Creamy Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. butter
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
• 1 lemon, juiced (about 3 tbsp. lemon juice)
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tbsp. corn starch
• 3/4 cup milk
• 300g shredded parmigiano reggiano

Steps

1. Melt butter in a pan and add garlic and pepper. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds, then take off of the heat and let cool in the pan until room temperature.
2. While cooling, mix lemon juice and baking soda in a measuring cup at least 1 cup in volume. The mixture should fizz, stir well to ensure it reacts completely (see note 1).
3. Stir the reacted mixture, corn starch (see note 2), and milk into the now-cool pan.
4. Put the pan back on low heat and gently warm until between 140°F to 150°F (see note 3).
5. Once warm, whisk in the cheese a little at a time until fully incorporated, ensuring the temperature stays in the correct range.
6. Take off the heat and serve!

Notes

1. The citric acid reacts with baking soda to form sodium citrate, which helps the cheese emulsify. I got the technique from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKG-LznoJJo.

2. Cornstarch helps to emulsify the cheese as well as helping to keep the milk from curdling.

3. Don’t simmer. Going a few degrees outside of the 140-150°F range is okay, but too cold and the cheese won’t melt, and too hot and the cheese will clump up and the sauce will break, permanently. I recommend keeping a thermometer in the sauce the entire time while whisking in the cheese.