Demystifying French Sauces – The White Sauce

Many people are paralyzed with fear when thinking about making a “French” sauce, but there is really nothing to it. In all probability, you already have. And if not, all that you need is a simple recipe and a few ideas to vary the basic recipe, “Et Voila!” you are cooking French sauces like a pro. Let’s begin with the basic White Sauce. There are three basic white sauces – a Bechamel (Butter, Milk and flour), a Veloute Sauce (Butter, Flour and white stock) and finally, Sauce Batarde.

Have you ever made turkey gravy at Thanksgiving? A little butter, add some flour and then the turkey drippings. Boom! You have made a Veloute Sauce. Yep, turkey gravy is a Veloute Sauce.

How about sausage gravy? Again a little flour and butter in the pan, whisk in some milk. Bam! You’ve made a Bechamel Sauce. Or perhaps you have made homemade Macaroni and cheese- Butter, Flour, milk/cream, cheese, now you have made a Sauce Mornay. You are practically a French Chef!

Even if you have only ever made Macaroni and cheese out of a box, this is fairly easy to learn. You do need a few basics and a road map (or recipes.) Let’s start with the equipment. It is best to have a heavier bottomed pan as it will more evenly distribute the heat. Have no fear, if you don’t have fancy expensive pans. It just means that you will need to use a slightly lower heat so that you do not burn your sauces. Also a wire whisk (or a plastic coated whisk, if you are using a non-stick pan) is super helpful to incorporate your sauce.

So let’s start with the Sauce Bechamel.

This is a super fancy name for basically, butter, flour and milk. You will begin by making a Roux. This is essentially a flour and butter paste. To this you will add a liquid. If you add milk or cream, you will end up with a Bechamel Sauce. If you add a white broth, like chicken or turkey broth, it will be Veloute Sauce. Same techniques for both, just a different liquid. The next idea is that the more flour per cup of water the thicker the sauce. Here is a handy chart to help you understand.

So your recipe will specify how much of each you need to make the sauce. Let’s just pretend that we are making two cups of basic Bechamel sauce. Place 2 tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a heavy bottomed saucepan and melt over low heat. Mix in the flour until fully incorporated. Stir for two minutes while the butter and flour gently foam. This will cook off the raw taste from the flour. If you skip this step, your roux will taste like flour paste, and you don’t want that! This mixture is now called a white roux.

From here, you take the roux off of the heat for a few seconds, until the foam subsides. Pour in all of the liquid at once and stir, stir, stir. Vigorous stirring is the key to a beautiful and smooth sauce. Put the pan back on a medium high heat and continue stirring until the sauce comes to a boil. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper. You have completed your first Bechamel Sauce.

Uses for Bechamel Sauce.

Recipes that you may have already made that used a Bechamel Sauce would include a simple Sausage Gravy. This is where you brown your loose sausage in a large skillet. Once it is fully cooked, you add a little more butter and flour to the pan. Again, cook for a few minutes to eliminate the raw flour taste, then add your milk/ cream mixture. The sauce will thicken in a few minutes and you will need to season with salt and pepper.

You can also use a Bechamel for Greek Pastitio and Moussaka. A basic white sauce is used in so many cuisines from around the world and is a building block to

Adding to the Bechamel

To turn it into a Mornay Sauce, simply stir in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of swiss or parmesean, or a combination of the two. Making a macaroni and cheese recipe? Switch up the cheeses to cheddar and Greuyer. It’s that simple.

The key to creating a great sauce is to not walk away from it! Like a child, it needs to be watched over.