Béchamel sauce, also simply called "white sauce," is a staple in French cooking and the base for many other delicious sauces. Most basic béchamel sauce recipes are made by slowly whisking milk into a mixture of butter and flour, or roux, and then heating the sauce to a boil. In today's béchamel sauce recipes, eggs, cheese and nutmeg are often added to impart flavour and a velvety smoothness to the sauce.
Béchamel sauce gets its name from a French marquis named Louis De Béchamiel, a wealthy, high-society gourmet food lover in 18th century Europe. As one story goes, the rich marquis spent much of his fortune on Newfoundland fisheries, but had some trouble getting his dinner guests to digest all that dried cod he expensively shipped across the Atlantic. So what did he do? He created a creamy, rich sauce used to this day in modern cooking, all to make dried Canadian cod more appetizing to the discerning French palate.
Food historians say it's likely one of Béchamiel's chefs who adapted the cream sauce from an earlier recipe, and that Béchamiel made another royal duke, who claimed he invented the recipe, quite jealous of his fame. But through the long history of béchamel sauce, one thing is for sure – it's a sauce worth making from scratch, with endless recipe possibilities.
How to make béchamel sauce
We asked Test Kitchen Specialist Amanda Barnier for some expert tips on preparing a basic béchamel sauce.
"Use a heavy-bottomed saucepan to help prevent (the sauce) from burning," Amanda says.
"Avoid lumps by continuously whisking the sauce," she adds, "while pouring in hot milk, as opposed to cold."
Finally, "be sure to cook out the flour for a few minutes, and (wait until) the sauce begins to bubble."
Time to check your supply of butter, white flour and milk, and get cooking with these great recipes!
Bechamel sauce recipes
Basic Béchamel SauceThis classic recipe is the basis for many other sauces and dishes.
Page 1 of 2 - find great béchamel recipes like Greek Moussaka and cheese crepes on page 2.
