White sauces are prepared with milk or a white stock and are classically thickened with a roux. They may be finished with a liaison of cream and/or egg yolks or mounted with butter. Thickening with a roux isn’t essential and may not be preferred in modern recipes where a simple reduction will do. White sauces scorch easily, and they can take on a grayish cast if prepared in an aluminum pan. Choose a heavy, non-aluminum pan for the best results. The liquid used to make a white sauce is different depending on the desired use and whether it is a velouté or a béchamel. Liquids used to make velouté include white veal stock, chicken stock, fish stock, or vegetable stock. The liquid used to make béchamel is typically milk.
Béchamel is the simplest and most basic of the Mother Sauces. The sauce is named after its creator, Louis de Béchameil (1630-1703), steward to Louis XIV of France. Originally, the sauce was made by adding cream to a veal velouté. The sauce serves as a base and culinary glue for gratins, casseroles, lasagna and ‘mac & cheese’. A thin version may be used as a sauce and thick version lightened with whipped egg whites for a soufflé. The sauce begins with a white roux composed of equal parts (by weight) of flour and butter. A bit of onion or shallot is sweated into the roux and cold milk or cream is whisked in. The sauce is seasoned with salt, white pepper and dash of nutmeg. Alternatively, an onion, studded with a bay leaf and a couple of cloves is steeped into milk. Then a cold roux is whisked in to thicken to the desired consistency. There are a couple of key points to remember here. First, too avoid having a lumpy sauce, thicken the béchamel either with a hot roux into cold milk or cold roux (room temperature) into a hot milk. Secondly, the white roux needs to be cooked briefly and then the sauce needs to simmer for 10-20 minutes to cook out any raw flour taste.
Velouté is the big sister to béchamel, made with a little darker blond roux and a white stock of veal, chicken, fish or vegetable instead of milk. The sauce commonly serves as a base for soups and should be the consistency of cream. In fact, a velouté, which means “velvety”, can replace most, if not all, the cream used in a cream-style soup.
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