Cheese Sauce

The point of cheese sauce is to control the cheesiness.

First you gotta heat up some oil or melt some butter in the pan. Start with about a tablespoon. Only put it at about 3 or 4, no need to ever have to stove too hot for this.

When the fat is hot, put in about a tablespoon of flour. White or whole wheat, it doesn't matter. Stir it with a wooden spoon until it's a kind of paste, all heated up, and a little cooked smelling. When flour is cooked it can thicken things. When it's raw it just makes lumps.

Then you can slowly stir in milk, unsweetened and unflavoured soy or rice milk, or broth. You can probably even use cream. If you use real dairy, for sure make sure the burner isn't too hot.

(At this point, it's a cream sauce, and you can flavour it however: tomato, cheese, add it to pureed vegetables and broth for cream soup)

Stir it and smooth out the lumps with a wooden spoon. If you are using a stainless steel pot, you can whisk it to get the lumps out.

Then you can add lots of shredded cheese (but not rubbery cheese like mozzarella or havarti). Paprika is good, too, and oregano.

It doesn't need to be cooked for long after you add the cheese.