Béchamel sauce

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

Béchamel sauce (pronounced /bɛʃəˈmɛl/ in English, IPA: [beʃaˈmɛl] in French) or besciamella (Italian, IPA: [beʃaˈmɛlla]), also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine. It is used as the base for other sauces (such as Mornay sauce, which is Béchamel with cheese). It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white flour-butter roux (equal parts clarified butter and flour). 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.

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. 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.^[1]

Preparation

Auguste Escoffier's recipe for béchamel consists of white roux, milk, optional veal broth, onions, thyme, butter, pepper, nutmeg, and salt.^[2]

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".^{[citation needed]}

Uses

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)
• Croque Monsieur (some variations)
• A very thick bechamel sauce is used to create the topping of a Parmo

See also

• List of sauces

External links

References

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Béchamel sauce

• History and legends of Bechamel sauce
• "Bechamel - "A Most Insignificant Sauce""
• "Balsamella" (Bechamel) 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 Bechamel and a few secondary sauces including Mornay, Basic Cream, Cheddar Cheese and Mustard Sauce.