Béchamel sauce

Béchamel sauce is a key ingredient in many lasagna recipes^{[citation needed]}

Béchamel sauce (English: /bɛʃəˈmɛl, beɪʃəˈmɛl/ French: [beʃamɛl]), also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of Italian cuisine, for example lasagne. It is used as the base for other sauces (such as Mornay sauce, which is Béchamel with cheese).

Origin

According to Larousse Gastronomique, the sauce is named after the "marquis de Béchamel", actually Louis de Béchameil, marquis de Nointel (1630–1703). According to Larousse the sauce is an improvement upon a similar, earlier sauce, known as velouté. Béchameil was a financier who held the honorary post of chief steward to Louis XIV. The sauce under its familiar name first appeared in Le Cuisinier François, (published in 1651), by François Pierre La Varenne (1615–1678), chef de cuisine to Nicolas Chalon du Blé, marquis d'Uxelles. The foundation of French cuisine, the Cuisinier François ran through some thirty editions in seventy-five years.

The sauce originally was a veal velouté with a large amount of cream added.

Many chefs would now regard as authoritative the recipe of Auguste Escoffier presented in Saulnier's Répertoire: "White roux moistened with milk, salt, onion stuck with clove, cook for 20 minutes".

Recipe

It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white roux (equal parts butter and flour by weight). Another method, considered less traditional, is to whisk kneaded flour-butter (beurre manié) into scalded milk. The thickness of the final sauce depends on the proportions of milk and flour.

Uses

Sauces

Béchamel sauce is the base for a number of other classic sauces with additional ingredients added including:

• Mornay sauce (cheese)
• Nantua sauce (crayfish, butter and cream)
• Crème sauce (heavy cream)
• Mustard sauce (prepared mustard seed)
• Soubise sauce (finely diced onions that have been sweated in butter)
• Cheddar cheese sauce (Cheddar cheese, dry mustard, Worcestershire sauce)

The term "white sauce" or sauce blanche may also be applied to a simple sauce consisting only of milk and melted butter, without flour or spices.

Dishes

Dishes made with béchamel sauce include:

• Croque Monsieur (some variations)
• Parmo, a type of Schnitzel popular with beer drinkers in the English town of Middlesbrough
• Moussaka, a layered dish found in Greece and throughout the Balkans and Middle East

Brandy sauce is a sweetened béchamel flavoured with rum, brandy or spices, and is a traditional accompaniment to Christmas Pudding.

See also

• List of sauces

External links

• History and legends of Béchamel sauce
• "Balsamella" (Béchamel) white sauce, step-by-step instruction
• Free Culinary School Podcast Episode 10 An educational podcast episode that talks about the classical French technique used for making Sauce Béchamel and a few secondary sauces including Mornay, Basic Cream, Cheddar Cheese and Mustard Sauce.
•  "Bechamel". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.