Bechamel sauce - general principles and methods of cooking
Bechamel, perhaps, one of the most simple and popular sauces of European cuisine. Its basic basis consists of only three components - butter, flour and milk, not counting salt. The authorship of the sauce is attributed to Marquis de Bechamel, the chamberlain of King Louis XIV. Although it is unlikely that the marquis in a white chef's hat with a ladle in his hand conjured over the composition of the sauce. Somehow this is hard to believe. It is not feasible for a court grandee to command pots and cauldrons, this is not lordly business. Most likely, the sauce was invented by the chef Monsieur Bechamel, whose name no one will ever know. But remember a kind word when tasting this or that dish, seasoned with this sauce.
Bechamel has many variations. Red or black pepper, nutmeg, bay leaf, tomato paste, horseradish root, fried onions, cheese are added to its base. And with each added component, Beshamel gets a whole new flavor. It is liquid if used as a gravy, of medium thickness and thick, if it is filled with soup, julienne, lasagna, spaghetti or baked meat, fish, vegetables. The thickness of the sauce can be varied by adding more or less flour.
Bechamel Sauce - Food Preparation
The sauce consists of an oily-flour base (the French call it “Roux”) and liquid. First, the flour is fried in butter for about a minute so that it becomes a pale golden hue, and then pour in the liquid - broth with milk, cream or sour cream. You can do a little differently. Fry flour dry, and then, when it slightly changes color, add butter. When it is melted, pour in the liquid and boil until thick.
Bechamel Sauce - Best Recipes
Recipe 1: Béchamel Sauce - Basic Base
You can say the classic version of the preparation, the very basis of the sauce. Then it can be used for cooking lasagna and julienne. By adding other ingredients to your finished base on your own, you can get completely different variations of this sauce.
Ingredients: butter - 80-100g, flour - 2 table. lie., milk - 0,4-0,5l, salt.
Method of preparation
1) Melt the butter.
2) Pour the flour and fry so that it changes color a little - it becomes light golden.
3) Pour in the milk. It is possible at this time to remove the dishes from the fire to bring down the boil and it was easier to deal with lumps. When the mixture is mixed, return the dishes to the fire and cook until thick, about a minute. At the same time, the mass can be salted.
Recipe 2: Bechamel Sauce in Olive Oil
Everyone is so accustomed to, that only butter should be an obligatory attribute of an oily base. And no. Let's try to prepare the sauce in the Spanish manner, because as you know, in Spain everything, even desserts, is prepared exclusively in olive oil. And just there are people who do not really like the taste of butter. Perhaps this option cooking sauce will appeal to them. By the way, fried onion, gives the sauce a very unusual and new flavor. And who will be embarrassed pieces of onion in the sauce, can use the help of a blender. A few seconds - and the mass is homogeneous. Used for baking dishes from vegetables and meat. The sauce is obtained medium density, who needs a thicker consistency, add flour to 1 tablespoon more.
Ingredients: olive oil - 100 ml, 1 onion, flour - 2 tbsp, salt and spices (allspice, black, nutmeg, bay leaf), milk - 0,5l.
Method of preparation Fry the finely chopped onion, add flour at the end and continue to sauté, so that the flour is slightly “sunburnt”. Pour in the milk, intensively stirring the mass, and continue cooking the sauce for about eight to ten minutes. During this time, you need a lot of salt and put spices.
Sample dishes with bechamel sauce
Recipe 1: Zucchini Casserole with Bechamel Sauce
Delicious and elegant dish. Pastel colors of the general background dilute bright juicy inclusions of the tomatoes added to the casserole. It can be cooked both in summer and in winter, if you make blanks from frozen zucchini. The casserole is not recommended to warm up, it is prepared at one time. In a similar way, you can cook cauliflower (without tomatoes), pre-lightly boiled.
Ingredients: zucchini - 2-3 small fruits, a couple of tomatoes, cheese - 100-150g, vegetable oil. Sauce: flour - 1 table. lie., butter - 80-100g, 300 ml of milk, salt, nutmeg.
Method of preparation
1) Squash, if they are young, you can not clean, cut into circles 1-1.5 cm. Bake in the oven on a baking sheet or wire rack, sprinkled with vegetable oil.
2) Prepare the sauce: fry the butter in butter, pour in the milk, add salt and add the nut and boil it until thick.
3) Collect the casserole. Put half of zucchini in the form, put tomatoes on them, cut into slices or slices, pour sauce. It should cover the tomatoes. Put the second half of the zucchini on the sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake (180C) until a crust forms.
Recipe 2: Cannelloni with minced meat, baked with Bechamel sauce
Cannelloni are such macaroni with large-diameter holes that can be stuffed (stuffed). If you do not find such pasta, you can take spaghetti or any pasta. Instead of stuffing, they will need to boil, put the mince on top, pour the sauce and bake. The taste will be almost the same, only the feed will not be as interesting as with the cannelloni. Ingredients: cannelloni - 10-15 tubules, minced meat - 0.8-1.0 kg, hard cheese - 150g, 1 onion. Sauce: butter - 80 g, milk - 0.7 l, flour - 100 g, salt. Topping - Parmesan (or regular solid) - 150g.
Method of preparation
1) Prepare the sauce. Fry until golden brown flour in melted butter, pour in milk, salt. Stir well and cook until thick. The consistency of the sauce should be similar to the thickness of the cream.
2) Prepare the meat filling. Finely chopped onion fry, add the stuffing, continuing to fry, salt. At the end add cheese cut into small cubes, remove from heat and mix.
3) Boil the pasta. Pour a spoonful of vegetable oil into boiling water and boil cannelloni for two minutes. Drain the water, cool the macaroni and fill it with minced meat.
4) Grease a baking sheet or pan, put the stuffed cannelloni, pour over the sauce, sprinkle with parmesan and bake until crusted (180C). Serve warm.
Bechamel Sauce - useful tips from experienced chefs
- The sauce can be stored for several days, if you pour a thin layer of melted butter on top. This will prevent Bechamel from drying out and forming a peel film.
- If the sauce turned out to be more liquid than you expected, you should not add flour to the prepared mass, it is better to hold it on the stove more than usual. This will be enough for the mass to thicken.
- To make it easier to add a thin stream of milk to the sauce, it should be immediately poured from the bag, not pouring into a glass.
