If you can, use fresh-grated Parmesan. The taste difference is noticeable compared to using pre-grated cheese. Fresh cheese also tends to be less vulnerable to “seizing. " See below for an explanation.

Resist the temptation to crank up the heat. Turn it down if you notice your sauce boiling rapidly. Not only can this burn your ingredients and produce an unpleasant bitter taste — it can also make your cheese “seize”. When cheese is heated too quickly, the proteins in the cheese coil up rather than separating gently. This separates the fat and moisture from the cheese, leaving an unpleasantly hard product that refuses to melt.

A few shakes or pinches of each seasoning should do the trick. If you’re worried about adding too much, try adding just a single pinch, stirring, and tasting the sauce. Repeat until you’re satisfied!

If you accidentally add too much water, just simmer it a little longer to thicken it again.

Alternatively, try using it to lend creamy flavor to your favorite meat and vegetable dishes, including chicken, shrimp, broccoli, and much more. This sauce’s mild flavor is highly versatile, so you can use it for almost any entrée.

Most white wines will work well. The crisp, fresh taste of Chardonnay, for instance, will elevate the dish’s smoothness. [4] X Research source Avoid dessert wines like moscato, as these will be overpoweringly sweet.

You may want to squeeze the lemon into the sauce through a strainer to prevent any seeds from falling in.

The yogurt will also give the recipe a slightly “tangier” taste (similar to a Stroganoff sauce). Some prefer this. You may want to add about a tablespoon of flour to the recipe at the same time as you add the yogurt. Yogurt can curdle when exposed to high heats, but flour tends to prevent this.

For a more authentic taste, use fresh, unsalted butter. Before refrigeration, salt was added to butter so that it would keep longer. When people wanted to make a great recipe, they would use unsalted butter, which had to be fresh because it wouldn’t keep for very long.