Today I am writing about sauce. Yes, you read it right, sauce. Sauce is one of the most overlooked components of a delicious dish and can truly make or break a meal. In culinary school, I learned about the five mother sauces of French cuisine: Bechamel, Espagnole, Hollandaise, Tomato, and Veloute. While I won’t get into the details of each of these sauces, it’s important to consider the most common sauce used in the home is likely the Bechamel or Tomato. A lovely bechamel-based sauce can elevate many dishes with richness, creaminess, and flavor. Typically, bechamel comes alongside pasta dishes, poultry dishes, and even vegetable dishes, but I’m sure your people would be happy to see it alongside many other things. If you understand how to make a basic bechamel, you can then make an array of sauces from that base in order to spice up your dinner and elevate it from weeknight-last-minute-throw-together to a warm, rich, and flavor filled supper- sure to get raving comments from your husband and children.
As homemakers, it should be our joy to seek out the glorious things in the kingdom of God. In this case, we can consider how the Lord has provided a world for us to be creative and serve our families through the medium of food. When you are seeking to make a delicious sauce, try to remember the bigger picture. The Lord has given you this task in order to teach you something and remind you to serve your family (and their taste buds!). While making a creamy pesto sauce might seem trivial to some, I see it as something that can bring genuine joy to my family and thankfulness to the Lord for all of the beautiful culinary gifts He has given to us. Plus, why not try to step up our game as homemakers and improve our cooking skills!
Here is a typical Bechamel recipe from Serious Eats:
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 ounce; 20g)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (12g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste (optional)
Steps:
- In a saucepan, melt the butter (at this point, you could add onion, garlic, shallots, green onions, and saute until translucent).
- Add the flour and whisk it until a thick paste forms. Keep whisking the paste for around a minute. It should smell of either sugar cookies, or fresh buttery popcorn, and then you’ll know the roux is cooked through and ready.
- Slowly whisk in the milk. Ensure that you get the edges of the pot so that clumps do not form!
- Add whatever additions you want to shape the flavor of your sauce.
With the simple combination of butter, flour, and milk, you can make a creamy base that will take on a multitude of flavors depending on what you are looking for. Here are some examples of things I would add to the bechamel to make a sauce for pasta or chicken.
- Pesto and lemon zest
- Red pepper flakes, lemon juice, garlic, lemon zest
- Parmesan and basil
- Gruyere, parmesan, shallot, and garlic
- Cheddar (any other combo of cheese you like) for a take on mac and cheese!
Note: if you want a thicker sauce, you can make more “roux” (butter and flour paste) before adding the same amount of milk. If the sauce is too thick, just add more milk! It’s really up to you to define the thickness you are going for.
Note: once the milk is in the roux, you cannot add any more flour! This will leave your sauce grainy and with a raw flour taste!
Note: if your sauce splits and is grainy, try mixing ½ to 1 tablespoon corn starch with water until it dissolves and can be poured. Pour it in slowly, whisking, and bring the sauce to a simmer/boil. It MUST be simmering/light boiling in order for the cornstarch to activate! This is a quick fix I use often to fix broken sauces!