- 50g Butter
- 50g Flour
- 1 litre Milk or Beef Stock (Oxo)
Method
- Melt the butter in a saucepan and then remove from the heat.
- Add the flour a little at a time, stirring hard to make sure the mixture stays smooth. Keep adding flour until the mixture becomes thicker but not hard.
- Put back on the heat and cook gently for about a minute until it bubbles for a few seconds. Keep bubbling for about 10 seconds, stirring all the time. The remove from the heat.
- Add the liquid a little at a time, (milk for a white sauce or beef stock for a gravy) stirring vigorously to keep the mix smooth. Keep doing this until the sauce is thin enough to add the remaining liquid in one go. It’s best not to add all the remaining liquid in one go as it might end up too thin. Add most of it and you can add more later if you need to. ** See notes.
- Bring the sauce to the boil, stirring continuously so that it doesn’t stick or burn. Reduce the heat if it’s starting to stick. Once the sauce comes to the boil, you will be able to determine how thick it really is.
- Add a little more liquid if required and bring to the boil again. Each time you add liquid, bring to the boil to determine its consistency. When you have the consistency you require, the sauce is ready.
Notes & Tips
It’s always easier to make the sauce thinner than it is to thicken it. Add less milk than you think you need and add more if and when you need it to make the sauce a but thinner. You won’t really know how thick it will become until the sauce comes to the boil. If you add too much too early, it’s more difficult to make it thicker.
Béchamel sauce is known as a “Roux Based” sauce. Once it is boiling, you will have its correct consistency. However, as the sauce cools it will condense and become thicker. You always need to bear that in mind.
In order to make larger quantities, use more butter and flour. If you use more butter and flour with the same amount of milk (i.e. 1 litre) you will end up with a thicker sauce. Equally with less, you will get a thinner sauce, but you should use the amounts above as a guide for a medium consistency sauce
