Reduce heat to medium-low and, whisking constantly, gradually add gochujang sauce. Scrape down saucepan with rubber spatula and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is slightly thickened, about 45 seconds longer. (Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.) Remove saucepan from heat and either transfer sauce to serving bowl or make it extra-shiny with immersion blender. Serve warm, with plenty of tortilla chips. (The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.) 
Instructions
    • 1 cup water 
    • 3 tablespoons gochujang 
    • 2 teaspoons gochugaru 
    • 2 teaspoons sugar 
    • 2 tablespoons corn syrup
    For the Gochujang Sauce: Whisk water, gochujang, gochugaru, sugar, and corn syrup together in small saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally with rubber spatula, until sauce has thickened and measures about 1 cup, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. 
    • 7 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated (1¾ cups) 
    • 3½ ounces Swiss cheese, grated (¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons) 
    • ⅔ cup water 
    • 1 tablespoon sodium citrate
    For the Cheese Sauce: Combine cheddar and Swiss in medium bowl. Whisk ⅔ cup water and sodium citrate together in small saucepan until sodium citrate dissolves. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Whisking constantly, gradually add cheese mixture, about ¼ cup at a time, to simmering water, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding next, about 2 minutes. (Mixture will be very thick.)
  3. Reduce heat to medium-low and, whisking constantly, gradually add gochujang sauce. Scrape down saucepan with rubber spatula and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is slightly thickened, about 45 seconds longer. (Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.) Remove saucepan from heat and either transfer sauce to serving bowl or make it extra-shiny with immersion blender. Serve warm, with plenty of tortilla chips. (The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.) 
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