Ingredients
- 2 Cups Whole Milk, plus more for consistency
- 1/2 Lemon (The Juice)
- 2 oz Butter (By Weight)
- 2 oz Flour (By Weight)
Instructions
- In a small sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat and then whisk in the flour, it should form a paste. This is called Roux, pronounced like roo.
- In a small sauce pan heat up the milk over medium heat.
- When the milk is warn pour in half of the roux.
- Mix frequently to combine.
- Our goal is the consistency of a nice thick gravy. If you need it thicker add more roux, if you need to thin it out, add a little more milk
- When you get the desired thickness, pass through a fine mesh strainer to remove any remaining chunks
- Let cool before use.
Notes
- I used to make Béchamel as part of my job at a steakhouse. I tried for MONTHS to nail a recipe down for this by weight and failed. After months of trial and error, I determined that the kitchen scale the restaurant had was inaccurate, or the local dairy milk we got varied its milk fat content too much. I think it was a little of both. Eyeing it lead to much more consistent results and thickness.
- Watch your heat and dont slack on stirring, if the roux burns , it will ruin your entire batch. There will be little specs everywhere that you can’t get out.
- If done correctly, the sauce should be completely white, silky smooth, and while hot, the consistency of a nice gravy. When it cools it will thicken considerably but should still be pourable. That is what makes this sauce so hard.
