White Sauce

White Sauce
Some Foodies prefer to call White Sauce by its French name, Béchamel, because a French name implies difficulty (and ain't that the truth). Making a White Sauce, though, is dead easy. There's no mystery. When you learn how to make a White Sauce, a thousand different quick, easy and delicious dishes are within your reach.

A White Sauce has just three ingredients: milk, flour and butter. Don't even think of using shortening. You might get away with margarine.

All you have to do is memorize this table of proportions, and get yourself a whisk, and you're set for life. You can print it out and tape it somewhere in the kitchen until it becomes second nature.

Flour Butter Milk

Thin 1 tbsp 1 tbsp 1 cup / 8 oz / 250 ml

Medium 2 tbsp 2 tbsp 1 cup / 8 oz / 250 ml

Thick 3 tbsp 3 tbsp 1 cup / 8 oz / 250 ml

You see what happens? The amount of milk doesn't change; you just use more butter and flour (in equal portions, too, which is a bonus for easy memorization) to make thicker versions of the sauce.

Plop the butter in a saucepan, over a medium heat. When the butter has melted, stir in the flour, and cook the flour for 1 to 2 minutes. You want the flour to cook so it doesn't give the sauce a raw taste, which it would otherwise. When is it cooked? When white, floury froth starts to appear in spots. At that point, you spring into action with the milk, because you don't want the flour to brown. Pour in a bit of milk, and whisk it all in. Pour in more milk, and whisk it all in, too. Repeat until all the milk is in -- all in all, adding the milk in 5 or 6 pours. Now, lower the heat right down to a simmer, and let the sauce cook for about 10 minutes. Give it a whisk a few times in the first couple of minutes, but there won't be much action at that point. However, as you approach the 6 or 8 minute mark, it's going to thicken all at once. (If you really curious as to why, see entry on Thickeners.) At this point, you really need to be there with your whisk to keep it all smooth. Once all the action has happened, you can relax a bit with the stirring. After 10 minutes, your sauce is done. Season it to taste, and get on with what you need it for.

Other variations

Try whole wheat flour instead of white. This isn't to get all nutritious on you all of a sudden, but after you've had it with whole wheat flour, which adds faint nutty notes to the sauce, a White Sauce made with white flour will just seem bland;
For seasonings, use salt, pepper and a sprinkle or two of nutmeg (freshly ground if possible, if not ground will do if you promise it isn't 4 years old);
You can replace up to half the milk with a vegetable stock for a lighter-tasting sauce;
A bit of lemon zest tossed in is fabulous (aren't you glad you listened to Practically Edible's advice about freezing lemon zest, so that you have it ready at a moment's notice?);
Add a dash of lemon juice and a few chopped capers;
To make a mustard sauce, add a teaspoon of your favourite mustard;
Heat the milk first in the microwave in a glass jug or measuring cup with a bay leaf in it; fish out the bay leaf and then get on with your sauce; (note, the operative word is "heat", not boil it over in the micro until only half is left with a thick coagulated film on top);
If you want a really rich sauce, stir in a tablespoon or three of double cream, whipping cream or Greek yoghurt when the sauce is ready, then heat through for another minute.

Cooking Tips
A slightly more involved version has you sweat 2 tablespoons of diced onion in 2 tablespoons of butter, then make the roux with 2 tablespoons of flour, then the sauce with 1 cup (8 oz / 250 ml) of milk, season with salt and pepper, then strain the onion out.

Some people report that using an aluminum pan can turn the sauce grey.

Neither the butter nor the ensuing roux should be allowed to brown.

You need a whisk.

The milk mustn't boil.

History
Béchamal Sauce was reputedly named by the chef François Pierre de La Varenne (1615 - 1678) in honour of Louis de Béchameil (1630-1703), chief steward for Louis XIV of France. Béchameil became the Intendant of Tours in 1680, and the marquis de Nointel in 1685, on the death of Charles-Henri-François-Olivier. He also was superintendent of the house for the Duke of Orleans, a food lover and an art lover, and a wealthy tax collector for the Crown. Giving backing to the idea that it is named after him is a quote attributed to the Duke of Escars: "That fellow Béchameil has all the luck! I was serving breast of chicken à 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." ("Est-il heureux, ce petit Béchameil ! J’avais fait servir des émincés de blancs de volaille à la crème plus de vingt ans avant qu’il fût au monde et, voyez, pourtant je n’ai jamais eu le bonheur de pouvoir donner mon nom à la plus petite sauce.")

La Varenne certainly included the sauce in his book Le Cuisinier Francais (1651.) It was called Béchameil at first, then became Béchamelle, then béchamelle (lower-case by the end of the 1700s), then béchamel. Sometimes you will still see it referred to as "béchamelle".

As well, there is the usual claim of its having been brought to France by Marie de Medici.

The original béchamel sauce isn't the béchamel we make today. Originally, it was made from a thick velouté that had a good deal of cream added to it. That's how Carême made it, finishing it with more cream and egg yolk. Escoffier simplified it close to the milk-based white sauce we know, but included veal that was strained out.

Also called: Béchamel Sauce Béchamelle (French) Bechamelsauce (German) Salsa besciamella (Italian) Bechamel (Spanish)