This post is to save for future reference the recipe for Bechamel sauce, the base sauce for French cuisine
Bechamel was a french financier during the reign of king Louis ivx, so I should know it by heart !!
Quantities :
The easy way is to decide first how much sauce you need, then use 1/10th of flour and butter.
so for 500ml of milk (enough for a small lasagna)
Butter – 50g
The same quantity of flour – 50g
salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.
Cooking:
Heat the butter until it is lightly brown, take off heat, mix the flour in one go, mix well to make a paste, and bring back to heat, cooking a little bit more until the flour is also taking on some blonde colour, add cold milk in one single go to avoid lumps (if you add milk too slowly you will get lumps), it will take roughly 3 minutes to get back to boiling.
It is very important to keep whisking the bechamel as it is cooking. The highest risk is that it will stick to the bottom of the pan. When milk and flour are boiling again, cook for approximately 3 minutes.
To find out if the bechamel is cooked. Take a table spoon and dip it into the bechamel, and make a line with your finger on the back of the spoon. If the path made by your finger stays clearly visible and the sauce does not drip to fill the path of your finger, then the sauce is ready.
