Béchamel sauce

[mretzloff]

I have cooked for a few years now, but am starting to (finally) tackle French sauces. I am starting at the beginning with a basic white sauce (Béchamel sauce).

I made one today but had loads of clumps in it. Why is this? Did I use too much butter or too much flour? Did I not stir enough? Was the heat to high?

What usually causes clumps is sauce? Seeing as the humble Béchamel sauce is the stepping stone to most sauces, I probably should get this pat down.

 

[Dennis]

When you see any lumps while stirring, you need to smash them right away. You probably were not stirring enough. Use a wire whisk. It doesn't matter if the sauce boils - it is fine for it to boil and needs to simmer or boil to thicken to your desired consistency.

Let me update to include an entry from a trusty and old French cookbook:

Béchamel sauce
This a white sauce which has been considerably improved by the use of milk instead of water to dilute the butter-flour mixture. It is made this way:
Melt a generous tablespoon of butter in a saucepan. Then add a scant tablespoon of flour, mixing the two together with a wire whisk. Stirring constantly, add about 1/2 cup of cold milk. As it mixes together, the sauce will thicken. Bring it to a boil and let it cook until it is the consistency you like. You may want to use more or less milk than indicated. Add salt and a little white pepper, and your sauce is ready.

 

[JaDo]

Did you mix the flour with the butter until smooth, then add the milk?

 

[Pumpkin]

Are you making a flour and butter roux first, before adding the milk?

I like to start with a good sized lump of butter, then as it's starting to melt over a medium heat add a tablespoon of plain flour. Mix the two well, you're aiming for a slightly sticky consistency, then add a small amount of milk to start with...whisk well, then gradually add more liquid. Then I turn up the heat, whisking steadily. Depending on the shape and size of your whisk, it's worth stirring with a spoon as well, to make sure you get everything that's thickening at the corner of the pan.
Once you've got the consistency you're wanting, turn the heat right down.

 

[Pumpkin]

There is an alternative method, as described by Delia Smith. It does work well and is particularly handy if you need a quick white sauce (eg for Macaroni Cheese), you can just use plain milk straight from the fridge

St. Delia's recipe is here.

 

[mretzloff]

Are you making a flour and butter roux first, before adding the milk?

Yes.

I started with some butter and added flour. I stirred until the flour had soaked the butter up. I then added cold milk and stirred until it came to a boil.

 

[mouscacha]

Because the milk was cold, you probably needed to keep stirring longer. Next time try adding slowly instead of all at once.

Another key note. When making a roux, try stirring the butter and flour around long enough to get rid of the flour smell. Gravies work better on higher heat, roux for French sauces are better at medium to low heat.

Patience is required with french cooking.

 

[KaiserKrebs]

According to the Larousse gastronomique..a proper Bechamel' is made by adding, boiling milk to a Roux of butter and flour. I find if you allow the roux to brown a little bit, you have more flavor, and less chance of having a raw floury taste in your sauce.

 

[kingfisher]

Keys are:

1) Mix the melted butter and flour well before adding any milk.
2) Cook the roux for a little bit until it is beige in color.
3) Add the milk little by little, stirring with the whisk the entire time, and incorporating each new dollop of milk before you add more.

If you want a little more flavor in your Bechamel, you can put half a yellow onion studded with two or three whole cloves into the liquid while it cooks. This is removed when the sauce is the consistency you want. You can also add a tiny pinch of nutmeg along with the salt and pepper.

This sauce is the key ingredient of a killer leftover turkey recipe. Take some zucchinis and slice them thin. Saute them in olive oil with salt, pepper, and some minced garlic, adding your leftover turkey cut into bite-size pieces. Cook the pasta to al dente in a separate pot.

When the pasta is done, drain it, then throw in the zucchini/turkey mix, then add the Bechamel sauce. Stir to combine. Grate some fresh Parmesan cheese over it and serve it right away. Yummy.

 

[SliceOfLife]

1. Cook the roux
2. Use warmed milk, add slowly, whisking constantly.

 

[Alacrity59]

too much liquid too quick. It is easier to break the lumps when the sauce is thick. If you add the liquid too quick the lumps manage to slip through the wires in your whisk.

 

[Luc]

The way I make mine.

Butter + milk, heat it up. Mix here and there so it doesn't stick to the bottom. When it's warm but not boiling I proceed to step 2.

Then, I add the flour very very very very slowly while I whisk like there's no tomorrow. If you can add the flour in a very small quantity, continuously while whisking, it's shouldn't create lumps. The wire whisk is what you need.

 

[jpakstis]

...What usually causes clumps is sauce? Seeing as the humble Béchamel sauce is the stepping stone to most sauces, I probably should get this pat down.

Not integrating the flour well is what causes the clumps. I find having to really whisk while adding it to whatever liquid (whether you pre-mix the butter with the flour before adding the milk, or adding it all together at once). And then whisking more.

 

[jwhite]

I often make a blond roux and keep it in the fridge for when ever I need to thicken a gravy or cream sauce. I've never had to worry about lumps adding a cold roux to a hot liquid. An alternative is to mix the flour and cold milk together and bring to a simmer adding your fat or clarified butter at the end. A starch mixes much easier into a cold liquid as opposed to a hot one. The disadvantage to the cold mix is that you have to simmer longer to cook the flour which cooks faster in a roux. But I have found that the cold mix method provides a very silky texture, will take clarified butter well, and maintains a pristine white color (if you keep your temp manageable and don't burn the bottom).

Oh and a quick fix for lumps is to just pour through a mesh colander. As long as you haven't broken the sauce no one will ever know.

 

[512Lyle]

It always works best to add a cold liquid to a hot roux, or a cold roux to a hot liquid. Also its best as previously stated that you add the liquid slowly while stirring with a whisk until you have a smooth lump free batter like texture then you can start adding more quickly. Its best in a traditional bechamel to cook out the flour in the liquid and not in roux form, to preserve the white color. Its important to stir and scrape the bottom constantly so that the flour does not stick and burn. This sauce will take atleast 30-45 mins of cook time. Mario Batali has an awesome lasagna recipe with fresh pasta, asparagus, parm, and bechamel. Also sauce Nantua is a very nice bechamel sauce you should try. If you wanna get into the really bad a%$ mother sauces try some demi sauces and hollandaise sauces. You can use these to make sauce foyot, a blend of bearnaise and demi... so amazing. Damn now Im hungry.

 

[cmonsaychowdah]

+1 add flour to butter slowly to incorporate it evenly
+1 add liquid a little at a time until the roux + milk is thoroughly mixed

Add in lots of elbow grease while whisking.

 

[mretzloff]

Thank you for all the help, guys.

 

[Monkeydad]

Whenever I'm making any sauces that have a main base of milk (alfredo, carbonara, mac & cheese sauce, bechemel, even chocolate sauce), I whisk slowly...constantly while it's on the higher (medium) heat. Milk can very easily burn on the bottom and lumps are easy to get.

Whisk slowly, the whole time and it will be smooth and more importantly, won't burn on the bottom. It only takes between 5-10 minutes total on the higher heat, so it's not a tiring task at all. Then I'll turn it to low heat to thicken up and it only needs stirred occasionally...but until the flour is dissolved in bechemel or cheese is melted in the alfredo/carbonara...stir the whole time. It's a tactic I came up with on my own but has never failed me.

 

[professorchaos]

Whenever you are adding a liquid to a roux, the liquid needs to be hot. At least at a simmer. Add about 1/3 of the liquid to the roux, whisk until smooth. Then add the roux/liquid mixture back to the remainder of the hot liquid. Whisk well. Bring the mixture back to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer and cook for at least 15 minutes to cook out the flour flavor.

A bechamel is prepared using the technique above and should be flavored with an onion clouté and a small pinch of nutmeg. For the cloute, cut a yellow onion in half and pin a bay leaf to it with two cloves. Drop it in the milk, scald the milk. Meanwhile, mix equal parts (by weight!) fat and flour, in this case butter. Cook the roux for a few minutes over med-low heat until fragrant but not colored. If you are good, the milk will have scalded at about the same time you have made a white roux.

A word of warning...take care working with roux. The darker it gets, the hotter it is and if it gets on you, it doesn't come off easily. At least not while it is hot. Finally, expect a pretty energetic reaction when initially adding hot stock to (possibly) even hotter roux.

 

[wimbouman]

Wow... a lot of great knowledgeable chefs here!
Nice!

It seems we have at least 'the good things in life' as a common denominator.