The magical power of Sodium Citrate in Mac & Cheese
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ค. 2024
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Have you ever wanted to make mac and cheese silky smooth without having to use kraft singles or Velveeta? Let me introduce you to Sodium Citrate...
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INGREDIENTS LIST
No milk mac:
- 224 g dry macaroni
- 224 g cheese, grated (cheddar, mozz, jack, gouda, gruyere)
- 4 g sodium citrate
- Leftover pasta water
Instant beer cheese:
- 100 g cheese (cheddar, colby jack, etc)
- 50 g beer
- 2 g sodium citrate
- 5 g mustard
- sprinkle of garlic powder
- sprinkle of smoked paprika
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0:00 Episode premise
0:24 Intro
0:41 What is Sodium Citrate and how does it work?
2:13 Instant beer cheese with Sodium Citrate
3:12 No MILK mac & cheese
4:26 VEGAN mac & cheese
4:56 Enhance EXISTING mac & cheese
5:30 Closing thoughts
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MISC. DETAILS
Music: Provided by Epidemic Sound
Filmed on: Sony a6600 & Sony A6400 w/ Sigma 16mm F1.4
Voice recorded on Zoom H4n with Behringer Mic
Edited in: Premiere Pro
Affiliate Disclosure:
Ethan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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Adam Ragusea: *Ah, I see you're a man of culture!*
Yes I am
Duh, it's about cheese.
Adam Regusea wishes his content came across this cultured and informative.. Regusea is a joke. "Why you shouldn't deep fry at home" .. "why cast iron sucks" .. Regusea's content < hot garbage
@@TheHotDiggityDamns thank you lmaooooo I been saying this and get shit on for it but his stuff comes off as so full of itself and drags on.
@@TheHotDiggityDamns You sound salty and I'm not even a very big fan of Adam, his deep frying video was mainly focused on issues HE specifically has and that are common, and he never said he disliked cast iron he said he was on the fence about them and that for different applications they are amazing. And even if he disliked cast iron that's not a crazy opinion that no one has so your just being negative🤷♂️
Awesome video. I've been doing this for a while, and have something I can add:
- Sodium citrate can be difficult to find locally, but you can easily find Citric acid (also sold as "lemon salt") and baking soda at any grocery store.
- To substitute 11g sodium citrate, use 2 tsp citric acid + 2.5 tsp baking soda
- Note that sodium citrate really is better and I recommend it since you'll get a better texture. If you can find it use that.
- Don't add too much or you'll get soupy cheese that is very salty!
Quality tips, thanks for sharing!
Using the same ingredients just make the sodium citrate, it's just a simple substitution reaction. That's what I did and it worked wonders. I forgot the exact measurements, there's a yt vid with the exact recipe, just look up how to make sodium citrate at home. Just mix the two ingredients in some water in a pot and boil till you get a paste. Spread on some parchment paper and dry for a while. Break up the pieces and put in a spice grinder and boom. You get your own sodium citrate.
A bit of stoichiometry goes a long way! Bottom line: 1,3 grams of baking soda for every gram of citric acid.
Calculation: you need 3 mol of bicarbonate for each mol of acid to get 1 mol of trisodium citrate. Molar masses are 192 g/mol for citric acid and 83 g/mol for sodium bicarbonate, therefore you need 3×83 g of bicarbonate every 192 g of acid. You divide and get the 1:1,3 proportion by weight.
@@AelwynMr too lazy to pull out the periodic table and the calculator lmao. Thanks for doing the calculation for us doe.
Awesome, thanks!!
I legitimately just watched Adam Ragusa recipe for sodium citrate mac n cheese
Save yourself the time and money. I made Adam's recipe. It was disappointing and not very cheesy. Looking forward to trying this one though, since I have the sodium citrate already.
Yeah this guys just uses established food youtubers ideas
@@michaelferguson1540 that’s how all recipes are made.
You can also use sodium citrate to soften your favorite cheese into the consistency of processed American cheese. A lot of cheese, a little bit of liquid, a little bit of sodium citrate. Melt and combine. Cool completely and store in the fridge. When it's solid inside and out, you can slice it up and use it in a grilled cheese sandwich or a cheeseburger, to get the gooey meltiness of processed cheese with the flavor of your favorite cheese.
I'll have to try that.
You forgot to say what to store it in because most people don't have something cheese block shaped lying around at home. And why do I need liquid? Why can't I just sprinkle some on my cheese while making a burger or grilled cheese?
Me, an Indian that never had Mac and cheese : *yeah this looks interesting*
Really? You can easily access dry pasta and cheese anywhere. Also, restaurants are big on that italian stuff since last decade.
@@komal146any other cheese than paneer and mozzarella is quite rare to find in India
@@AmanSingh-nw7lw Really? You can't find a couple pounds of Cheddar anywhere around you? Wow.
@@AmanSingh-nw7lw This is so false, I can't even.
@@AmanSingh-nw7lw You could have a shot with mozzarella if you mean low-moisture mozzarella like the type used on American style pizza, and not the real buffalo mozzarella, it will be extremely mild, but you could do it.
Huh, That's probably the most useful and relevant sponsor I've seen on a cooking channel.
Banish was sponsored by paper towels once
American cheese: Invented in 1916 by James L. Kraft
Comments: "cReDiT aDaM RaGUsEa!"
The first video on this I've seen with an actual, followable equation. Thank you!
I ordered sodium citrate as soon as I finished watching this! Best $8 I’ve spent. I just made your Mac and cheese tonight and it’s so good! It’s going to change our Christmas menu!
I love your videos! So unique and innovative from traditional cooking channels
Kenji Lopez Alt was on First we Feast recently with his Smashburger recipe, and he used Beef demi-glace with cheese+ Sodium Citrate to make a Beef Cheese for his burger.
wow he must've taken that idea from Adam Ragusea! /s
Ziptop is literally the perfect sponsor for ethan, besides maybe pickled onions or mayo.
Great video! Love the design of your info graphics, so helpful!
Interesting, informative, and educational!
Always a good day when you learn something new.
This awesome info Ethan, and this Sodium Citrate is a great cheesy trick. I have little homemade 2 oz bottles of Sodium Citrate that I keep on hand for when people ask me how I made my cheese sauce. I just give it away at the end of the party to those who are interested so they can give it a try. Once you use it, you will never go back. That amount is enough to make several recipes.
Me: huh, that's so cool
Everyone else: something something Adam Ragusea
This was a super-helpful video from start to finish, including the ad for ZipTop.
the demo and AMAZING product placement
Thanks for including a vegan option. I’m lactose intolerant and can’t have milk or cheese. Many uses people many. 😃
Thanks! Actually I am not vegan but I feel my best not eating animal products. ❤️
what do you mean? cheese is literally laktose free.
You should be able to eat aged cheese if you're lactose intolerant. Fresh cheeses like cream cheese and such would be out of the question but any cheese that has been aged like parmesan and the like will have had the lactose in it consumed by bacteria.
Brilliant! Love this! Definitely trying it. Happy holidays 🎄
I paused your video and went n made nacho cheese sauce, grabbed some chips and eat my nachos while finishing your video. Thank you for explaining it easy enough
I just made Mac and cheese with regular bag of shredded cheddar and the difference was night and day! Not having to put in milk/cream cheese/corn starch is such a game changer calorie wise!!! Wish I could like this video a thousand times.
exactly what I was looking for!
Thanks for this!
Just got a Mac & cheese upgrade and Christmas gift idea! Thanks for the video
This reminds me to an Adam Ragusea´s video, I hope it doesn't unleash a new war.
Or maybe I do...
Also reminds me of a Chefsteps video before that, or a modernist cuisine article from 2012 before that - or decades before that when food scientists came up with it to make American Cheese a product to begin with, and everything is iterative.
Wait, people actually fight over these videos? Wtf?
@@bruhmomentum7542 I’m pretty sure no one cares.But Adam did do a video on this one.Idc though,unless more than just the title was copied
@@bruhmomentum7542 It's amazing. People will fight over which foodtuber dunnit first. Accuse people of things like ripping off a Babish video where half his early video catalogue uses recipes lifted wholesale from Kenji Lopez-Alt.
@_ David _ most content creators on youtube are men, and the majority of youtube's audience are men, so, you'd kinda expect that. Loads of insanely skilled women cooks on Instagram. Just scroll any hashtag that pastry chefs use, for example.
Also "best youtube cook" is a long, long way from best cooks. TH-cam cooking channels are about video production, presentation, framing, lighting, scripting, editing .etc & the ever-mysterious algorithm - success is hardly driven by being the best cook, nor should it be. Good-enough is good enough. But nobody whose skill level is near the pinnacle of the food industry is doing video production on TH-cam as their main occupation.
Also, even if you had the "best cooks" doing their thing, most of what they'd produce would be inaccessible to most people, whether from specialised equipment, technical skill, fine motor skills, or ingredients that are not widely available.
Enjoy the content creators for what they are, but don't start thinking it's more than it is.
🤯. Awesome info!! Ordering tonight - thanks!
I'm ready for the comments on this one.
@Aaron Liang [Student] Yep. I love both Ethan and Adam so I really couldn't care less, but the YT cooking community has some weird gatekeepers.
Cheers adam, been cooking with this on occasion for months but the ratio 2:1 was what I was missing!
You are my new favorite person! Thanks! Now I just need a decent kitchen scale...
Great tip! Thank you💜
Hey Ethan, been subscribed for a while now. Thanks for the super practical approach to home cooking. I've seen similar subjects on youtube, but it's always nice seeing a different take. Cheers, and thanks for the improved cooking.
Fantabulous ❤️
Thank You 🙏🏼😋
Woow, i must try it🤩
Was waiting for you to try sodium citrate cheese stuff! It’s a game changer.
ive been using sodium citrate to make mac and cheese for a few months, it also makes really good queso!
Very intriguing 😍😍
I saw this on Rag’s show and tried it. I had a Mac and cheese in my fridge that had spit, worked wonders even after the split!
this is going to be a game changer for me in the kitchen, holy crap.
This was so dope!!!
This is so amazing
Great info!
Been loving your channel, you're killing it. Methodical and detailed, yet comforting and attainable. This video is valuable knowledge for any cook, but as you pointed out, especially for vegans. Even though the "vegan cheese" didn't work out for you (every brand I've tried is garbage too, is it the tapioca/other starches?) it's awesome to see you attempt it. We've given up on store bought stuff and just relied on roux's and emulsifications if we're craving creamy food. I think Sodium Citrate will amp up our game, excited to try it out, thanks Ethan!
This channel is a godsend.
so im gonna order this and its gonna sit right next to that malt powder i ordered last time.
Yooooo that zip bag is soooooo cool! Gonna get me some of those.
You got me with the ziptop, it is a good product!
Been using this for years now. Also makes great nacho cheese sauce.
Game changer in the kitchen
Information was good
Ok so I used this concept to make cheese steak with “fancy” cheese for the super bowl and OMG.. you might need an episode to figure out what the best cheese is for gooey cheese steak.. sodium citrate is amazing!! Also other than cheese what else can it be used with?
Woah that's so cool! I've tried using violife for a variety of purposes and it melts pretty well, but I never thought to use sodium citrate.
Hey Ethan, love this! I'm always looking for ways to make a good queso. I've tried this out a few times and the cheese sauce always coagulates very quickly. Is this normal or am I getting something wrong? I used 100g cheese, 50g water and 2g sodium citrate.
Okey I just bought it, fingers 🤞
Yum yum
I make a sodium citrate mac and cheese with white wine as a base liquid and it turns out phenomenally.
Now I’ll know what sodium citrate is when someone asks “do you know what’s in this box of food?”
thats SO interesting. i dont watch Adam Ragusea so didnt hear about this but im gonna try and get some so maybe i can make lower cal mac n cheese, and everything else!
This is actual magic
I've tried the mac with ribs meat added and it was delicious 😍
I agree 💯 as I was lucky taster of said recipe, amazing!!! 🎉🤩♥️
It's like you've heard my Google search, freaky. Was just ask why commercial Mac and Cheese is so dang creamy. Already ordered my bag of sodium citrate from Amazon, 😁. Thanks, can't wait to try this!!
These are the videos that made me follow you. Practical, informative, understanding the science to better your cooking skills!!!
If not measuring, (or having a mother measurement lol) how many sprinkles of SN for a pot of mac n cheese or anything? Basically how many sprinkles Is 4g lol?
This is game changing. Just used it to make nacho cheese sauce.
Cool video maye ... never clicked so fast in my life 😍
Within the USA, I enjoy the fact theres so many ways people make mac and cheese and it definitely breaks down along various demographic lines. I know I would not like this Ethan recipe just because i prefer baked mac and cheese over stove top that comes out without dripping, Velvety, smooth cheese sauce...dont want any saucy cheese. Dont put bread crumbs or whatever that stuff is on top of my baked mac and cheese either. I'm sure lots of people will enjoy Ethans recipe...he always gives great tips...like Ziptops, definitely need some of those
Thank you for introducing me to this wonderful Pixie Dust...
I usually find sponsored ads so annoying and pointless, but for whatever reason this one was very effective and now I kinda want to buy them lol. Ethan yanking on the bag in the back was both hilarious and a good sales pitch.
I already knew about sodium citrate from our boy Ragusea, but that beer cheese sauce sold me on it instantly.
Clever idea
Can we have some more dessert recipes? Thanks E
Thanks for including vegan options, buddy. Even I want a little comfort food every now and then, even if it's with a steaming side of broccoli.
Man I was JUST thinking about how grainy my mac and cheese always turns out, unless I use Velveeta!
You’re heats too high when you add the cheese, try letting it cool a little first
Or go the béchamel route and make a cheese sauce first then add your pasta, loosen with some cooking water if necessary
@@justgame5508 or just use sodium citrate - you know, the point of the video.
I found sodium citrate at my local Middle Eastern grocer. Not sure why they carry that but I dig it!
great video
I use coconut milk for my mac and cheese. It doesn't have a strong flavor and it doesn't clot like regular whole milk, so I just cook it down and throw in some pasta water to thicken it. Between the cheese and starch it thickens up pretty good. Plus it comes in cans so I can just keep a stock in my pantry.
It's actually so easy cooking it this way that I tried making mac the regular way with whole milk and the sauce broke twice.
Here's a sample recipe I do sometimes:
1. Put some diced smoked sausage in a cold cast iron pan and cook it down until the fat renders out.
2. Toss one whole can of coconut milk in the pan, you can rinse out the can and throw that water in too. Mix it until it has a homogenous color.
3. Cook down the sauce until you can draw a clean line on a spoon after dipping it.
4. Make the pasta, I use cavatelli.
5. Grate your cheese and throw half in it in, i try to use equal volume as the sausage. Mix and reserve the other half. Add pepper if you want, I usually don't add salt because smoked sausage is pretty salty.
6. Spoon the pasta into the coconut milk with a slotted spoon, add a couple tablespoonfuls of pasta water. Mix well and check the consistency.
7. Throw in some frozen peas, mix.
8. Immediately top with the reserved cheese and throw it under the broiler until it has a color you like.
That's it, you should find some points where you can clean up some dishes. For regular mac just replace step 1 with melting a cube of butter, and take out steps 7,8.
Science Food TH-cam should unite, not fight. Great video. :)
How does this compare this to the version with evaporated milk?
Thank you for the vegan version. Do appreciate it.
I also like using it to emulsify cheddar in Chili.
Nice! Sounds so good
I absolutely adore that you're trying to do vegan options aswell! Your approach to cooking is really interesting to me and I now love pickled onions and brussel sprout salads :P
Does this work with baked dishes as well? I'm wondering if the added heat might eventually break that emulsion
So a little surprised that nobody commented on how sour this tasted. I tried with Aged Cheddar twice. Remained grainy both times both on stovetop and microwave.
I just finished making a cheese block of shark cheddar and mozzarella. :D It's fun going down this sodium citrate rabbit hole.
you can make your own by combining citricacid and baking soda. mix it in a pot with water disolve and boil off.
You said the liquid weight varies by the type of liquid (or something similar). What did you mean by this? I typically use milk for my sodium citrate mac & cheese, so should the ratio change at all from what you showed in the video?
What is your take on throwing in a couple of slices of American cheese with the sodium citrate already in it? I normally throw it in when I am making mac and cheese for that extra creaminess although, I haven't tried it without a roux.
Wow!
Would it work if you try to crisp everything up in the oven afterwards? Does the sodium citrate can handle such heat?
American cheese doesn't really crisp up - but you can add some additional un-emulsified cheese to the pan edges & on top for the crispy cheese bits.
yes it can handle the heat of the normal house ovens because the melting point of citric acid is around 300 to 320 degrees Celsius and i avoided myself going all scientific to measure the real melting point because crisping temperatures are not that high.
Yeah I'm more curious about doing the bougie baked Mac n Cheese with this method. You know, adding panko breadcrumbs mixed with melted butter for a crisp topping and then adding like more grated cheddar and parmesan on top of it to make like a Mac casserole. Does the sodium citrate cheese sauce hold up the same way as a roux based cheese sauce does when broiled in an oven to get that crispy top?
@@lylesommer2741 i guess it will crisp up but it's not a definitive answer as i haven't done this.
cooking is itself an experiment.
try with a small batch to be certain that it doesn't cause any off flavors and becomes crisp.
Thank you ^-^
Macaroni and cheese and sodium citrate nice
Would this work when using a powdered cheese?
Another great thing to do with sodium citrate is make your own melty cheese slices (for paninis and the like)!
You mentioned replacing roux with sodium citrate. I'm wondering if you could use it to thicken a stew or soup like gumbo to make a gluten-free order keto/paleo friendly gumbo.
I don’t believe it would work the same way because sodium citrate helps emulsify not thicken.
Thank you for showing a vegan option Ethan!
Hi Ethan so does that mean this is a replacement for something like a corn starch slurry? or is this different?
Genius
I've been meaning to try this. My partner hasn't been too thrilled with my roux cheese sauces in mac & cheese.
Lol. Are you the LudumDare's Mike Kasprzak
? If so, thank you so much for your work!
And nice to see that you are a cooking geek as well:)
Dump your partner and just have it yourself :)
@@MichaelPanin Ha! Hi there. Yes that's me, and yes I'm also a big cooking nerd. 😁
Can you do one on the sodium trick for extra crispy potatoes? Saw it on pinteredt a few times would love to see if that actually works
Hi Ethan, could this be used on mozzarella and still allow said cheese to brown? (This is for pizza btw)
Does this help reduce the calories in recipes?
Please show us the other uses for Sodium Citrate in some other videos!!