Region: France
Category: Basic Recipes and Sauces
Season: Any
Difficulty: Easy
The apocryphal story behind Béchamel sauce attributes its invention to Louis de Béchameil, the steward of Louis XIV in France. That may be, but the sauce is nothing but a white sauce and white sauce can be traced to the ancient Greeks, as we know from the description found in the Greek antiquarian Athenaeus’s (A.D. c. 170-c. 230) work on food citing the Alexandrian writer of scurrilous verse, Sopater of Paphos (circa 300 B.C.) who mentions the use of white sauce.
Yield: Makes 1 1/2 cups
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups hot milk
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
In a medium-size saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter, then stir in the flour to form a roux, cooking for 1 minute over medium heat while stirring. Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the milk a little at a time until it is all blended. Sprinkle with salt and white pepper and the nutmeg. Return to the heat and cook, stirring almost constantly, until thick, 10 minutes.
Posted: 12/11/2006
