In the culinary world, every chef must learn to make five basic sauces. The Béchamel sauce is one of those basic white sauces to help create other culinary masterpieces. When you are making a Béchamel Sauce, you are making culinary magic that is key to holding casseroles together, it is the base of soufflés, and can be turned into a pasta sauce with a few extra ingredients. It can be found in French, Greek, and American cuisine.
What is a Béchamel Sauce?
Béchamel is one of the classic white mother white sauces. It is the basis of many recipes in French cuisine. It is the foundation of most savory soufflés, macaroni, cheese recipes and as well as some gravy recipes. It is not a difficult recipe to make but it does need some careful guidance. It is all about the balance of your fats and flour.
How to make a Béchamel Sauce?
Our step-by-step guide will help you. This recipe has only four ingredients: milk, flour, eggs, and butter. It starts with a blond roux. That’s just long enough to cook the flour without browning it to eliminate the pasty taste that comes from raw flour. Once the roux has bubbled for a minute or two, add half the milk and whisk to eliminate any lumps. Then whisk in the remaining milk
How to Make an Easy Béchamel Sauce
Equipment
- (Help support our site!)Sauce Pot
- (Help support our site!)Wooden Spoon
- (Help support our site!)Hand Mixer
- (Help support our site!)Measuring Cup
Ingredients
- 1 lb(s) Butter Unsalted
- 1 lb(s) Flour All Purpose
- 2 whole Eggs
- 2 quart(s) Heavy or Lite Cream
Instructions
- Gather, wash, unwrap your ingredients and lets bring it to the board.
- Begin by placing the sauce pot on low flame and melt the butter.
- Once the butter has melted, begin to add four, stirring as you incorporate to butter.
- Once flour and butter have been combined, mix well and keep stirring for a continuous 10-15 minutes.*Quick TipContinue to stir and cook the roux. The more you cook and reach a light tan roux, the more flavor you will create. The three roux's are White, Blonde and Dark brown and they can be used in a variety of sauces to create different flavors.
- Once you reached have your desired roux, place the hand mixer into the roux. Turn off the flame and begin to add cream to the roux.*Quick TipWhen adding anything to the roux, remember one of the two ingredients should be cold & hot or both hot & hot this will prevent lumping in the sauce.
- Continuously mixing the cream in a circular motion until all of the cream is incorporated and continue to mix well.
- Once you have mixed the cream and roux well, add two whole eggs and continue to stir until the mixture begins to thicken. If needed turn on your flame slowly and continue to mix. the more you cook it the more it will thicken.
- Once you get to your desired thickness, remove from the flame and use. You can immediately pour into another container for later usage.
