Béchamel sauce

Béchamel sauce, also referred to as "white sauce," is one of the basic sauces in French cuisine and is considered the base of many different sauces. For me, this sauce is a terrible memory of the '80s, when every sautéed mushroom was covered in tons of béchamel and every cauliflower was properly creamed with white sauce. I'm happy those days are over. Today we use béchamel only when needed. Making béchamel isn't hard — just stick to the guidelines and play with the quantities of cheese if you like it cheesier. It's a roux of butter and flour to which we add milk while whisking constantly to thicken the sauce. The thickness is determined by the proportions of flour and milk — the more flour you add, the thicker the sauce will be. In general, the proportions are as follows: 1:1 between flour and butter, and 1:3 between the roux (flour and butter) and milk.

Guidelines for making a Béchamel sauce

• Use warm milk when adding it to the butter-flour mix
• Stir constantly — we want a smooth sauce
• Add cheese only when the pot is off the heat
• Don't skip the nutmeg — it's a great addition to this sauce and gives it that spicy flavor

I have to admit that these days I mostly use Béchamel sauce with lasagna. It's just the perfect topping for that dish — it gives a runny, creamy cover to a great meal, and it's so much better than just spreading cheese on top. So yes, Béchamel sauce was the star of French cooking — and any other dish that needed a creamy element — for a long time. We still use it, and I have to say that even though its glorious days are behind it, there's still room for it in many contemporary dishes.