Food & Drink

How To Make Bechamel Sauce

Béchamel Sauce Recipe. This creamy white sauce can be served as it is as a dressing for meats or fish or with added ingredients to create a cheese, parsley or herb sauce. Taste our Béchamel Sauce recipe. Enlarge

How To Make Bechamel Sauce

Béchamel Sauce Recipe. This creamy white sauce can be served as it is as a dressing for meats or fish or with added ingredients to create a cheese, parsley or herb sauce. Taste our Béchamel Sauce recipe.

Prep:
10m
Cook:
15m
Total:
25m
Serves:
4

Step 1: You will need

  • 25 g butter
  • 25 g flour
  • 300 ml milk
  • 1 quarter of an onion (peeled)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 4 cloves
  • A pinch of nutmeg
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 medium saucepan
  • 1 small saucepan for infusing the milk
  • 1 sieve or chinois
  • 1 bowl for the finished sauce
  • 1 wooden spoon
  • 1 whisk

Step 2: Prepare the onion clouté

Take the peeled onion and carefully stick the cloves and bay leaves into it. This is known as an onion clouté.
Pour the milk into the small pan and add the onion. Slowly heat until just before boiling then turn off the heat and leave for 5 minutes to infuse. After 5 minutes remove the onion and discard.

Step 3: Make the roux

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a pan and add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon over a low heat for 1-2 minutes to create a blond roux.

Step 4: Add the milk

Remove the pan from the heat. Gradually add the hot milk beating constantly to blend it with the roux.

Step 5: Simmer and stir

Bring to the boil, stirring all the time. If you stop stirring or leave the sauce on the heat unattended it will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. Lower the heat and simmer until the sauce reaches the desired thickness.

Step 6: Season the sauce

Season the sauce with a pinch of nutmeg, salt and a couple of turns of pepper.

Strain the sauce through the sieve into a bowl.

Step 7: VIDEO JUG TIP

To stop a skin forming on the sauce, cover with cling film or buttered greaseproof paper, or rub the surface with a knob of butter

Step 8: Add various flavourings

Once you have the basic sauce made you can add other flavourings for example;

Cheese sauces (for cauliflower or broccoli) add 25g grated cheddar cheese, 1 tbsp mustard and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce.

Parsley sauce (for ham) add a good bunch of chopped parsley and 1tbsp of dry sherry.