Making Classic Béchamel Sauce
This is the backbone of white sauces, lasagna, and mornay. Master this, and you stop needing jars or packets for good.
Control your temperature.
The roux must not brown; keep the heat low to ensure the sauce stays white and creamy.
- Heavy-bottomed saucepan
- Balloon whisk
- Measuring cup
What goes in.
- 2 tbspunsalted butter
- 2 tbspall-purpose flour
- 2 cupswhole milk, room temperature
- 1 pinchnutmeg, freshly grated
- to tastefine sea salt
- 1 pinchwhite pepper
Tempering the Roux
Add the first quarter-cup of milk to the cooked flour and butter paste, whisking vigorously until the mixture becomes a smooth, thick paste before thinning it out with the remaining milk.
The method.
Melt the butter
Place the saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the butter and let it melt until it foams but shows no color.
Cook the roux
Add the flour and whisk immediately. Cook for about two minutes, stirring constantly, until the raw flour smell vanishes.
Whisk in milk
Pour in a small splash of milk and whisk to combine. Continue adding milk slowly, ensuring the sauce stays smooth between each addition.
Simmer to finish
Bring the heat to a very low simmer. Cook for five minutes, stirring often, until the sauce coats the back of a metal spoon.
Season
Remove from the heat. Stir in the salt, white pepper, and a tiny grating of nutmeg.
Other turns to take.
Mornay
Whisk in a handful of finely grated Gruyère or sharp cheddar once the sauce is finished.
Soubise
Fold in finely minced onions that have been sweated in butter until soft.
When it doesn't go to plan.
If the sauce develops lumps, pass it through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
Use room temperature milk; cold milk can seize the hot roux and create stubborn clumps.
Keep a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface of the sauce to prevent a skin from forming while it rests.
The ones that keep coming up.
Why does my sauce taste like raw flour?
You didn't cook the flour and butter mixture long enough. Give it two full minutes over low heat before adding any liquid.
Can I use skim milk?
You can, but the sauce will lack the body and velvety mouthfeel that whole milk provides.
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