Béchamel sauce

Béchamel sauce [ beʃamɛl ], Sauce Béchamel sauce or milk is a light sauce of milk, butter and flour, which is usually served with vegetables, potatoes or egg dishes. As a classical basic sauce they will vary in many courts use.

The basis is a light roux: To prepare butter is melted, added and be sweats, without browning flour. With constant stirring, to milk and cook the sauce on. The soup is seasoned with salt, nutmeg and white pepper. Also, cream, broth, lemon juice, finely chopped onions, bacon or parmesan cheese can be added. To complete you can embezzle the final, no more boiling sauce egg yolk, it must not be heated again then.

There are at least four hypotheses regarding the origin of the sauce recipe: One version assumes that it is of Italian origin and was brought to the French court of traveling chefs of Italian-born Catherine de Medici in the 16th century. Another theory is that it goes back to employees of Count Philippe de Mornay and a variant of bright, named after him Mornay sauce is. Another version attributes the sauce a taste of Louis de Béchamel, a rich banker, who had bought the title of chamberlain at the court of Louis XIV. Again, there is no source documents. Moreover, the invention of the sauce François- Pierre de La Varenne is attributed to the well-known chef at the court of Louis XIV; in his time this sauce was in any case known. Béchamel then was named, but not the inventor. The most likely theory is that this sauce was developed by varying much older predecessor recipes and came in the manner described in its present form in fashion.