Bechamel sauce at home

This true "Frenchman" has its own cooking secrets. Only by observing them, you can cook a real bechamel, which became popular in the XVII century. It perfectly complements the overall flavor range of dishes from meat, fish, vegetables and eggs. Bechamel sauce can be recreated at home - we offer recipes for different situations.

Who gave the world a classic dressing?

It is still not known exactly who invented the original dressing for dishes. The discovery of a tender sauce is most often attributed to Louis de Bechamel, the manager of the kitchen of Louis XIV. However, there is no evidence that the chief financier of His Majesty’s court indulged in culinary delights and experiments. It is possible that the sauce was cooked by a chef who combined cream and sauce made from tender veal to enrich the dish of dried cod. Later he named his culinary discovery in honor of Louis de Béchamel as a token of gratitude for the service rendered last.

Be that as it may, today bechamel sauce is the perfect complement to meat and fish main dishes and the best basis for making popular white sauces: morna (with parmesan), nantua (custard with delicate crab butter); subiz (creamy onion), etc. In addition, the classic French sauce is served with vegetables, lasagne. But it does not need to be considered an absolutely universal dressing and used instead of mayonnaise and sour cream in salads.

True French bechamel is easy to cook and at home. All that is needed is to observe the correct proportions of ingredients and technology.

Bechamel Sauce: A Classic Recipe

This sauce is ideal for serving poached eggs, meat and fish hot treats. It is suitable not only for meat-based, but also for the main dishes, such as lasagna, a casserole of potatoes with meat, etc.

Ingredients:

• 50 g butter;
• 50 g of flour;
• 750 ml of milk;
• salt pepper.

Cooking:

1. In a thick-walled pot or cauldron, melt the butter.
2. Pour the flour and, with intensive stirring, pour in warm milk in small portions.
3. Season with salt, pepper and cook the sauce over a minimum heat of 10 minutes.
4. Serve hot or cold.

Bechamel sauce at home: a recipe from Auguste Escoffier

The famous French chef, the creator of the Culinary Guide, assures that the real bechamel can only be made on the basis of milk.

Ingredients:

• 150 g of flour;
• 150 g butter;
• 2.5 liters of boiled cold milk;
• 150 grams of veal;
• 2 small bulbs;
• sprig of thyme;
• a pinch of nutmeg;
• pepper, salt.

Cooking:

1. Put boiled milk on the stove to heat it.
2. At this time, prepare the flour sauce. Melt butter in a frying pan, add flour and fry with continuous stirring. Carefully ensure that it does not burn. For a quality result, use only a natural product made from whole milk, without substitutes for animal fat.
3. Veal is better to put out with onions in advance, and then add to the rest of the ingredients. Meat cut into small pieces, put in a pan in the hot oil. Fry to browning on high heat, add fried onions separately. Pour in some water so that it reaches half of the meat pieces, put a sprig of thyme, salt, pepper and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes with the lid closed.
4. In hot milk, add the flour fried in butter. Wait until the sauce begins to boil (stirring everything intensively), add the stew with spices and cook on the smallest fire for exactly 1 hour. 10 minutes before the end of cooking, add nutmeg to the half cooked sauce.

Bechamel Sauce: Recipe for Lasagna

A traditional Italian dish goes well with white bechamel sauce, a classic recipe of which can be slightly modified by adding additional ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 75 g of oil;
• 1 small onion;
• 3 tbsp. l flour;
• 400 ml of milk;
• salt, allspice, black;
• garlic, herbs as desired;
• pinch of nutmeg.

Cooking:

1. Onions finely chop, fry until transparent.
2. Gradually pour the flour into the butter melted in a frying pan. Constantly mix the mass - it is necessary that the lumps are completely dissolved. Then add the onions.
3. Heat the mixture over low heat until it turns golden. Do not forget to mix the ingredients.
4. Hot milk pour into the fried mass in a thin stream and stir constantly.
5. Add seasonings, boil down to the desired consistency and remove the dishes and sauce from the heat.

Bechamel sauce for pasta: recipe with photos

If you are planning to serve pasta with beef or white meat meat, be sure to make bechamel with sour cream.

Ingredients:

• 80 g of flour;
• 5 tbsp. l sour cream;
• 1 tbsp. vegetable broth;
• 50 g butter;
• salt, spices.

Cooking:

1. Melt butter in a pan, gently mix flour into it. Fry on the smallest fire, with constant stirring.
2. When the mass becomes homogeneous and there are no lumps, add sour cream, salt, your favorite seasonings and broth.
3. Hold the sauce on the stove until it acquires the consistency you need. The longer the filling warms up, the greater the density becomes.
4. If desired, you can add fried mushrooms, finely chopped dill or fried sweet onion to the sauce.

Bechamel sauce is considered not only a practically universal dressing for dishes, but also the basis for many of the original white sauces. Do not be afraid to experiment and create your own recipes, adding additional ingredients, changing the consistency and technology of preparation. Who knows - maybe your name will go down in the history of cooking as well as the name of Louis de Bechamel.