Curdled Mac 'n Cheese?

[amason]

Hi all, I love macaroni and cheese and recently tried a CL recipe but found that during the baking process, the milk curdled. Instead of having a nice creamy cheese sauce, I ended up with a lumpy, ugly mess. Does anyone know what I did wrong? How do you prevent the milk from curdling? Thanks.

[Marcie]

Which recipe? I've tried lots of them so might be able to help if you can tell which one you made.

[amason]

Marcie,
I hand copied the original mac 'n cheese reciped from a friend's book so I don't remember the issue or page. However, the recipe was very similar to the Gratin Dauphinos (Cheese Scalloped Potatoes) on page 168 of the CL FIVE STAR "the Best of 10 Years" cook book that I have. I had the same curdling problem when I tried to make the cheese scalloped potatoes. If you have any suggestions or ideas on what I am doing wrong, I'd appreciate it. Thanks. Ann

[Marcie]

I'm not familiar with the Gratin Dauphinos. Did your mac and cheese call for making a cheese sauce first, then baking, or did everything get stirred together uncooked and then into the oven?

[amason]

The recipe calls for bringing the milk to a boil on the stove, pouring it over a layered mixture of potatoes and grated cheese. You bake it in the oven at 425 for 40 minutes and it should come out as scallope potatoes with a nice cheesy sauce. Mine came out as cooked potatoes with curdled milk & cheese lumps.

[ElinorC]

I've been thinking about this problem and think that the answer may be using a low-fat product versus a non-fat for the sauce. I noticed that when I made the macaroni and cheese from the 5 Star Cookbook, I used a low-fat sour cream (that's what i had on hand) in the sauce instead of the non-fat sour cream that was specified in the recipe and the sauce curdled as it did for you. I think that a low-fat sour cream can't stand up to the heat. I didn't have the problem with the Gratin Dauphinos (a dish that I really love) but have had the same problem with a couple of other dishes using the same low-fat sour cream. I guess I'll just have to use the ingredients called for in the recipe. What a novel idea!