Basic white sauce
From Cookipedia
| Basic white sauce | |
|---|---|
 |
| Bechamel sauce, with cheese, pouring over vegetables | |
| Servings: | Makes ½ pint (300 ml) sauce |
| Ready in: | 15 minutes |
| Prep. time: | 5 minutes |
| Cook time: | 10 minutes |
| Difficulty: | 
|
Also known as Béchamel sauce
This is your starting point for many sauces.
Ingredients
Ingredients
Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩🍳 method for this recipe
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon sifted plain flour
- ½ pint (300 ml) cold milk or half milk, half stock
Method
- Gently melt the butter in a pan. Don't burn it
- Add all of the sifted flour
- Mix the flour and butter until it becomes a paste
- Turn to a medium heat and gradually add all the milk, whisking constantly
- Ensure none of the sauce is stuck to the bottom of the pan
- Whisk gently until the sauce starts to bubble
- Reduce to a very low heat and cook for 5 minutes
Chef's tip
The key to a perfect sauce is to keep whisking until all of the milk has been added and there are no lumps
Variations
This white sauce is used as a base for many different sauces, including:
- Mornay sauce (cheese)
- Nantua sauce (shrimp, butter and cream)
- Crème sauce (double cream)
- Mustard sauce (prepared mustard)
- Soubise sauce (finely diced onions that have been sweated in butter)
- Cheese sauce (cheddar cheese, mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce)