by Austin Coe Butler
Say “American Cheese” and the first thing that comes to mind is a slice of Kraft Singles, that plasticine shingle with a gooey, unreal cheese pull. But here’s the spooky thing: Kraft Singles isn’t actually cheese. Legally, it can’t be called or classified that because it contains less than 51% cheese. Instead, Kraft Singles is a processed amalgamation of pasteurized milk by-products. Maybe this doesn’t come as a surprised. Who would image a “processed food” could be good for you?
Enter New School American Cheese, the brain child of chef Eric Greenspan and Alan Leavitt. Greenspan is the author of The Great Grilled Cheese Book, so it should come as no surprise that he’s thought about American cheese a lot and one thing in particular stuck out to him. Kraft Singles were invented in the early 1940s, and since then there’s really been no innovation or evolution of the product. People who want something better to melt might think they can just use a better, higher quality cheese. But when you try to melt a really nice cheese, especially an aged one like a 5 year cheddar or 24 month Comté, the proteins and fat begin to separate and split, leaving you a chunky, oily mess. Only a handful of cheeses have the unique chemistry and calcium levels to be great melters. That’s where sodium citrate comes in.
A popular adage of the Foodie movement was “if my grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as an ingredient, it’s probably not food.” But sodium citrate is just a the salt form of citric acid. It’s a little salty, a little sour, but does something remarkable. Those proteins and fat in cheese that split at high temperatures? Sodium citrate binds them together for an even, emulsified melt. If you really want to fall down a rabbit hole, you can buy sodium citrate from online retailers and create your own bespoke cheese sauce that has the meltability of Kraft Singles or Velveeta, but the flavor and quality of Comté, aged Cheddar, or whatever else your heart desires.
New School American Cheese is just seven simple ingredients: aged cheddar, cream, real butter, salt, paprika, turmeric, and sodium citrate—but surpasses Kraft Singles in terms of flavor, melting, and quality. Don’t believe me? Stop into the shop this weekend and pick up a loaf of Baker’s Field bread, a quart of our house-made tomato soup, and a pack of New School American cheese to make the best grilled cheese of your life and drive away this bitter cold.