Making Classic Béchamel Sauce
This is a sauce of patience. If you rush the roux or dump the milk in all at once, you will spend your time fighting lumps instead of achieving the signature velvet consistency.
Watch the color of the roux
Keep your heat at medium-low to prevent the flour from browning. You want a pale, sandy paste, not a burnt one.
- Heavy-bottomed saucepan
- Wire whisk
What goes in.
- 2 tbspunsalted butter
- 2 tbspall-purpose flour
- 2 cupswhole milk, cold
- 1 pinchnutmeg, freshly grated
- to tastekosher salt
The cold-liquid rule
Using cold milk when adding it to your hot roux helps prevent clumping. Whisk vigorously and continuously until the liquid fully incorporates.
The method.
Melt the butter
Place the saucepan over medium-low heat and add the butter. Let it melt until it foams but does not brown.
Add the flour
Sprinkle the flour over the butter and stir with a whisk for 2 minutes. The mixture should look like wet sand and smell like toasted grain.
Temper the roux
Add the milk about a quarter cup at a time. Whisk constantly until the paste absorbs the liquid, then add more.
Simmer
Once all the milk is added, turn the heat to low. Continue stirring until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
Season
Remove from heat and stir in the salt and grated nutmeg.
Other turns to take.
Mornay
Stir in a handful of grated Gruyère or sharp cheddar once the sauce is finished.
Mustard Béchamel
Whisk in a tablespoon of Dijon mustard at the end for a sharp, biting flavor.
When it doesn't go to plan.
If lumps appear, pass the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
If you are not using the sauce immediately, press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming.
Béchamel should be thick enough to coat a spoon; if it becomes too thick upon cooling, stir in a splash of warm milk to loosen it.
The ones that keep coming up.
Why does my sauce taste like flour?
You likely did not cook the roux long enough. The flour must cook in the butter for at least two minutes before adding milk to eliminate the raw taste.
Can I use low-fat milk?
You can, but the sauce will be thinner and lack the characteristic silky mouthfeel provided by the fat in whole milk.