How to Make American Cheese

A lot of people look down their noses at processed American cheese, but deep down inside, a lot of us see it as a combination of comfort food and convenience food. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could make it at home?
But what exactly is American cheese? I suppose it’s that exact question that gives it such a bad rap. The American cheese that you find on supermarket shelves isn’t cheese made in the traditional way (milk that’s formed into curds and pressed). Instead, it’s either a blend of cheese and additives, or it’s a highly processed mixture of ingredients such as water, milk, milkfat, milk protein, whey, food coloring, flavorings, and emulsifiers.  I wanted to get as close as possible to the taste and texture of American cheese using only pantry ingredients and a food processor.

By making your own American cheese, not only will you know exactly what went into it, but also you can add in flavorings such as black pepper, roasted red peppers… you name it. As I concocted my version of American cheese in the test kitchen, not only did I draw a crowd of curious onlookers, I caused all of the snooty foodies to run for the hills. That’s okay, because I’d take any kind of American cheese over head cheese any day.

The process of making your own doesn't look too difficult, with directions from Yvonne Ruperti at America's Test Kitchen. Link -via the Presurfer

Urk. People are making this stuff on purpose?

I remember going to my friend's house when I was very young and we'd sometimes eat sandwiches made with American cheese, Mac & "Cheese," and various other cheese-type food approximations. Being the polite kid I was, I really, really had to suppress my gag reflex just to be able to finish what was given to me.

I'm pretty sure you'd have to be raised on the stuff to find it enjoyable, let alone preferable. Just sayin'.
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Yep, Natey, that's exactly what it is. And for decades, the USDA would buy up excess milk to prop up prices to aid dairy farms, and they'd make it into American cheese that they gave away to families, schools, and institutions. Millions of us were raised on it.
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Natey, I have a really hard time believing that, as a child, American cheese literally made you gag. Cut the hyperbole.

I'm something of a foodie and I love cheese, but of all the cheeses I've tasted (and loved), nothing is as good as classic American cheese. And nothing melts like American cheese, which is why it is and always will be the best option for cheeseburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches.
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Same for me, ate real cheese as a kid, "fake" cheese grossed me out. Box mac and cheese, velveeta, single cheese slices, liquid nacho cheese.

It's beyond disgusting.
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@Craig: Agreed. Internet peoples;... -Sheesh!

Some days Huntsman and Cynar are just way too much. You just want a grilled cheese and a Coke instead.
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@ manticore

Oh simmer down. American cheese isn't that bad, that's just naked snobbery. I worked in a very expensive cheese shop and heard that kind of inane nonsense all the time. Then the schmuck who badmouthed American cheese would take a big sniff of some french cheese that smelled like a port-a-potty at the county fair and rave about it.

Apparently, for people of this ilk, the smell of raw dung is LESS revolting than a bland, largely inoffensive-tasting and smelling cheese.
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@bucky snobbery? Nope. That stuff is boak on a plate. I visited the states once and was fed this stuff as "cheese" in a ham and cheese sandwich. I sent it back because I thought something it had somehow gone bad in a way I didn't know cheese could. When the guy told me that's how it was supposed to be I couldn't believe it.

The taste is weird and unlike any cheese I've ever tasted, but I suppose it's OK. It's the texture that makes you boak. It's like nothing you should put in your mouth.

The point is, however, that there was no snobbery involved in my reaction to the stuff. I didn't know what it was or how it had been made. It just made me boak. The end.
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I don't know if there is snobbery on your part, but there is a lot of snobbery here and abroad about American cheese and wine. So, Yup, there's snobbery.

I had the same experience in Europe that you had here. My point is, I like the kitchen to smell like food not an outhouse on an asparagus farm. Had I been blindfolded and someone said, "here, eat this." I would have assumed some skulduggery was afoot. The End.
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Paddywhack, I too remember blocks of government cheese -- or, as we call it in my house, "cheeselike substance". Why are you snarking off on Miss Cellania about the US free market? Most of us here will freely admit (or scream) that things are going to hell in the US, and have been for some time. Anyway we were talking about processed "cheese". As with religion, there is no sense in arguing with those who prefer it to real cheese. From my standpoint, it is something I have eaten on occasion, but it is not cheese. NOT. Cheese. It is a plastic-like substance created in laboratories, and I try to avoid it.
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Plastic cheese - it probably digests slower than swallowed gum. Interesting that this hideous so-called cheese is named 'American cheese'. Plastic cheese and powdered cheese - a perfect simile of American culture.

Now go get yourself a loaf of french bread, some nice blue cheese, fig jam and some wine and have yourself a delicious fine time!!
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Who'd a thunk something as innocuous as American cheese would bring up such harsh negative reactions? When people react like this, it's because they are reacting against something in themselves and not the object of scorn at all.

Those who, unashamedly, enjoy their low-brow and high-brow pleasures kick some serious ass. We win!
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Pffft - I think the haters are more upset by the name than by the actual cheese itself. That's a ludricous as when certain patriots wanted to ban French Fries.

I don't know if I've ever had American cheese, but I've certainly eaten processed cheese, and it ain't nearly so bad as the snooty-snoots are making it out to be.

And what's this "boak" business? Are we just making up words as we go along, now?
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I love cream cheese too. Maybe we should simply change the name to prevent the haters from hatin? Instead of calling it Cheddar Cheese, Cream Cheese, American Cheese, Muenster Cheese, etc, just say "Congealed milk substance". The only real difference is how it gets to that state.
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I'm apparently not trolling right. So, among congealed milk substances, what should I think of the type in a rubber bladdered pressure dispensed type? Cheddar Bacon spray cheese is an endorsed junk food of mine.
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Good lord people, it's just a food!
Who knew it would cause such an uproar! SHEESH.

I grew up eating it and love it. I'm not too fond of velveeta, but I do love the sliced kind.
Best grilled cheese ever! Although cheddar is pretty darn yum on grilled cheese as well.
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Speaking of snobbery. "American Cheese" was invented in Switzerland by Walter Gilber (1911). The term "American Cheese" was coined by the British to refer to lower quality cheese exported from the USA. The origin of the term "American Cheese" is therefor not synonymous with "Processed Cheese" but with "low quality cheese". That is, until the FDA adopted the term to refer to "pasteurized processed cheese".

I'm just saying; everyone else calls this "Processed Cheese", "Sliced Cheese" or something like that, and "American Cheese" it is not, it was invented in Thun, Switzerland.
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So far this is up to 30 comments and has died off, meanwhile the post about the light barrier being broken has slowed to a trickle after only 9?

Someone has to say it...
Behold, the power of cheese.
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Just picked this up so sorry I'm late to the party. "Boak" is a slang word I've only ever come across in the Emerald Isle. That and the handle would lead me to suspect that Paddywhack is an Irishman. So not British then.

Stange that people took so much offence at his comments. The way I read his post was to say that the problem with this processed cheese is not that it's necessarilly bad, but that it isn't actually cheese. I had a similar experience with milk. I was raised out in the country and the first time I tasted supermarket milk when visiting relatives I handed the glass back to my aunt because I thought there was something wrong with it. It simply wasn't what I thought of as milk. I got used to drinking it, but I still think of it as supermarket milk rather than milk. I remember my wife's reaction on tasting unpasterised milk, so it works both ways.

It's just like that reaction you get as a child the first time you taste lemonade. I remember handing a glass of lemonade to my son when he was small. You could tell from the look on his face that he had been expecting water and he got a totally different flavour and fizz too. He clearly did not like it. It wasn't long before it was his favourite drink.

I'm not saying that Pat above would end up thinking of "American Cheese" as his favourite cheese, but I'm sure he could get used to eating it if he tried it without expecting it to taste like farmhouse cheese.
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Oh yeah, and @Biffswellington don't you get that inverse snobbery is as bad as snobbery. And what makes that sort of comment even more stupid is that cheese started out as peasant food.
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