White Sauce
Cooking Skills: Sauces 1
Chapter 2 · White Sauce
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The basics
White sauce, also called béchamel, is butter, flour and milk, and many other sauces start from it. The butter and flour are cooked together as a roux; adding the milk a little at a time while whisking keeps it smooth. The amount of roux sets the thickness: more makes a thick sauce that holds other ingredients together, less makes a thin sauce that pours.
Cook the roux for a minute or two so the flour loses its raw taste, but stop before it browns. Then simmer the finished sauce gently for at least 5 minutes, stirring often, because flour needs time in the liquid to thicken fully and cook through. Cheese sauce is used in baked pasta in Cooking Skills: Pasta 1, chapter 7, and white sauce is used in lasagne in Cooking Skills: Pasta 2, chapter 7.
The method
- Melt the butter gently and stir in the flour to a thick paste.
- Cook the roux for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, until it smells biscuity but is still pale.
- Add the milk a splash at a time, whisking until smooth each time before adding more.
- Simmer gently for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often and scraping the corners, until it coats a spoon.
- Season at the end, with nutmeg and white pepper for a classic taste, and cheese off the heat.
| Type | Butter and flour (per 500 ml milk) | Thickness | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pouring | 25 g each | Like single cream | Lasagne, with fish, vegetables |
| Coating | 40 g each | Coats a spoon | Cheese sauce, parsley sauce |
| Binding (thick) | 50 g each | Holds its shape | Croquettes, fish cakes, filled pancakes |
Lumps: lumps are flour that met liquid too fast. Add the liquid a little at a time while whisking, and if lumps still form, whisk hard off the heat or strain the sauce through a sieve.
Allergens: white sauce contains milk, butter and gluten (flour). Use cornflour (about half the weight of the flour) and plant milk for a dairy-free and gluten-free version, though the taste is different.
Try it
A pouring white sauce
The basic sauce. A pouring sauce is thin enough to run off a spoon. Use it with vegetables, fish or in a lasagne. Warm the milk if you want to work faster, though cold milk, added slowly, works well too.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 25 g butter
- 25 g plain flour
- 500 ml whole or semi-skimmed milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 pinch flaked sea salt
- 1 pinch white or black pepper
- Melt the butter in a heavy pan over a medium-low heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, without browning.
- Take the pan off the heat and add a splash of milk, stirring or whisking hard until smooth. Repeat, adding the milk a little at a time, until it is all in. Return to the heat, add the bay leaf.
- Bring to a gentle boil, stirring, then simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon. Remove the bay leaf and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Lumps: lumps are flour that met liquid too fast. Add the liquid a little at a time while whisking, and if lumps still form, whisk hard off the heat or strain the sauce through a sieve.
Burning on the base: milk catches easily. Use a heavy pan, keep the heat low, and scrape the corners with a wooden spoon as you stir.
A thick binding sauce
A much thicker sauce, made with more roux, which is used to bind fillings such as croquettes or fish cakes (see Cooking Skills: Potatoes 2, chapter 1). Once chilled it is firm enough to shape.
Ingredients (about 500 ml)
- 50 g butter
- 50 g plain flour
- 500 ml whole milk
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 pinch flaked sea salt
- Make a roux with the butter and flour, cooking for 2 minutes.
- Add the milk very gradually, beating hard after each addition, because a thick roux forms lumps easily.
- Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until the sauce is very thick and leaves the sides of the pan. Season and cool, covered with cling film pressed onto the surface.
Lumps: lumps are flour that met liquid too fast. Add the liquid a little at a time while whisking, and if lumps still form, whisk hard off the heat or strain the sauce through a sieve.
Keeping sauces: cool a sauce quickly in a shallow container within 1 to 2 hours, press cling film onto the surface to stop a skin forming, chill and use within about 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot, stirring. Milk and cream sauces can split when frozen, so freeze other sauces instead.
A cheese sauce
A coating sauce with Cheddar and a little mustard stirred in off the heat. Serve over cauliflower, broccoli, ham or pasta. Add the cheese a handful at a time, because boiling cheese turns oily and stringy.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 40 g butter
- 40 g plain flour
- 500 ml whole or semi-skimmed milk
- 100 g mature Cheddar, grated
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 pinch black pepper
- Make a roux with the butter and flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the milk gradually, whisking, and simmer for 8 minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the cheese a handful at a time, then the mustard, nutmeg and pepper.
- Taste: the cheese is usually salty enough. Serve at once, or keep warm over a very low heat without boiling.
Allergens: contains milk, cheese, gluten and mustard.
Boiling cheese: heat makes cheese sauce oily and stringy. Add cheese off the heat.
A parsley sauce
The classic British sauce for ham, bacon, fish or vegetables. A coating sauce with a big handful of parsley stirred in at the end, and a little lemon to cut the richness.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 40 g butter
- 40 g plain flour
- 500 ml whole or semi-skimmed milk
- 4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 pinch flaked sea salt
- 1 pinch white or black pepper
- Make a coating white sauce as above: roux for 1 to 2 minutes, milk added gradually, simmer for 8 minutes.
- Stir in the parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Taste and add a little more lemon if it feels heavy, and serve straight away so the parsley stays green.
Lumps: lumps are flour that met liquid too fast. Add the liquid a little at a time while whisking, and if lumps still form, whisk hard off the heat or strain the sauce through a sieve.
Allergens: contains milk, butter and gluten.
Experiments
Roux cooked 1 or 5 minutes
Raw and nutty.
- Make two small batches of sauce, cooking one roux for 30 seconds and the other for 3 to 4 minutes, and taste.
Look for: The briefly cooked roux can taste of raw flour; the longer one is nutty and gives a darker sauce. A minute or two is the sweet spot.
Cold or hot milk
Temperature of the milk.
- Make one batch with cold milk and one with warmed milk, added to the same roux.
Look for: Warm milk blends in faster with fewer lumps, while cold milk needs slower additions. Either works if added gradually.
Whisk or spoon
Tools matter.
- Stir one sauce with a wooden spoon and whisk another.
Look for: The whisk smooths out lumps almost at once; the spoon is gentler on the corners. Use both: whisk to blend, spoon to scrape.
Rescuing lumps
Make lumps on purpose.
- Add all the milk at once to a roux to make a lumpy sauce, then try whisking hard, and then straining some through a sieve.
Look for: Whisking breaks up most lumps, and a sieve removes the rest. A rescued sauce tastes the same as a smooth one.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pouring white sauce | ||||
| Thick binding sauce | ||||
| Cheese sauce | ||||
| Parsley sauce | ||||
| Roux cooked 1 or 5 minutes | ||||
| Cold or hot milk | ||||
| Whisk or spoon | ||||
| Rescuing lumps |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Lumpy sauce | Milk added too fast | Whisk hard off the heat, or strain through a sieve |
| Tastes of raw flour | Roux or sauce not cooked long enough | Simmer for a few more minutes |
| Too thin | Not enough roux or not simmered | Simmer longer, or whisk in a little more flour and butter paste |
| Too thick | Too much roux or over-reduced | Whisk in a splash of milk |
| Skin on top | Cooled uncovered | Press cling film onto the surface, or whisk in a splash of milk |
| Stringy cheese sauce | Boiled after adding the cheese | Add cheese off the heat and keep the heat low |
Lumps: lumps are flour that met liquid too fast. Add the liquid a little at a time while whisking, and if lumps still form, whisk hard off the heat or strain the sauce through a sieve.
Keeping sauces: cool a sauce quickly in a shallow container within 1 to 2 hours, press cling film onto the surface to stop a skin forming, chill and use within about 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot, stirring. Milk and cream sauces can split when frozen, so freeze other sauces instead.
- I can make a roux without browning it.
- I can add milk to a roux and keep the sauce smooth.
- I can make a pouring, coating and thick sauce.
- I can add cheese without making the sauce stringy.
- I can rescue a lumpy sauce.