Bechamel Sauce Recipe

Classic White Sauce

Foundation for Many Sauces

A sauce, such as this Bechamel Sauce, works like a seasoning. Sauces should enhance the flavors of foods, not dominate them.

This restaurant recipe is for a classic white sauce used for creaming certain foods such as au gratin potatoes, spinach and macaroni and cheese.

You can use it as a foundation for creating numerous other delicious sauces such as Mornay sauce, Cheddar cheese sauce, mustard sauce, just to name a few.

Bechamel Sauce Recipe

Classic White Sauce Recipe

Preparation Time: 1 hour.  Amount: 2 quarts.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces of clarified butter
• 4 ounces of flour
• 1/2 gallon milk
• 1/2 small onion, peeled
• 1 whole clove
• 1 small bay leaf
• Salt, nutmeg, white pepper

Instructions:

To clarify butter:

• Melt butter over very low heat
• Skim off what comes to the surface
• Slowly pour off the oil part into another container
• Discard the solids

Instructions:

• Heat clarified butter in a heavy sauce pot over low heat
• Add the flour and make a white “roux.” Cool roux slightly
• In another sauce pan, scald the milk and gradually add it to the roux, beating constantly
• Bring the sauce to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to simmer
• Stick the bay leaf to the 1/2 onion with the clove and add it to the sauce
• Simmer at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Adjust the consistency with more scalded milk if necessary
• Season very lightly with salt, nutmeg and white pepper (spice flavors should not dominate)
• Strain the sauce through a sieve lined with cheese cloth. Cover or spread melted butter on surface to prevent skin formation

 Use immediately or store in refrigerator.

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Each and every recipe on the website is customer tested and approved. These restaurant recipes work. You can cook with confidence and style!

ENJOY this restaurant recipe for the classic white sauce. It will prove to be a solid foundation for creating other wonderful sauces! - Donna

"That fellow Béchameil has all the luck!  I was serving breast of chicken á la crème more than 20 years before he was born, but I have never had the chance of giving my name to even the most modest sauce."

Duke of Escars, 17th century