Béchamel

Ingredients

• 50 g butter
• 50 g plain flour
• 600 ml whole milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 onion
• a grating of nutmeg

Method

1. Infuse the milk

   Warm the milk with the bay leaf and onion half until steaming, then leave it 15 minutes and strain. Skipping this gives you a functional sauce; doing it gives you one that tastes of something.

   15 min

2. Cook the roux

   Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook over a medium heat for two full minutes until it smells like biscuits. Undercooked roux is why so many white sauces have a faint raw-flour taste that no amount of seasoning fixes.

   2 min

3. Add the milk gradually

   Take the pan off the heat and add the warm milk a splash at a time, beating smooth after each addition before adding more. Once the mixture is loose you can pour the rest in freely. Lumps form in the first two minutes or not at all.

4. Simmer it out

   Return to a low heat and cook, stirring, for 8 minutes until it thickly coats a spoon. Season with salt and nutmeg. It needs this time to lose any floury edge and to reach its final thickness.

   8 min

5. Store

   If it is waiting, press cling film onto the surface or float a little melted butter on top. Left open it forms a skin that will never quite whisk back in.