Recipe: Béchamel sauce

Name: Béchamel sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2.5 oz (70 g) of churned butter (if possible); 2.5 oz (70 g) of type 55 flour; 1.1 qt (1 litre) of whole milk; salt, white ground pepper and a pinch (or hint) of nutmeg

By chef patrick Asfaux 5/5 (30 reviews) · 🍳 14 made it

Recipe Béchamel sauce - Chef Patrick Asfaux — Photo: Aftouch-cuisine

Prep 5 min

Cook 15 min

Total 20 min

70 grams butter, 70 grams flour, 1 liter milk. Three ingredients, 15 minutes, and you've got the mother of all sauces. Toast the roux 2-3 minutes without browning, then whisk in cold milk slowly until it thickens. Grated nutmeg at the end, that's all you need.

Ingredients

2.5 oz (70 g) of churned butter (if possible)
2.5 oz (70 g) of type 55 flour
1.1 qt (1 litre) of whole milk
salt, white ground pepper and a pinch (or hint) of nutmeg

Step-by-step directions

1 Make a roux. Melt the butter in your saucepan, then add the flour and whisk constantly, let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes without stopping stirring.

2 Slowly add the cold milk and stir until it comes to a boil, season with salt and pepper, then add the pinch of nutmeg.

3 Transfer to a serving dish with a little melted butter on top to prevent a crust from forming on your béchamel sauce. And that's it, you're done!

Here is the text that illustrates the photo:

"Having high direction of the royal table, the Marquis de Béchamel was not content to give orders; loving to practice the culinary arts himself, he sometimes had the opportunity to prepare a fine sauce. Thus it was that, seeing a beautiful fish one day, he had the idea of improvising this very simple yet succulent sauce, the Béchamel.

Though! One day, the Duke of Escars declared in front of several guests: "How fortunate this little Béchamel is, I had made slivers of chicken breast in cream sauce more than 20 years before he was even born and look, I never had the pleasure of being able to lend my name to even the smallest sauce."

Chef Patrick's Comment

Other sauces based on béchamel:

Aurora sauce: béchamel with the addition of tomato paste and small pieces of butter. A hot preparation for eggs, for example.

Mornay sauce: béchamel mixed with egg yolks, cream and Gruyère. A hot preparation for all kinds of gratins, vegetables, eggs, poultry, white meats, pasta, etc.

Soubise sauce: béchamel mixed with a purée of slowly cooked onions plus liquid cream. A hot preparation to accompany roasted meats or eggs or pork tenderloin, for example. When you add a blend of onions and button mushrooms, it becomes Maintenon sauce.