Bechamel sauce where used. Bechamel sauce is the perfect addition to any dish! Remember the recipe! From the history of sauce

Bechamel sauce or white sauce is perhaps one of the most famous French sauces. It perfectly fulfills all the functions of the sauce: it improves the taste and appearance dishes, increases its juiciness and nutritional value... Bechamel is one of the five main sauces of classic French cuisine. It goes well with almost all hot dishes of meat, poultry, fish, eggs and vegetables.

The basic recipe for béchamel sauce is simple, like everything ingenious: fry equal amount butter and flour, pour hot milk. It would seem nothing special, but there is a lot to tell about this sauce.

As is often the case with French recipes, the roots of the béchamel sauce originate from antiquity. At the beginning of our era, culinary experts thickened sauces with wheat flour and added honey and many herbs and spices. Flour recipe white sauce preserved in the cuisines of France, Italy, Greece and some other countries.

There is still debate over who invented bechamel and when. According to the official version, the sauce is named after Louis de Bechamel, the Marquis de Nointel (1630-1703), the famous financier of the 17th century and manager of Louis XIV's kitchen. Legend has it that the Marquis added cream to the veal veloute sauce in an attempt to come up with a decent accompaniment to the dried cod. However, there is no evidence that he was a chef or gourmet and experimented with dishes. Moreover, the béchamel sauce was known long before his birth. Perhaps the creator of the sauce was his contemporary - Pierre de la Varene, the chef of Louis XIV. In gratitude for something, he named his creation after Louis de Bechamel.

Another version claims that the bechamel sauce appeared in France thanks to Catherine de Medici (1519-1589), the wife of Henry II. In 1533, she came to France from her native Italy with her chefs and pasta makers. This event enriched the palatial cuisine of France with traditional Italian dishes, among which was the béchamel sauce. This version is supported by the fact that in italian a white sauce made from flour, butter and milk with parmesan cheese, white pepper and nutmeg is called balsamella (Balsamella, Besciamella). In Italy, lasagne, cannelloni, vegetable gratins have been cooked with it since ancient times.

Anyway, the dawn of the popularity of béchamel sauce came in the 17th century, when numerous experimenters decorated it with wines, vegetables, bacon, spices, chicken and partridge broths, strained it several times and steamed it in the oven. The unification of the recipe took place in the 18th century, during the reign of the royal kitchen by Antonin Karem. It was he who removed all unnecessary and made classic recipe fatty white sauce, which, in addition to the butter-flour mixture, included cream and yolks. His follower Auguste Escoffier removed the eggs from the recipe, but used meat that was closer to the veloute sauce.

Bechamel - classified as a basic white sauce, which means it can be used to make a variety of various sauces, for example such:

... Mornay - bechamel with grated cheese, usually parmesan and gruyere, but emmental and cheddar are possible. Escoffier recommends adding fish broth to the mornay. Morne is served with seafood and vegetables. With it, a Hot Brown sandwich is prepared (an open sandwich with turkey and bacon, sprinkled with sauce).
... Nantua - bechamel with cream and crab oil... Served with seafood.
... Soubise - bechamel with the addition onion puree... Served with fish, meat, poultry, vegetables.

Bechamel sauce recipes

Bechamel by Auguste Escoffier
Auguste Escoffier - the king of chefs and the chef of kings, the creator of the "Culinary Guide" - the real bible of French cooking of the late 19th century. All of his recipes are designed for restaurant cuisine, so do not be surprised by the amount of ingredients and the complexity of execution. The result will be worthy of the royal table.

Ingredients (for 5 liters of sauce):
650 g flour gravy (350 g sifted flour, fried in 300 g butter),
5 liters of boiled milk
300 g lean veal stewed in oil with 2 thinly chopped onions, a sprig of thyme, a pinch of pepper, a small nutmeg and 25 g of salt.

Preparation:
Mix flour sauce with hot milk, bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the diced veal stew. Simmer for an hour, strain through a cloth. For storage, pour a thin layer of melted butter over the surface of the sauce.
Quick way: Add meat, onion, thyme, pepper and nutmeg to boiling milk, cover and put next to the fire for 10 minutes. Then mix this milk with flour sauce, bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Escoffier also explains how you can get a creamy sauce from béchamel sauce: add a little cream, put on high heat and evaporate by a quarter, stirring constantly. Strain, pour in still fresh heavy cream and lemon juice.

Much easier to prepare the famous French sauce are the authors of the "Book on tasty and healthy food." True, there it is simply called - white sauce for boiled rabbit, veal, lamb and chicken.

White sauce

Ingredients:
1 tbsp flour,
2 tbsp butter,
1.5 cups broth
1 yolk.

Preparation:
Lightly fry the flour with the same amount of oil, dilute with strained broth obtained from cooking meat, and cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat, add the yolk mixed with a little sauce, add salt and the remaining oil to taste, stir.

The “Book of tasty and healthy food” recommends preparing another sauce, similar to béchamel, sour cream, for cuts, meatballs, liver and fried game.

Sour cream sauce

Ingredients:
1 tbsp flour,
1 tbsp oils,
0.5 cups sour cream
1 glass of meat broth.

Preparation:
Fry flour in oil, dilute with broth or vegetable broth, put sour cream and cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes. Season to taste. You can diversify the sour cream sauce with fried onions added at the end of cooking.

In modern cookbooks béchamel is usually featured as a mixture of the two sauces - white and sour cream.

Modern bechamel

Ingredients:
2 cups of milk (can be replaced with 1.5 cups of meat or fish broth and 0.5 cups of sour cream),
3 tbsp butter,
3 tbsp flour,
salt, allspice, nutmeg to taste.

Preparation:
Fry the sifted flour in hot butter until creamy and dilute it with hot milk or broth, stirring thoroughly. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Bechamel cooked in broth, season with sour cream. Add salt and spices to the prepared sauce, boil and strain.

This sauce can be used to make a French sauce. This will require mushrooms and even more butter. Salt the finely chopped mushrooms and fry in oil to evaporate the liquid. Pour in the béchamel sauce, stir and bring to a boil.

How can you use all this splendor? We offer several original recipes with béchamel sauce:

Bechamel sauce recipes

Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame
Behind these extravagant names are French hot ham and egg sandwiches. The dish is prepared very simply, but these are not banal sandwiches, but real French cuisine.
Croque monsieur: brush the pieces of bread with sauce, put ham and cheese between them, bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
Crock-madam: the same, but put a fried egg on top.

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
50 g flour
50 g butter
500 ml of milk
1 egg,
salt, spices to taste.

Preparation:
Boil the cabbage whole and steam, cool, disassemble into inflorescences. Melt a little, fry the flour, pour in the hot milk, stir until smooth and simmer for a few minutes. Add beaten egg, salt and spices. Grease a baking dish with butter, pour in a little sauce, put a layer of cabbage, cover with the remaining sauce. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 200 ° C. When the top starts to turn yellow, cover the dish with a lid or foil. Cool the finished dish, turn it over onto a plate. It will keep its shape.

Ingredients:
1 kg eggplant
1 kg of potatoes,
100 g of hard cheese
1 kg of mixed minced meat,
300 g tomatoes
100 ml of white wine,
2 onions,
100 ml olive oil
2 cloves of garlic,
200-300 ml of béchamel sauce,
cinnamon, cloves, parsley, pepper, salt - to taste.

Preparation:
Cut eggplants and potatoes into slices and fry until golden crust... (To make the dish lighter, you can bake eggplants and potatoes.) Fry the minced meat together with finely chopped onions, pour over with wine, add salt, spices and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add crushed garlic, chopped tomatoes and simmer until the sauce thickens.

Putting the moussaka: put a layer of potatoes in a greased dish, salt, sprinkle with cheese and herbs. Next - layer minced meat and a layer of eggplant. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and herbs on top, top with the béchamel sauce. Bake the moussaka at 200 ° C for 2025 minutes. Slice and serve slightly chilled.

How it happened that in Russia bechamel is confused with its very distant relative - mayonnaise. Bechamel and mayonnaise are the oldest sauces in world cooking. They have absolutely different composition and different areas of application, despite a similar appearance and the same goals: to soften the consistency, add fatness and juiciness to the dish. In the cuisine of France and Italy, the zones of influence of these sauces are clearly separated: bechamel is used in hot dishes, and mayonnaise is used in cold dishes. Unfortunately, bechamel is rarely found on the tables of modern Russians, completely superseded by mayonnaise. This is a gross mistake. In fact, mayonnaise is a cold sauce only appropriate for salads. Bake, simmer and fry in mayonnaise, add it to hot soup- this is not only bad taste, but also harm to health.

If you like French meat, bake potatoes with mayonnaise or stew fish and rabbit in mayonnaise, try changing your habits a little and making a sauce specially designed for this purpose - béchamel. In hot dishes, it is ideal: it does not disintegrate into components, gently envelops each piece. As for taste, bechamel sauce, unlike mayonnaise, does not have a pronounced chemical aftertaste and allows various options: it can be made tender creamy, spicy, sour, spicy and even sweet. And all this from simple natural ingredients, without emulsifiers and dyes.

Happy experiments and bon appetit!

Bechamel sauce. Zest European cuisine is both a full-fledged sauce, and at the same time is used as a basis for creating others. It has long become indispensable in the preparation of lasagna and soufflé, various casseroles.

Sauce history

How the sauce appeared is not known. But there are several versions. The first claims that the sauce was invented by the royal chef François Pierre de la Varene (founder haute cuisine at Versailles), because it was in his book that his recipe was first published.

According to another legend, the sauce was invented by Louis de Béchamele, Marquis de Nointel, chamberlain at the court of Louis XIV.

How to make the sauce

• Bechamel sauce is quite easy to prepare. And to make it perfect, you don't have to be a chef. It is prepared using milk and ru (a mixture of wheat flour and butter - ed.). By the way, before creating this mixture, the sauce was thickened with bread.
• An ideal duet can be made with béchamel sauce with fish, vegetables, pasta and omelettes.
• By the way, it is customary to keep the sauce in a water bath until it is served from the table. At the same time, a piece of butter is placed on top so that a crust does not form on the sauce.

And today we offer you to make a classic béchamel sauce.

Ingredients

• Butter - 50 g
• Flour - 50 g
• Milk - 500 ml
• Salt to taste
• White pepper (ground) - to taste

Cooking method

Melt butter over low heat. Make sure that the oil is not fried, in this case the sauce will turn out not white, but yellow or brown.

Add flour to the melted butter and begin to quickly rub it with butter with a wooden spatula and beat with a whisk.

In a thin stream and in small portions (literally on a spoon), start introducing cold milk, stirring and whipping the sauce each time until smooth. Fire is the minimum possible, or even remove the pan from the stove.

Introduce less milk. When it becomes clear that there are no lumps in the sauce, add the remaining milk, increase the heat to medium, bring to a boil and simmer the sauce over medium heat for 5-7 minutes.

Season the prepared sauce with salt and pepper.

Read how to make vegetable moussaka with béchamel sauce.

You've probably heard of the top 5 basic sauces in French cuisine? They are also called "mother" sauces or "great". They form the basis of the culinary tradition of France, they can be found in a huge number of recipes, they are used to build a large-scale and world-famous "building" of French cuisine.

Perhaps, standing on a par with velute, Espanyol, Dutch and tomato sauces, nevertheless, bechamel crawls forward half a step - maybe because it is better known? Or because he is especially gentle and versatile and suits a huge number dishes? Or is the secret of its popularity in the special aura that is created around the Bechamel sauce - an aura of sophistication and elegance? Whatever it was, but this particular recipe is the main of the five parts that form the "backbone" of French cooking.

To be able to cook bechamel is practically a rule of good form. You must admit that you cannot appear in the kitchen, declare yourself a guru and begin to amaze guests without first having learned the basics and theory. So, to become a chef, among other exams, you will have to pass the test for the ability to cook the correct bechamel - this is the very indisputable and necessary basis. Let's figure it out.

Conventionally, the Béchamel sauce can be divided into two parts: ruble or ru (French roux - red) and milk (cream).

Rublon is flour fried until light golden, mixed with butter. The standard proportion is 1: 1, although some chefs sometimes change it according to their own preferences.

The amount of milk added to the sauce can also vary significantly in different versions. Depending on how thick the sauce you want to get, you will need a little more or a little less liquid. General rule this: for a liquid béchamel sauce, add 120-180 g py per 1 liter of milk, for thick sauce - 300 g py per 1 liter of milk (thick, "like a paste", béchamel is the basis, for example, soufflé). It is easy to remember this ratio (for a sauce of medium thickness): parts of ru = 1 to 1, milk = 5 times the sum of parts of ru. So, if you take 50 g of butter and flour, then pour in 500 ml of milk.

The basic, classic béchamel sauce is minimalistic - it is milk, flour, butter, salt and pepper. This sauce is the basis for the preparation of other sauces or part of the dishes - lasagna, moussaka, spinach dishes, compound pastes. But most often the milk for making the Béchamel sauce is pre-flavored with herbs, roots, spices. The goal is to give neutral dishes a more expressive taste, the same baked fish or a slice of chicken fillet. To do this, put the necessary set of natural flavors in cold milk (nutmeg, rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram, thyme, dill, onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, parsnip or parsley root), and then slowly bring to a boil - it is believed that only this is how the aromas of herbs and roots are best revealed. After boiling, the fire turns off, the pan is covered with a lid and left for 2-3 hours to infuse. After the specified time, strain the milk through cheesecloth or a fine sieve and then use it to make the sauce.

From the history of sauce

In general, the story is as simple as the world: they say that the famous sauce was invented by Louis Béchamel, the majordomo of Louis XIV, the king who ensured the flourishing of an absolute monarchy for his country. Alas, no intrigue, entertaining twists and turns of events and secret intricacies, despite the fact that the era itself was characterized by an abundance of secrets and secrets. However, one "highlight" in the loud, but short epic called "Bechamel" is present: historians strongly doubt that the invention of the recipe belongs personally to the king's manager, the eponymous mister Bechamel. Most likely, the sauce was first prepared by one of the court chefs, but the cunning major-domo, feeling how he could earn the king's favor, quickly attributed the invention to his own person.

For the first time the famous "white sauce" was mentioned in Le Cuisinier François in 1651 - the book was written by the court chef of Louis XIV Francois Pierre de La Farenne, it was he who left a written indication of the newfangled sauce. After that, the culinary manual was reprinted many, many tens of times (only in the next 75 years - at least 30 times!), The popularity of the sauce continued to grow.

There was no exact recipe in the book, however, there is reason to assert that the bechamel has reached our days practically unchanged: all the same wheat flour, all the same high-quality butter, all the same milk.

The classic recipe for Bechamel sauce

To start experimenting and creating, you need to learn how to implement a basic sauce recipe. In fact, there is nothing difficult, a little practice - and you will succeed!

Ingredients:
50 g butter;
50 g flour;
500 ml of milk with a fat content of 2.5%;
salt, ground white pepper.

Melt the butter over low heat. Make sure that the oil is not fried, in this case the sauce will turn out not white, but yellow or brown.

Add flour to the melted butter and begin to quickly rub it with butter with a wooden spatula and beat with a whisk. It will take you 1-2 minutes to combine flour and butter - during this time the mixture will slightly foam.

In a thin stream and in small portions (literally a spoon or two), start introducing cold (!) Milk, stirring and whipping the sauce each time until smooth. Fire is the minimum possible, or even remove the pan from the stove. Enter a smaller part of milk - 100-150 grams. When it becomes clear that there are no lumps in the sauce, add the remaining milk, increase the heat to medium, bring to a boil and simmer the sauce over medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Remember to stir constantly!

Season the prepared sauce with salt and pepper.

You can store the sauce in the refrigerator for no more than 3 days, covering it with a greased film.

White sauce with nutmeg

This sauce - with spices - is even better known than classic version... The principle of preparation and the proportions of ingredients are the same, only more milk can be consumed, since we will cook it. What spices are used most often? Nutmeg, as well as bay leaves, cloves, and ground peppers. You can add a small onion and other spices and herbs, or you can get by with just nutmeg.

Ingredients:
50 g butter;
50 g flour;
600 g of milk;
salt, nutmeg, spices and herbs to taste.

Prepare the roux as described above. Let it cool down.

Pound herbs and spices in a mortar, put in a cloth bag and send in cold milk. Bring to a boil, then cook for 10-15 minutes. Throw away the bag of spices (if it was not there, be sure to strain the milk through a sieve). Add up to 500 ml of hot milk if it has boiled down too much.

Put cold roux into hot milk. Stir. If the milk has cooled down, put it on the stove, but do not bring it to a boil - we need hot milk, as it happens before boiling.

Whisk the roux until the sauce is smooth.

Watch this wonderful video in which Gordon Ramsay makes bechamel sauce with cheese in his inimitable manner. It is not necessary to understand English, you can even turn off the sound - you will understand everything without it.

Vegan bechamel

If for some reason temporarily or permanently you cannot eat animal products (diet, fasting, vegetarianism), no problem: you can make Bechamel sauce without milk! Read carefully, it's delicious.

Ingredients:
200 g cashew nuts;
350 ml of water;
60 g flour;
2 tbsp. l. olive oil;
salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste.

Pour raw cashews with boiling water and leave for 4-5 minutes, then pour out the water, put the nuts in the blender bowl and fill again with clean water - this time with cold water, add 300 ml. Turn on the blender, bring the mass to full homogeneity, gradually pour in the remaining 50 ml of water, dilute the resulting mixture if necessary nut milk a little more liquid.

Mix flour with olive oil, lightly brown in a saucepan. Pour in the nut milk in a thin stream with constant stirring, stir until completely homogeneous. Cook over low heat until thickened. Finally add salt, pepper and nutmeg. If necessary, the resulting sauce can be filtered through a fine sieve.

Bechamel tomato sauce

A very non-standard combination, a kind of anti-white sauce, but nevertheless it is a béchamel, albeit not in quite the usual “clothes”. Trying is a must! The sauce is perfect for pasta, sandwiches, baked potatoes.

Ingredients:
50 g butter;
50 g flour;
500 ml of milk;
1 tbsp. l. tomato puree;
salt and pepper to taste.

Grind the butter with flour, put the mass in a frying pan with a thick bottom or in a saucepan and, stirring, lightly fry until light golden brown (see details above, in basic recipe). Pour milk in a thin stream in portions - literally 50 ml each. After each "dose" we knead the flour mass until it is completely homogeneous. We introduce all the milk gradually. Finally, add salt, pepper, spices and tomato puree. Stir, the sauce is ready.

How to cook Béchamel in the microwave

Of course, this recipe is far from the classics - and it cannot be called canonical. However, it can be a great help for those who want to cook, but prefers to do it with a minimum investment of time and effort.

Ingredients:
50 g flour;
50 g butter;
600 ml of milk;
salt, nutmeg and other spices to taste.

Grind the melted butter with flour, place the bowl in the microwave for 1.5 minutes at maximum power.

We take it out, pour in all the milk in a thin stream, stirring constantly. You need a homogeneous mass. We return the bowl back to the microwave for 4.5-5 minutes, maximum power. Pause the cooking process periodically and stir the contents of the bowl. At the end, add salt, nutmeg, mix well and filter through a fine sieve.

If you need more thick sauce, increase the cooking time to 6 minutes.

1. Use the right utensils - thick-walled pan with non-stick coating and one handle. Rub and stir with a wooden spatula and a handy whisk.

1. The main secret of a homogeneous, smooth, lump-free béchamel is the temperature of the sauce parts. Their contrasting, diametrically opposite temperature: if the roux is hot, the milk should be poured in cold, and vice versa: hot milk must interact with cold roux. It is acceptable if both are warm, other options, except those listed, are a path to disappointment. But if, nevertheless, the sauce turned out to be lumpy and completely unsuitable for use, take a blender in your hands and walk it through the resulting mass properly.

1. The cooking time of the sauce after boiling is 5-7 minutes. In French cooking textbooks, you will find the following recommendation: “Boil the sauce for no more than 10 and no less than 40 minutes, as the taste will not develop in 10 minutes. raw flour, and in 40-60 minutes the taste of raw flour will disappear from the sauce ”. Such is the scientifically proven fact. Classic bechamel according to all the rules, boil for about an hour. Briefly, quickly, less than 10 minutes, prepare béchamel at home.

1. Do not overdo it with frying flour - it should only slightly gild, acquire a creamy shade and a subtle nutty smell. If the flour darkens thoroughly, the sauce will taste bitter, moreover, it will lose its color - after all, you are making a white sauce. The color of the sauce is delicately light beige, light cream, without pronounced brown or yellow notes.

1. Do not seek to speed up something that should be cooked slowly a priori. The fire under the pan should be minimal, it will become medium only at the final stage, when you pour all the milk into the pan. Burnt sauce is not the best alternative to the time saved.

1. The classic component of Bechamel sauce is milk. Sour cream and other fermented milk "comrades" will inevitably curl up, this is not an option. However, you can take cream, while it should be borne in mind that cream is also not the easiest guys, they can also throw out a feint with their ears and curl up at the most inopportune moment. For this reason, many chefs dilute them with broth - vegetable or meat.

1. Bechamel is wonderful for its viscous, delicate texture and creamy aftertaste. No one forbids the use of spices in its preparation, however, keep in mind that it is the creamy aroma that must remain the presenter, everything else should modestly stand on the sidelines and only set off the main idea of ​​the sauce.

1. The sauce can be made liquid, or it can be very thick - it depends on further goals. The "correct" consistency of the universal homemade bechamel will allow the mass to evenly drain off the spoon, slightly enveloping it with the rest. In no case should the finished product fall in a thick lump, just as it should not swiftly flop down on a liquid indistinct something. Dilute too thick sauce with milk, and then reheat. Thicken too liquid with a specially prepared roux, and then boil for another minute.

1. If you serve bechamel to the table as an accompaniment to certain cooked dishes (and do not use it as a component of a recipe), it must be served hot - when cooling down, the sauce will be covered with a crust, which is completely unacceptable. Therefore - serving hot, use - urgent. Well, or almost urgent.

1. If you have made too much sauce, the leftovers can be safely stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Remember to cover properly with cling film or pour the sauce into a sealed container.

With what to use Bechamel sauce? 10 ideas available:

1. Lasagna. Classic. Of course, there are recipes for making lasagna without Bechamel sauce, but still the main and most popular recipe involves its use, many seriously believe that lasagna without bechamel is like borscht without beets.

1. Paste... Bechamel is one of the most popular sauces served with spaghetti, penne, tagliatella and other pasta. Creamy aroma and enveloping structure transforms any pasta almost a masterpiece.

Bechamel mushroom sauce

1. Casseroles, tarts and pies. If the filling that you planned to put in the pie seems a little dry to you, a little béchamel will not only save the situation - it will transform it to incredible results! Boiled fish, fried minced meat, fresh vegetables - everything will be wonderful and tasty in the company with this sauce.

1. Pancakes... If you mix mushrooms, fried onions, boiled chicken fillet, some grated cheese and béchamel, you can make an amazing pancake filling. Form "bags" out of them, tie them with a feather of green onions - you have a delicious snack ready.

1. Baked fish... Put any fish that is neutral in taste (sturgeon, pike perch, cod, hake, pangasius) into a baking dish, fill it with Bechamel sauce mixed with lightly fried mushrooms and cheese, bake until tender. Simple, elegant, delicious.

1. Oven baked or steamed vegetables - cauliflower, potatoes, root celery, broccoli, pumpkin and others."Béchamel" will give restrained taste and often quite bland vegetables an interesting flavoring note. A little grated Parmesan - and an unrealistically healthy, tasty and aromatic dinner is ready.

1. Asparagus... Classics of the genre. Asparagus and bechamel are made for each other! The taste is refined, delicate, very delicate and "clean".

1. Eggs. Cooked in the oven under the Béchamel sauce, they will become a real feast of taste! Add some stewed spinach to the tins for the famous Florentine eggs.

1. Sandwiches... Down with harmful mayonnaise, try to season the ingredients of sandwiches and burgers with the classic "white" sauce. By the way, this is a great reason to learn how to cook Croque Monsieur - this sandwich is impossible without the famous bechamel.

1. Julienne... Yes, yes, season the chicken, mushrooms and cheese with the classic Bechamel sauce and get a delicious dish in its ideal.

Today, it is no longer so important who first came up with cooking. milk sauce based on flour and butter, it does not matter what spices can be added to milk and what proportion to choose in order to make the Béchamel sauce ideal from the point of view of a particular person. Another thing is important: on the basis of a classic recipe, chefs tirelessly come up with new and new recipes. Who knows, maybe very soon we will hear something unusual from you too? Dare and fear not, many wonderful discoveries have been made by amateurs.

Bechamel or white sauce is one of the most famous sauces in French cuisine. Thanks to its unmatched aroma and exquisite taste he won the hearts of not only the French. He conquered the whole of Europe: restaurants leading European countries it is traditionally used both as an independent product and as a base base for other sauces. Undoubtedly, he is the real pride of the French. Light, delicate, aromatic, combined with almost any dish, it can rightfully be called an aristocratic sauce and be proud of its noble origin. Although Italian gourmets still consider it their brainchild and are ready to challenge the right of primacy in France.

A bit of history

However, the Italians' claims are not based on an unfounded statement. One of the versions of the occurrence of this exquisite dish indicates that the recipe for the sauce was brought to France by the young Catherine de 'Medici, the future wife of the French king Henry II. At fourteen, she left sunny Florence to become a great queen.

The wedding feast, which lasted more than a month, was served by both French and Italian chefs, brought with them by the king's young bride. It was there that they first filed italian sauce, which later in France began to bear the name Béchamel. In Italy, long before that, it was called balsamella. And the recipes for these two dishes are surprisingly similar.

The French, on the other hand, do not give up the palm, insisting that they have as many as two versions of the origin of this product.

According to one of them, the recipe for the sauce was discovered by Louis de Bechamel, the Marquis de Nointel, who at that time was the manager at the court of the legendary French king Louis XIV. The story tells that the Marquis slightly modified the veloute sauce, which was popular at that time, and received a completely different product, remarkably appealing to the fish dishes, the seasoning for which he intended to get. The resulting delicious and aromatic sauce the happy marquis gave his name. However, such manipulations with the components of dishes could only be carried out by a person with a subtle feeling and an exquisite culinary taste. History is silent about the fact that Louis de Bechamel possessed such abilities. There is only a mention of his compatriot Count D'Escar in which he complains that in his life he did not manage to name even the simplest dish by his name, unlike the lucky Bechamel.

Another version tells that the secret of making this sauce belongs to the famous chef of the sun king Louis XIV, François Pierre de la Varenne. Many historical studies attribute to him the fact of using a thickener roux, made from flour fried in butter until golden brown, in this sauce. Previously, only softened bread crumb was used for this. Well, having named the dish in honor of his contemporary Louis Bechamel, de la Varennes apparently in this way thanked the Marquis for something, or simply wanted to curry favor with him.

Undoubtedly, the French are proud that such an incomparable sauce was born in their country. In addition to those two stories, another famous French name is inextricably linked with him. This is Philippe du Plessis Morne, Governor of Saumur. Some historical facts he is credited with not only inventing béchamel, but also other equally famous sauces:

• chasseur;
• port;
• mornay;
• Lyon sauce.

The flourishing of the art of cooking in the 17th and 18th centuries led to the fact that bechamel acquired numerous variations. Each chef wanted to bring something new to the recipe of this dish, thanks to which more and more different ingredients were added there. This continued until the famous chef Marie-Antoine Karem, who became one of the first residents of haute cuisine, began to manage the culinary delights in the royal kitchen. Under his leadership, all unnecessary ingredients were removed and the bechamel received the composition of the products by which it is known to this day.

Composition and types of sauce

Classic béchamel is prepared on the basis of roux and cream. The rou thickener consists of flour fried in butter until golden brown. Currently, instead of cream, you can use different varieties milk. Flour and butter are mixed in equal parts and cream is gradually added. They should be used based on the thickness of the sauce you want to get. Bechamel can be of medium density, liquid, and also be a thick, viscous mass.

Bechamel is one of five classic French sauces, which are used to prepare different variations of them or get completely new liquid seasonings. Various spices, broths, herbs and spices are often added here. Here are several types of bechamel-based sauces:

• mornay - prepared with the addition of grated parmesan, gruyere and fish broth, served with seafood and vegetables;
• nantua (nantua) - prepared with the addition of crab meat, served with seafood dishes;
• subise (soubise) - prepared with the addition of chopped onions, well suited to fish dishes and a bird.

Chemical composition and nutritional value

The energy value of the white sauce is 59.8 kcal. There are about 1 gram of protein, 4.4 grams of fat, and 3.58 grams of carbohydrates. In the composition of bechamel, one can note the content of saturated fatty acids, dietary fiber, water, ash, as well as vitamins and minerals. The vitamin composition is revealed by vitamin E (about 1.2 mg), thiamine (about 0.01 mg), riboflavin (0.02 mg) and vitamin PP (about 0.2 mg).

The mineral composition is represented by sodium (411 mg), potassium (25 mg), phosphorus (83 mg), magnesium (6 mg), calcium (14 mg) and iron (0.2 mg). Dietary fiber is about 0.4 grams, water 89.1 grams and ash 1.6 grams. The share of saturated fatty acids is about 0.9 grams.

Useful properties of bechamel

The components that make up the classic sauce are valuable and useful properties for the human body. They contain a wonderful vitamin complex and mineral composition necessary for health.

Since bechamel is essentially a mixture of butter, wheat flour and dairy products, its use:

• improves vision;
• regulates hormonal levels;
• helps to improve the condition of the skin and hair;
• charges the body with energy and vigor;
• increases efficiency and craving for creativity;
• has an antifungal effect;
• improves the protective properties of the body;
• enhances immunity;
• normalizes and improves brain function;
• saturates the body with calcium and protein;
• has antiviral properties;
• improves the functioning of the nervous system;
• serves as the prevention of depression and nervous disorders.

All this happens with the help of nutrients included in its ingredients. Wheat flour, for example, is a rich source of fiber and carbohydrates. Thanks to her, the sauce becomes very nutritious and satisfying.

For the preparation of bechamel, you can also use rye and buckwheat, and oat flour... But preference is given to the second-grade wheat product, since it is more valuable and useful.

Butter contains such a valuable component as lauric acid, with which the body is able to fight various fungal diseases. Well, milk, of course, is just a storehouse of calcium and protein, which are so necessary for the normal functioning of the body.

But here it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that for heat treatment its constituent their valuable and medicinal properties decrease slightly. But on the other hand, the taste of the dish will certainly improve.

Harmful and dangerous properties

The harmful properties of this sauce, as well as the beneficial ones, directly depend on the products that make up it. If you use for cooking wheat flour top grade, then the synthetic preservatives included in it will get into bechamel, and the calorie content of the final product will also increase, which will undoubtedly entail an uncontrolled gain in body weight.

Also, frequent use of butter can lead to unpleasant consequences in the form of extra pounds. And it also contains harmful cholesterol, which accumulates in large quantities in the human body, which leads to the development of a disease such as atherosclerosis.

Some people are congenital allergies to milk and dairy products, or lactose intolerance. For them, bechamel sauce is categorically contraindicated. It is also dangerous for the older generation, since milk contains bad cholesterol, the use of which leads to atherosclerotic conditions.

Classic sauce recipe

To prepare bechamel you will need:

• butter - 50 grams;
• wheat flour - 50 grams;
• salt - 1 pinch;
• milk or 10% cream - 800 ml;
• nutmeg - 1 teaspoon

Melt the butter in a gravy boat. Gradually add flour there. Stir over low heat until homogeneous mass until the flour is golden brown. Then pour hot, but not boiled milk into the resulting mass in a thin stream. This should be done stirring constantly so that lumps do not form in the process. At the very end of cooking, add a spoonful of nutmeg and a little salt to the sauce. Mix everything thoroughly and remove the gravy boat from the heat.

Bechamel and mayonnaise

Oddly enough, but in Russia bechamel and mayonnaise are often confused with each other. Although these two sauces are similar to each other only in antiquity and milky color. They are completely different from each other neither in composition nor in scope.

European countries, especially Italy and France, will never allow themselves this. It is impossible to find a single French or Italian who would consider these two sauces interchangeable. Everyone knows very well that mayonnaise is used to dress cold dishes, and béchamel is used with hot ones. In France, it is unacceptable to bake or stew dishes with mayonnaise, only white sauce is used for this.

If you try to use a rather interesting béchamel instead of the usual mayonnaise, you can immediately notice how the taste of the dishes will change for the better. After all, white sauce, unlike its simpler counterpart, can be easily supplemented with various components in the form of spices and spices by changing it taste qualities.

conclusions

Bechamel - exquisite french sauce, which came to us from the distant 18th century, but still has not lost its popularity. In Italian and French cuisine it deservedly occupies one of the leading places, thanks to its taste and useful qualities... This sauce goes very well with meat, fish, vegetable dishes... It goes well with pasta and eggs. This is a versatile seasoning, it is served both hot and cold, but preference is still given to the warmed product. Thanks to the ingredients included in its composition, bechamel has properties beneficial to the body, but this is also due to its contraindications. Eating this white sauce improves immunity, improves vision, energizes the body and vigor, improves sleep and fights depressive conditions. Also, bechamel has antiviral properties and has antifungal effects. It is not recommended to use this sauce for the elderly, as there may be a risk of atherosclerotic conditions. It is also contraindicated for people with lactose deficiency or allergies to milk and dairy products. In general, the main task of any sauce is to improve the taste of various dishes, mask their shortcomings and enhance their merits. Bechamel does an excellent job with all these tasks.

It is no coincidence that the famous bechamel sauce is very popular. There is a classic recipe, many different variations. Some housewives themselves successfully come up with new recipes, creating their own varieties of béchamel sauce. It is important that it suits almost any product. Meat and fish, vegetables, rice are in perfect harmony with it. Even fruit can be served great with it! And their flavoring bouquet, aroma will be perfectly emphasized.

Benefits of béchamel sauce

What attracts housewives to bechamel sauce? Why is it his recipe that enjoys such impressive popularity, is of great interest to everyone who hears it for the first time? And it is precisely this sauce that becomes one of the most common when women decide to cook tasty, healthy and fast. Let's take a look at the main benefits.

1. The recipe is surprisingly simple. You don't have to memorize to make bechamel sauce huge recipes, a lot of recommendations and subtleties. There are some basic rules that are very easy to learn. And the list of ingredients is so short that it will not be difficult for anyone to reproduce the list, having heard it only once.
2. This sauce is very economical. You don't have to spend a lot of money to cook it exactly according to the recipe, you don't need to replace any ingredients. Since it only needs water, milk, flour and butter to create a sauce, no one will have any problems with its preparation.
3. Of great importance is the fact that the recipe leaves the widest scope for creativity. You can experiment for a long time, add various spices, herbs, vegetables and even fruits, creating your own types of béchamel sauce. And you will feel like a real professional chef when you fantasize at the stove and write down more and more new recipes! Each of your sauce will set off in its own way, emphasize the taste of a particular dish or product.
4. It turns out that the sauce not only conquers with a pleasant balanced taste. He attracts with his valuable qualities. Making dishes more satisfying, it is well absorbed and practically does not affect the parameters. It can be safely used by anyone who wants to lose weight faster.
5. The béchamel sauce also has clear advantages that are associated with its composition. This is what the nutritionist notes. “The point is that it is milk, flour and butter that are best combined. They're not just better absorbed together. Each component gives the body a lot. These are valuable proteins that are perfectly absorbed and are used to build cells. Useful minerals, calcium, a whole complex of vitamins - everything is already in the sauce prepared according to an elementary recipe! "
6. Versatility is another great advantage of the sauce. The recipe is really simple, there are very few ingredients, but such a dressing is perfect for any dish. At the same time, each housewife will be able to instantly diversify the menu, if she makes her own adjustments to the list of ingredients, slightly changes the usual recipe.

With this wonderful sauce you can cook meat and fish, vegetables and rice, season porridge with it, decorate fruit salads, desserts. And there is a recipe for every occasion!

The subtleties of making sauce

First of all, you need to remember a few nuances associated with the creation of this dressing according to the recipe. The point is that such delicate sauce very easy to spoil, make it too thick or runny, miss the moment and overcook the flour. Someone does not think about the temperature of the food, pouring boiling milk into flour and believing that everything will cook faster this way, it will be even better. In fact, everything must be done according to the algorithm, following the recommendations. Then you will in any case get béchamel sauce, even if you add mass there. additional ingredients by changing the gas station beyond recognition. But when the cooking technology is violated, the result is not bechamel at all, although the components are the same.

Remember the basic tips! Then the dressing will delight you with its taste, aroma, and flawlessly emphasize the advantages of the dishes.

• Temperature. The temperature of the food is of great importance. When you make bechamel sauce, you need to stock up on room temperature milk in advance, heat the butter, and then cool it down a bit. When you fry the flour, you will gradually pour milk into it, it should not be boiling. At the same time, milk from the refrigerator will not suit you either, because it is extremely difficult to get rid of flour lumps with it. The best option: take milk, put it on the table and hold it at room temperature about 20 minutes. Then it will acquire the most suitable temperature. The butter needs to be melted, but you cannot pour boiling oil into the mixture. It will have to cool slightly, otherwise you will take too long to achieve a homogeneous consistency.
• Lumps. For many housewives, the numerous lumps that do not want to disappear from the béchamel sauce become a real problem. Most often, the dressing is too rarely interfered with during the cooking process, boiling milk or butter is poured into the flour, they try to melt the butter directly in the sauce, and not in advance. Of course, there should be no lumps. Therefore, cook according to the recipe and do not forget that you need to mix the mass constantly. This will prevent the sauce from sticking to the sides of the pan, clumping, and burning the mixture.
• Tint. The classic sauce has a delicate creamy color. And here you need jewelry precision. You need to be extremely careful when frying flour. If you overcook it, you will not only ruin the color - the bechamel will become too dark - but also jeopardize the taste, since notes of a burnt product may appear in the bouquet. If the flour is fried too little, the sauce generally loses its zest. It becomes overly bland, tasteless, and the color remains almost white. Therefore, you need to fry the flour as follows. Wait until steam comes from the pan, the flour turns golden, and you will feel the light aroma of toasted bread, toast. Everything! You don't need to fry your golden flour anymore.
• Consistency. The density is adjusted with milk and water. The more liquid you add, the thinner your sauce will be. Someone uses only cream or milk, and someone supplements them with water. When the consistency is adjusted, it is more convenient to pour in a little plain water. Please note: then the mixture will thicken as it cools. But how can we determine the optimal thickness if we do not know how thick the sauce will become when it cools? Here's what one mistress came up with. “I make béchamel sauce very often. And I already have my own secret. Of course, guessing about the density after cooling is extremely difficult. Therefore, you need to experiment, but be sure to write down each time in what proportions the ingredients were used. Then you can easily make the sauce of the desired thickness, using your own exact recipes! "

Now it's time to remember the classic recipe.

Cooking the sauce: the classic version

First, prepare the foods you will need to create the sauce. It should be milk, butter. You will also need salt, flour. You can also add black pepper to taste, but only just a little, otherwise the taste and smell will be too harsh. Let's get started!

1. First of all, put the milk to heat. It does not need to be specially heated, boiled. You just need to put it on the table so that it stays at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Pouring in such milk, you will be able to quickly achieve a homogeneous mass, to avoid the appearance of lumps.
2. Now heat the butter. Please note: you do not need to try to throw it directly into a mixture of flour and milk, reheat it in the same pan with flour, work with it and flour at the same time. Be sure to prepare the oil in advance. A small piece just needs to be melted and poured into any container.
3. Now is the time to fry the flour. You do not need to grease the pan. You just take a clean skillet, heat it up, and then pour the flour into it. It must be constantly stirred with a spatula, shaking and separating from the bottom. As soon as the flour acquires a golden hue, you can start pouring in the milk.
4. Pour milk carefully, in a thin stream. Hold a container of milk in one hand and a spatula in the other. Be sure to stir your mixture constantly. This is the only way you will be able to prepare the sauce according to the recipe.
5. When you have already poured the milk, you need to thoroughly mix the flour again so that the mass becomes perfectly homogeneous. The butter can be added along with the milk, but some people prefer to pour it in later, when the main mixture is ready. It doesn't really matter, so do whatever is more convenient for you.
6. At the final stage of cooking, you need to salt and pepper your mass. If you want to make it thinner, just add more milk or water.

Everything! You have already made your bechamel sauce!