Sauces
Bechamel Sauce
Prep 10 mins. /Cook 15 mins.
Serves 7
Easy
Bechamel Sauce
Method
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over a medium low heat.
- Add flour, whisk until smooth and bubbling. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in milk in small batches until combined and smooth between each addition. Return to the heat. Stir or whisk until sauce bubbles and thickens (about 8 minutes).
- Remove from heat and whisk in parmesan. Season to taste. Cover surface of sauce with a piece of baking paper to avoid a skin from forming. Set aside and use as desired in lasagne, as a base for vegetable or potato gratin, mac n’ cheese or a tuna mornay
Melting Butter
Avoid a "floury" white sauce
At the beginning of a white sauce always cook off the butter and flour over low heat for 1 minute to ensure the finished sauce doesn’t have a “floury” flavour. Remove from the heat before whisking in milk and returning back to the heat to thicken.
Runny white sauce?
If your white sauce isn’t thick enough, you can whisk in a little cornflour and water paste or begin again by making another roux and whisking in the runny white sauce in place of the milk.
More Tips
- At the beginning of a white sauce always cook off the butter and flour over medium low heat to ensure the finished sauce doesn’t have a “floury” flavour.
- Use bechamel to make mac ‘n’ cheese and tuna mornay.
- Place any leftover sauce in a container. Cover surface of sauce with plastic wrap or baking paper and refrigerate up to 5 days. Reheat in microwave and whisk until smooth. You may need to add extra milk or water to make a runny consistency.
IN THIS RECIPE
Original Salted Butter
Salted butter is a versatile cooking staple. Expertly crafted at Cobden, Western Victoria, from only two natural ingredients, Australian cream and salt, to deliver a classic, pure creamery butter with a rich satisfying, five-star taste. This pure salted butter enhances the flavour of food while adding an exceptional creamy texture. Winner of Champion Butter at the 2020 Australian Grand Dairy Awards, this product sets the benchmark by which all other butters are judged. Western Star has been Crafting Butter in Victoria since 1926 when the leading butter makers in the Western District came together. Over 95 years later and trusted for generations, Western Star truly is Australia's Favourite.
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