{"id":192415,"title":"B\u00e9chamel Sauce","modified":"2026-10-20T17:12:36+02:00","plain":"The basic white sauce of French cooking: a roux of butter and flour, cold milk, salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.\n\n\n\nA croque-monsieur with a bubbling, browned top, lasagna that melts under your fork, a cauliflower gratin golden from the oven: they all start in the same little saucepan. The butter foams, the flour blends in without taking on any color, then the cold milk turns this paste into a smooth, glossy sauce. \n\n\n\nAt the last moment, grated nutmeg fills the whole kitchen with its aroma. A little butter, flour and milk, a whisk, and the sauce is already coating the back of the spoon.\n\n\n\nIn a hurry? The air fryer croque-monsieur is ready in a few minutes\n\n\n\nWhat Is B\u00e9chamel? \n\n\n\nB\u00e9chamel is a white sauce thickened with a white roux: equal weights of butter and flour, cooked together without browning, then thinned with milk. It\u2019s seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg, nothing more. It\u2019s one of the mother sauces of classical cooking, like hollandaise sauce: a neutral base that you then build on. Add melted cheese and it becomes Mornay sauce.\n\n\n\nIts name honors Louis de B\u00e9chameil, Marquis de Nointel (1630-1703), a financier and chief steward to Louis XIV. There\u2019s nothing to suggest he ever cooked himself: back then, cooks were happy to dedicate their creations to noblemen. In Italy, the same sauce is called besciamella.\n\n\n\nA Sauce Born in 17th-Century French Cooking\n\n\n\nUntil the 17th century, sauces were thickened with breadcrumbs, pounded almonds or egg yolks. The roux, a mixture of fat and flour cooked together, gradually took their place. In 1651, Fran\u00e7ois Pierre de La Varenne\u2019s Le Cuisinier fran\u00e7ois was already describing a roux-and-milk sauce close to today\u2019s b\u00e9chamel.\n\n\n\nIn 1903, Auguste Escoffier listed it among the five mother sauces in his Guide culinaire, alongside velout\u00e9, espagnole, hollandaise and tomato sauce. His restaurant version simmered for a long time with lean veal. Home cooks have kept the essentials: the roux, the milk and the seasoning.\n\n\n\nOn the Italian side, b\u00e9chamel also coats spinach cannelloni, here in a gluten-free version\n\n\n\nItaly tells a different story: Catherine de\u2019 Medici is said to have brought a salsa colla, a \u201cglue sauce,\u201d from Tuscany when she married the future Henry II. Yet the records of her household mention no Italian cooks. There, besciamella became the binder for baked dishes, from lasagna Bolognese to cannelloni.\n\n\n\nThe Main Ingredients in B\u00e9chamel\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nButter and flour, 25 g of each, make up the white roux. Cooked for a few minutes while stirring, without browning, it loses its raw flour taste and stays pale. For a gluten-free b\u00e9chamel, a gluten-free flour blend replaces the wheat flour.\n\n\n\nThe milk should be cold. Poured over the hot roux, it heats up gently and blends in more easily, which helps prevent lumps. It\u2019s the milk that gives the sauce its mildness and creamy texture.\n\n\n\nSalt and pepper do the seasoning, and freshly grated nutmeg adds the classic touch. Just a pinch is enough: it adds fragrance without overpowering.\n\n\n\nKey Techniques for a Smooth B\u00e9chamel\n\n\n\nThe first addition of milk is small, 2 tablespoons, and the roux should absorb it completely before you go on. The rest of the milk goes in little by little, whisking constantly. If lumps form anyway, strain the sauce through a sieve.\n\n\n\nThe right texture coats the back of a spoon: creamy, flowing, never pasty. If it\u2019s too thin, keep cooking it while stirring. If it\u2019s too thick, loosen it with a little cold milk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTo store it, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface, or a skin will form. It keeps for 3 to 4 days in the fridge and 2 to 3 months in the freezer. Reheat it over low heat, stirring, with a splash of cold milk if it has thickened too much.\n\n\n\nHow to Use B\u00e9chamel\n\n\n\nThese amounts make a small saucepan\u2019s worth, enough for croque-monsieurs or a dish of vegetables coated in sauce. For lasagna or a large gratin, double or triple everything. To coat asparagus, broccoli or leeks, replace some of the milk with a little of their cooking water.\n\n\n\nAnother mother sauce to master: hollandaise sauce, made with butter and egg yolk\n\n\n\nMelt 100 g of grated Gruy\u00e8re or Comt\u00e9 into the hot b\u00e9chamel over low heat and you have Mornay sauce, the base for cheese gratins.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tB\u00e9chamel Sauce\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\tWhite Roux25 g butter25 g flourSauce25 cl milk, (cold)SaltPepper1 pinch nutmeg, (grated)\t\n\t\n\t\tWhite RouxMelt the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan.Add the flour.Whisk constantly until the flour is fully combined with the butter and forms a white roux.Cook the roux for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, without letting it brown: this cooks out the raw flour taste.SauceFirst, pour in 2 tablespoons of the cold milk.Whisk until the roux has completely absorbed this milk.Then pour in the rest of the milk a little at a time, whisking constantly: this is what prevents lumps.Cook over medium heat for about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly so the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom, until it thickens and becomes smooth, glossy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.Adjust the consistency if needed: if it's too thin, cook it a little longer, stirring; if it's too thick, add a little cold milk, a bit at a time, whisking.Season with the salt, pepper and nutmeg.If you're not using the sauce right away, press plastic wrap directly onto its surface to keep a skin from forming.\t\n\t\n\t\tA roux is a mixture of equal parts butter and flour. The milk should be cold: it heats up gently and blends in more easily. A good b\u00e9chamel stays creamy and supple, with enough body to hold together without turning gluey. If lumps form anyway, strain the sauce through a sieve.\nStorage: 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface. B\u00e9chamel freezes for 2 to 3 months in a freezer-safe container; let it thaw slowly in the refrigerator. To reheat it, warm it over low heat, stirring regularly, and thin it with a little cold milk if it's too thick.\nTip: to coat vegetables (asparagus, broccoli, leeks), replace some of the milk with a little of their cooking water.\nMornay variation, for gratins: stir 100 g of grated cheese (Gruy\u00e8re or Comt\u00e9) into the hot b\u00e9chamel and let it melt over low heat.\nThese quantities make a small saucepan's worth of sauce (for croque-monsieur or vegetables). For lasagna or a large gratin, double or triple all the quantities.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tSauceFran\u00e7aise","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}