Creamy Dreamy Béchamel Sauce
Creamy Dreamy Béchamel Sauce
In the world of classical French cuisine, béchamel sauce shines as one of the five essential “mother sauces,” the base for countless other scrumptious sauces. This simple yet magical sauce, crafted from just a few basic ingredients, is the secret behind some of our favorite comfort foods like lasagna, mac and cheese, and the oh-so-fancy-sounding "croque monsieur" (that’s a fancy grilled cheese and ham sandwich)!
Happy & Healthy Cooking,
Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills
- measure :
to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).
- simmer :
to cook a food gently, usually in a liquid, until softened.
- stir :
to mix together two or more ingredients with a spoon or spatula, usually in a circle pattern, or figure eight, or in whatever direction you like!
Equipment Checklist
- Small saucepan
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
Creamy Dreamy Béchamel Sauce
- 1 C heavy cream **(for DAIRY ALLERGY sub 1 C unsweetened coconut cream)**
- 1 tsp all-purpose flour **(for GLUTEN ALLERGY sub 1 tsp cornstarch)**
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 T butter **(for DAIRY ALLERGY sub dairy-free/nut-free butter, like Earth Balance)**
Food Allergen Substitutions
Creamy Dreamy Béchamel Sauce
- Dairy: For 1 C heavy cream, substitute 1 C unsweetened coconut cream. Substitute dairy-free/nut-free butter, like Earth Balance.
- Gluten/Wheat: For 1 tsp all-purpose flour, substitute 1 tsp cornstarch.
Instructions
Creamy Dreamy Béchamel Sauce
intro
Béchamel sauce is one of the five mother sauces. That means béchamel sauce is the original creamy sauce from which all other cream-based sauces derive. If you have eaten Alfredo sauce, pasta carbonara, mornay sauce, or even a cheese sauce, you have had a derivative of béchamel sauce. Think of them as a family of sauces with one trait in common: cream!
scrumptious science
Time to make a "roux" (pronounced "roo")! What is a roux? Roux, or chef's paste, is a cooked combination of butter and flour in equal parts. This mixture is then used to thicken stocks and cream into various sauces and soups. For this recipe, we will make a simple roux, which is made by combining your butter and flour over a low heat until all the flour and butter are fully combined into a blonde paste. From there, stock, cream, or water can be added to create soups and sauces with vegetables or meat incorporated into the mix.
measure + simmer
In a small saucepan, measure 1 tablespoon butter, 1 pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon flour. Stir the ingredients over low heat until a paste forms. This is a simple roux. Slowly pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and continue to stir and simmer.
stir + pour
Stir and simmer until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of your spoon. This consistency is a French term: nappe (nap-pay). This sauce can be used for many different pasta dishes. Have fun mixing and matching new types of pasta with different variations of béchamel to explore as many mother sauce derivatives as you can.
Hi! I'm Heavy Cream!
"I'm not a lightweight, like half and half. I'm full of fat and pour out much thicker. You can also call me 'heavy whipping cream.' The names refer to the same thing! Did you know that I can transform myself with your help? I turn into a fluffy topping to put on cakes and pies when you whisk me as fast as you can (or you can use a mixer). However, I go through an even bigger change when you shake me really hard in a covered container for a few minutes—I turn into butter!"
- Heavy cream is the thick, high-fat liquid at the top of raw milk. It naturally separates from the milk, rising to the top. It is skimmed off and then pasteurized to kill bacteria, which makes it safer to drink and lasts longer.
- Heavy whipping cream is made up of about 36 percent fat. In comparison, regular whipping cream is 30 percent fat, and half-and-half averages to about 14 percent.
- Heavy cream whips up better as a topping if the cream is cold, and pouring it into a cold mixing bowl before whipping also helps.
- The Guinness World Record for the most people simultaneously whipping cream by hand is 1,434 and was set on August 22, 2015, by employees of the Swiss company Nordostmilch AG in Bürglen, Switzerland.
- A dollop of whipped cream is great on fruit, cakes, and pies. The tallest recorded dollop so far was over 7 inches atop a mug of hot chocolate!
- Some of the foods heavy cream is added to include cakes, frostings, ice cream, salad dressings, sauces, soups, sour cream, scrambled eggs, chocolate ganache, crème fraîche, panna cotta, and homemade cheeses.
- One-half cup of heavy cream contains 43 grams of fat, 3 grams of protein, and the minerals calcium and phosphorus. It has more of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K than lower-fat dairy products. Fat-soluble vitamins are more easily absorbed by your body when eaten with fat.
Let's Learn About France!
- Bonjour (hello)! Bienvenue en (welcome to) France and the spectacular Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, and ancient Roman ruins in the Provence region.
- France is a European country, and its official name is the French Republic. The capital city is Paris, which also has the most people.
- France's land area is 248,573 square miles. That is almost the size of the US state of Texas! The number of people in France is 67,874,000, about 43 percent more than in Texas.
- The official and national language is French, which is also the official language in 12 other countries, and a co-official language in 16 countries, including Canada.
- France's government consists of a president, a prime minister, and a parliament and is divided into regions and departments rather than states and counties.
- The French have a well-known motto, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."
- In addition to the Eiffel Tower, France is known for the Louvre, the most visited art museum worldwide (the Mona Lisa resides there), the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) in southeastern France on the Mediterranean coast.
- France is famous for the "beaux-arts" (fine arts). Paris is still home to many artists and great painters, artisans, and sculptors. Great literature came from French authors, such as Victor Hugo's novels Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
- Paris has two popular nicknames. The most common is "The City of Light" (La Ville Lumière), which came about because Paris was the first European city to implement street lighting in 1860, lighting up the city with 56,000 gas street lamps. The second is "The City of Love," (La Ville de L'amour). This name is probably due to Paris being considered one of the most romantic cities in the world and the high number of marriage proposals at the Eiffel Tower!
- French cuisine is known for its freshness and high quality. Many of the world's greatest pastries originated in France, such as the croissant, eclair, and macaron!
- Other French foods are escargot (snails!), baguette (bread), ratatouille (roasted tomato, zucchini, and eggplant—remember the movie?!), and crepes (very thin pancakes).
What's It Like to Be a Kid in France?
- Most kids start school (preschool) at around age three. Depending on the area and the school, students go to school 4 to 5 days a week. They often get a 1½-hour lunch break, and some kids go home for lunch.
- Dinner is served at 7:30 pm or later, so afternoon snacks are essential. "Le goûter" (goo-tay), or afternoon tea, often includes a "tartine," a slice of bread topped with something sweet or savory (like cheese, butter and jam, or Nutella). Other popular snacks are yogurt, fromage blanc (white cheese), and fruit.
- Popular sports for kids are soccer, bicycling, and tennis.
- There are several parks in France, in and around Paris. Napoleon III even designed one of them, the Bois de Boulogne, where you can find beautiful gardens, lakes, a zoo, an amusement park, and two horse racing tracks. In addition, kids can go on pony rides, play mini-golf, and race remote control boats at many public parks.
- Of course, kids can also go to the most popular theme park in Europe, Disneyland Paris, which opened in 1992. While there, kids can go on a ride unique to Disneyland Paris: Ratatouille: The Adventure!
THYME for a Laugh
My friend hurt herself while making butter on her farm.
It was an unfortunate churn of events.
THYME for a Laugh
What do bakers give their moms on Mother's Day?
Flours!
That's Berry Funny
My brother threw a stick of butter at me!
How dairy?!
