Bechamel

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

I was going to have a different meal altogether but when I looked in the
frig there was 3 cups of cream and some brown crimini mushrooms. The
cream was 8 days out of date, but still acceptable, and the mushrooms
might have been if-y when I bought them (in a cellophane pack).

I cleaned up the mushrooms to where they didn't smell too amoniac and
fried them. While they were frying I got out and compared Giada's and
Mario's bechamel sauce and found that Mario's recipe fit my 3 cups of
cream (without calculating the difference of Giada's 4 cups' recipe).
Both called for milk - not cream. I didn't care because I've never made a
fit bechamel so far -- always lumpy and spending more time with lumps
than the cooking!

I heated the cream in the microwave slowly to about 160º while I heated
the 5 T butter (both recipes called for the same amount of butter) and
then sprinkled 1/3 cup flour into it. Giada' recipe said to cook 2
minutes, Mario's said to cook 6-7 minutes. I cooked until starting to
turn a little brownish, as Mario said, maybe about 4 minutes. DH poured
the hot cream into the butter/flour mixture 1 cup at a time while I
whisked. It was very thick; I would assume mainly due to cream instead of
milk. I added 1/2 the amount of salt and nutmeg called for, and it still
was pretty pungent with salt & nutmeg. NO LUMPS!

Then I added the finished mushrooms and the spaghetti to the big pan of
bechamel and used tongs to separate them as they cooked. This really
tasted like carbonara.

I saved the rest of the bechamel (in the freezer) for another day.
Necessity was the mother of invention as I rescued the mushrooms and the
rest of the cream that I had bought to make chocolate truffles.

Served with 'organic' fresh carrots, salt & pepper; butter lettuce with
oil and vinegar and a glass of wine, French for DH; Italian for me.

It's now snack time and a movie -- thanks TJ's for salza and chips - as
they say, "Good to go."
Dee Dee

Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is one
of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in classical French
cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock. Call it
Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of traditional
recipe names!!

--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

Peter Aitken said:

Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is one
of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in classical French
cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock. Call it
Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of traditional
recipe names!!

Milk yes, definitely not white stock. That would be
a veloute.

--
Reg

Try making your roux in the microwave using olive oil and flour, in about a
2/3 oil to 1 part flour. Microwave this on a 3 or so setting. Any oil picks
up MW radiation far more than other ingredients.
Then add heated milk and whisk. Heat more and whisk. Then heat a bit more
and whisk.
There you have it, your bechamel.
Recently doing this I made the best crab newberg I've ever had, and nothing
made it to the stove top. I couldn't believe it. We get live Dungeness Crab
here, steam it, eat what you can, then make crab stock, and make crab
newberg from the leftover, if you can imagine there being any.
Kent

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

I was going to have a different meal altogether but when I looked in the
frig there was 3 cups of cream and some brown crimini mushrooms. The
cream was 8 days out of date, but still acceptable, and the mushrooms
might have been if-y when I bought them (in a cellophane pack).

I cleaned up the mushrooms to where they didn't smell too amoniac and
fried them. While they were frying I got out and compared Giada's and
Mario's bechamel sauce and found that Mario's recipe fit my 3 cups of
cream (without calculating the difference of Giada's 4 cups' recipe).
Both called for milk - not cream. I didn't care because I've never made a
fit bechamel so far -- always lumpy and spending more time with lumps
than the cooking!

I heated the cream in the microwave slowly to about 160º while I heated
the 5 T butter (both recipes called for the same amount of butter) and
then sprinkled 1/3 cup flour into it. Giada' recipe said to cook 2
minutes, Mario's said to cook 6-7 minutes. I cooked until starting to
turn a little brownish, as Mario said, maybe about 4 minutes. DH poured
the hot cream into the butter/flour mixture 1 cup at a time while I
whisked. It was very thick; I would assume mainly due to cream instead of
milk. I added 1/2 the amount of salt and nutmeg called for, and it still
was pretty pungent with salt & nutmeg. NO LUMPS!

Then I added the finished mushrooms and the spaghetti to the big pan of
bechamel and used tongs to separate them as they cooked. This really
tasted like carbonara.

I saved the rest of the bechamel (in the freezer) for another day.
Necessity was the mother of invention as I rescued the mushrooms and the
rest of the cream that I had bought to make chocolate truffles.

Served with 'organic' fresh carrots, salt & pepper; butter lettuce with
oil and vinegar and a glass of wine, French for DH; Italian for me.

It's now snack time and a movie -- thanks TJ's for salza and chips - as
they say, "Good to go."
Dee Dee

"Reg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Peter Aitken said:

Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is
one of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in classical
French cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock.
Call it Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of
traditional recipe names!!

Milk yes, definitely not white stock. That would be
a veloute.

--
Reg

You may argue with Julia.

--
Peter Aitken

In article <[email hidden]>,

Peter Aitken said:

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

snip!

Quoted message said:

Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is one
of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in classical French
cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock. Call it
Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of traditional
recipe names!!

I'm all for that, Peter! And in that spirit, I will quote from my 1961
English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique: "Originally, the bechamel
was made by adding a liberal amount of fresh cream to a thick veloute
sauce."

D.M.

Peter Aitken said:

"Reg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Peter Aitken said:

Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is
one of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in classical
French cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock.
Call it Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of
traditional recipe names!!

Milk yes, definitely not white stock. That would be
a veloute.

--
Reg

You may argue with Julia.

She would agree with me here, I'm afraid.

Béchamel is not made with "milk or white stock". Either
it contains all milk or it contains milk with white stock
added. If it's made with only stock it's a veloute.

--
Reg

Kent, when you say, 2/3 oil to 1 part flour. Do you mean 2/3 cup of oil and
1/3 cup of flour and how much milk for those amounts?
Thanks
Dee Dee

"Kent" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Try making your roux in the microwave using olive oil and flour, in about
a 2/3 oil to 1 part flour. Microwave this on a 3 or so setting. Any oil
picks up MW radiation far more than other ingredients.
Then add heated milk and whisk. Heat more and whisk. Then heat a bit more
and whisk.
There you have it, your bechamel.
Recently doing this I made the best crab newberg I've ever had, and
nothing made it to the stove top. I couldn't believe it. We get live
Dungeness Crab here, steam it, eat what you can, then make crab stock, and
make crab newberg from the leftover, if you can imagine there being any.
Kent

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

I was going to have a different meal altogether but when I looked in the
frig there was 3 cups of cream and some brown crimini mushrooms. The
cream was 8 days out of date, but still acceptable, and the mushrooms
might have been if-y when I bought them (in a cellophane pack).

I cleaned up the mushrooms to where they didn't smell too amoniac and
fried them. While they were frying I got out and compared Giada's and
Mario's bechamel sauce and found that Mario's recipe fit my 3 cups of
cream (without calculating the difference of Giada's 4 cups' recipe).
Both called for milk - not cream. I didn't care because I've never made
a fit bechamel so far -- always lumpy and spending more time with lumps
than the cooking!

I heated the cream in the microwave slowly to about 160º while I heated
the 5 T butter (both recipes called for the same amount of butter) and
then sprinkled 1/3 cup flour into it. Giada' recipe said to cook 2
minutes, Mario's said to cook 6-7 minutes. I cooked until starting to
turn a little brownish, as Mario said, maybe about 4 minutes. DH poured
the hot cream into the butter/flour mixture 1 cup at a time while I
whisked. It was very thick; I would assume mainly due to cream instead
of milk. I added 1/2 the amount of salt and nutmeg called for, and it
still was pretty pungent with salt & nutmeg. NO LUMPS!

Then I added the finished mushrooms and the spaghetti to the big pan of
bechamel and used tongs to separate them as they cooked. This really
tasted like carbonara.

I saved the rest of the bechamel (in the freezer) for another day.
Necessity was the mother of invention as I rescued the mushrooms and the
rest of the cream that I had bought to make chocolate truffles.

Served with 'organic' fresh carrots, salt & pepper; butter lettuce with
oil and vinegar and a glass of wine, French for DH; Italian for me.

It's now snack time and a movie -- thanks TJ's for salza and chips - as
they say, "Good to go."
Dee Dee

"Donald Martinich" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Peter Aitken said:

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

snip!

Quoted message said:

Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is
one
of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in classical
French
cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock. Call
it
Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of traditional
recipe names!!

I'm all for that, Peter! And in that spirit, I will quote from my 1961
English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique: "Originally, the bechamel
was made by adding a liberal amount of fresh cream to a thick veloute
sauce."

D.M.

Dear Friends, I said that I had never made an acceptable Bechamel -- so I
was off to some unknown Alton Brown adventure. I believe this explanation
is enough of a deference to the spirit of any Bechamel sauce rooted in
classical French cooking. I will indeed call it Dee Dee Sauce, if that
makes you feel better. No problem here. I realize it is such a basic in
"Classical French Cooking" that it is the first thing our home ec class in
West Virginia in 1948 'tried' to teach us, possibly to civilize us wild and
wonderful kids. This particular year I believe they showed us a film of
Madam Curie and brought in a symphony. Ah, I have digressed ---

I like this Italian 'origin' version - maybe because I'm partial to 'Italian
cuisine' - is that an oxymoron? I think not!
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/SauceHistory.htm

There are four theories on the origin of Béchamel Sauce:
a.. The Italian version of who created this sauce is that it was created
in the 14th century and was introduced by the Italian chefs of Catherine de
Medici (1519-1589), the Italian-born Queen of France. In 1533, as part of an
Italian-French dynastic alliance, Catherine was married to Henri, Duke of
Orleans (the future King Henri II of France. It is because of the Italian
cooks and pastry makers who followed her to France that the French came to
know the taste of Italian cooking that they introduced to the French court.
Antonin Carème(1784-1833), celebrated chef and author, wrote in 1822: "The
cooks of the second half of the 1700's came to know the taste of Italian
cooking that Catherine de'Medici introduced to the French court."

The recipe for Cream Sauce in Le Guide combines cream with Béchamel Sauce --
so you basically made a cream sauce. As for lumps, all of these types of
sauce call for straining through fine mesh.

So how many rolls of wallpaper did you hang, Dee?
Lefty
--
Life is for learning

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

I was going to have a different meal altogether but when I looked in the
frig there was 3 cups of cream and some brown crimini mushrooms. The

cream

Quoted message said:

was 8 days out of date, but still acceptable, and the mushrooms might have
been if-y when I bought them (in a cellophane pack).

I cleaned up the mushrooms to where they didn't smell too amoniac and

fried

Quoted message said:

them. While they were frying I got out and compared Giada's and Mario's
bechamel sauce and found that Mario's recipe fit my 3 cups of cream

(without

Quoted message said:

calculating the difference of Giada's 4 cups' recipe). Both called for
milk - not cream. I didn't care because I've never made a fit bechamel so
far -- always lumpy and spending more time with lumps than the cooking!

I heated the cream in the microwave slowly to about 160º while I heated

the

Quoted message said:

5 T butter (both recipes called for the same amount of butter) and then
sprinkled 1/3 cup flour into it. Giada' recipe said to cook 2 minutes,
Mario's said to cook 6-7 minutes. I cooked until starting to turn a

little

Quoted message said:

brownish, as Mario said, maybe about 4 minutes. DH poured the hot cream
into the butter/flour mixture 1 cup at a time while I whisked. It was

very

Quoted message said:

thick; I would assume mainly due to cream instead of milk. I added 1/2

the

Quoted message said:

amount of salt and nutmeg called for, and it still was pretty pungent with
salt & nutmeg. NO LUMPS!

Then I added the finished mushrooms and the spaghetti to the big pan of
bechamel and used tongs to separate them as they cooked. This really

tasted

Quoted message said:

like carbonara.

I saved the rest of the bechamel (in the freezer) for another day.
Necessity was the mother of invention as I rescued the mushrooms and the
rest of the cream that I had bought to make chocolate truffles.

Served with 'organic' fresh carrots, salt & pepper; butter lettuce with

oil

Quoted message said:

and vinegar and a glass of wine, French for DH; Italian for me.

It's now snack time and a movie -- thanks TJ's for salza and chips - as

they

Quoted message said:

say, "Good to go."
Dee Dee

Sorry, Dee for my confusion. The usual butter/flour ratio for roux is 1 to
1. Olive oil makes a healthier, easier, and less fatty roux. You can use a 2
to 3 ratio rather than a 1 to 1 ratio. For a roux containing 3 TB flour you
only need 2 TB olive oil rather than 3 TB of butter. I find roux much
friendlier using olive oil since it has no aqueous, or water fraction, and
you can store it a long time in ther frig. I make relatively large batches
of roux, and store in the frig. for a long time, using it when I want to
make a bechamel or a veloute sauce on the run. It makes a lot of sauce
making much easier.
Kent

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Kent, when you say, 2/3 oil to 1 part flour. Do you mean 2/3 cup of oil
and 1/3 cup of flour and how much milk for those amounts?
Thanks
Dee Dee

"Kent" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Try making your roux in the microwave using olive oil and flour, in about
a 2/3 oil to 1 part flour. Microwave this on a 3 or so setting. Any oil
picks up MW radiation far more than other ingredients.
Then add heated milk and whisk. Heat more and whisk. Then heat a bit
more and whisk.
There you have it, your bechamel.
Recently doing this I made the best crab newberg I've ever had, and
nothing made it to the stove top. I couldn't believe it. We get live
Dungeness Crab here, steam it, eat what you can, then make crab stock,
and make crab newberg from the leftover, if you can imagine there being
any.
Kent

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

I was going to have a different meal altogether but when I looked in the
frig there was 3 cups of cream and some brown crimini mushrooms. The
cream was 8 days out of date, but still acceptable, and the mushrooms
might have been if-y when I bought them (in a cellophane pack).

I cleaned up the mushrooms to where they didn't smell too amoniac and
fried them. While they were frying I got out and compared Giada's and
Mario's bechamel sauce and found that Mario's recipe fit my 3 cups of
cream (without calculating the difference of Giada's 4 cups' recipe).
Both called for milk - not cream. I didn't care because I've never made
a fit bechamel so far -- always lumpy and spending more time with lumps
than the cooking!

I heated the cream in the microwave slowly to about 160º while I heated
the 5 T butter (both recipes called for the same amount of butter) and
then sprinkled 1/3 cup flour into it. Giada' recipe said to cook 2
minutes, Mario's said to cook 6-7 minutes. I cooked until starting to
turn a little brownish, as Mario said, maybe about 4 minutes. DH poured
the hot cream into the butter/flour mixture 1 cup at a time while I
whisked. It was very thick; I would assume mainly due to cream instead
of milk. I added 1/2 the amount of salt and nutmeg called for, and it
still was pretty pungent with salt & nutmeg. NO LUMPS!

Then I added the finished mushrooms and the spaghetti to the big pan of
bechamel and used tongs to separate them as they cooked. This really
tasted like carbonara.

I saved the rest of the bechamel (in the freezer) for another day.
Necessity was the mother of invention as I rescued the mushrooms and
the rest of the cream that I had bought to make chocolate truffles.

Served with 'organic' fresh carrots, salt & pepper; butter lettuce with
oil and vinegar and a glass of wine, French for DH; Italian for me.

It's now snack time and a movie -- thanks TJ's for salza and chips - as
they say, "Good to go."
Dee Dee

Dee, I only answered half of your question.
The usual ratio of roux to liquid(cream, milk, or stock, or a combination)
is enough roux to give 2TB flour to one cup of stock,cream or milk. This
gives you a fairly thick sauce. I usually use enough roux to contain 1.5 TB
flour per cup of liquid. When you hit the geezer phase of life you like your
sauces a bit thinner, and less fatty. This is why olive oil, rather than
butter works so well, and it's easier.
Kent

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Kent, when you say, 2/3 oil to 1 part flour. Do you mean 2/3 cup of oil
and 1/3 cup of flour and how much milk for those amounts?
Thanks
Dee Dee

"Kent" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Try making your roux in the microwave using olive oil and flour, in about
a 2/3 oil to 1 part flour. Microwave this on a 3 or so setting. Any oil
picks up MW radiation far more than other ingredients.
Then add heated milk and whisk. Heat more and whisk. Then heat a bit
more and whisk.
There you have it, your bechamel.
Recently doing this I made the best crab newberg I've ever had, and
nothing made it to the stove top. I couldn't believe it. We get live
Dungeness Crab here, steam it, eat what you can, then make crab stock,
and make crab newberg from the leftover, if you can imagine there being
any.
Kent

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

I was going to have a different meal altogether but when I looked in the
frig there was 3 cups of cream and some brown crimini mushrooms. The
cream was 8 days out of date, but still acceptable, and the mushrooms
might have been if-y when I bought them (in a cellophane pack).

I cleaned up the mushrooms to where they didn't smell too amoniac and
fried them. While they were frying I got out and compared Giada's and
Mario's bechamel sauce and found that Mario's recipe fit my 3 cups of
cream (without calculating the difference of Giada's 4 cups' recipe).
Both called for milk - not cream. I didn't care because I've never made
a fit bechamel so far -- always lumpy and spending more time with lumps
than the cooking!

I heated the cream in the microwave slowly to about 160º while I heated
the 5 T butter (both recipes called for the same amount of butter) and
then sprinkled 1/3 cup flour into it. Giada' recipe said to cook 2
minutes, Mario's said to cook 6-7 minutes. I cooked until starting to
turn a little brownish, as Mario said, maybe about 4 minutes. DH poured
the hot cream into the butter/flour mixture 1 cup at a time while I
whisked. It was very thick; I would assume mainly due to cream instead
of milk. I added 1/2 the amount of salt and nutmeg called for, and it
still was pretty pungent with salt & nutmeg. NO LUMPS!

Then I added the finished mushrooms and the spaghetti to the big pan of
bechamel and used tongs to separate them as they cooked. This really
tasted like carbonara.

I saved the rest of the bechamel (in the freezer) for another day.
Necessity was the mother of invention as I rescued the mushrooms and
the rest of the cream that I had bought to make chocolate truffles.

Served with 'organic' fresh carrots, salt & pepper; butter lettuce with
oil and vinegar and a glass of wine, French for DH; Italian for me.

It's now snack time and a movie -- thanks TJ's for salza and chips - as
they say, "Good to go."
Dee Dee

Kent said:

Dee, I only answered half of your question.
The usual ratio of roux to liquid(cream, milk, or stock, or a combination)
is enough roux to give 2TB flour to one cup of stock,cream or milk. This
gives you a fairly thick sauce. I usually use enough roux to contain 1.5 TB
flour per cup of liquid. When you hit the geezer phase of life you like your
sauces a bit thinner, and less fatty. This is why olive oil, rather than
butter works so well, and it's easier.
Kent

Good point about the fat content. I use olive as well sometimes,
depending on the dish.

When I want minimal fat, I use a pure slurry, which you can
do with flour if you mix it properly. You can leave the fat
out altogether that way.

--
Reg

Over the years, plenty of wallpaper, I've made
I refuse to strain lumps anymore -- you know, like: I don't do windows.
I'm through with that!
:-)
Dee Dee

"Lefty" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The recipe for Cream Sauce in Le Guide combines cream with Béchamel
Sauce --
so you basically made a cream sauce. As for lumps, all of these types of
sauce call for straining through fine mesh.

So how many rolls of wallpaper did you hang, Dee?
Lefty
--
Life is for learning

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

I was going to have a different meal altogether but when I looked in the
frig there was 3 cups of cream and some brown crimini mushrooms. The

cream

Quoted message said:

was 8 days out of date, but still acceptable, and the mushrooms might
have
been if-y when I bought them (in a cellophane pack).

I cleaned up the mushrooms to where they didn't smell too amoniac and

fried

Quoted message said:

them. While they were frying I got out and compared Giada's and Mario's
bechamel sauce and found that Mario's recipe fit my 3 cups of cream

(without

Quoted message said:

calculating the difference of Giada's 4 cups' recipe). Both called for
milk - not cream. I didn't care because I've never made a fit bechamel
so
far -- always lumpy and spending more time with lumps than the cooking!

I heated the cream in the microwave slowly to about 160º while I heated

the

Quoted message said:

5 T butter (both recipes called for the same amount of butter) and then
sprinkled 1/3 cup flour into it. Giada' recipe said to cook 2 minutes,
Mario's said to cook 6-7 minutes. I cooked until starting to turn a

little

Quoted message said:

brownish, as Mario said, maybe about 4 minutes. DH poured the hot cream
into the butter/flour mixture 1 cup at a time while I whisked. It was

very

Quoted message said:

thick; I would assume mainly due to cream instead of milk. I added 1/2

the

Quoted message said:

amount of salt and nutmeg called for, and it still was pretty pungent
with
salt & nutmeg. NO LUMPS!

Then I added the finished mushrooms and the spaghetti to the big pan of
bechamel and used tongs to separate them as they cooked. This really

tasted

Quoted message said:

like carbonara.

I saved the rest of the bechamel (in the freezer) for another day.
Necessity was the mother of invention as I rescued the mushrooms and the
rest of the cream that I had bought to make chocolate truffles.

Served with 'organic' fresh carrots, salt & pepper; butter lettuce with

oil

Quoted message said:

and vinegar and a glass of wine, French for DH; Italian for me.

It's now snack time and a movie -- thanks TJ's for salza and chips - as

they

Quoted message said:

say, "Good to go."
Dee Dee

Dee Randall said:

I refuse to strain lumps anymore --

I've never had lumps in my roux/sauce. I learned two tricks early on
that guarantee *no* lumps. First, get yourself a professional quality
French whisk, the kind you find at a restaurant supply store. Second,
always make sure the liquid you add to your roux, be it stock, milk,
etc, is at least warm, if not hot. No cold liquids. (finally, a good
use for your microwave ...besides warming coffee)

http://www.sallys-place.com/food/chefs-corner/whisks.htm

nb

"Donald Martinich" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Peter Aitken said:

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

snip!

Quoted message said:

Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is
one
of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in classical
French
cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock. Call
it
Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of traditional
recipe names!!

I'm all for that, Peter! And in that spirit, I will quote from my 1961
English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique: "Originally, the bechamel
was made by adding a liberal amount of fresh cream to a thick veloute
sauce."

D.M.

That's quite interesting because Julia has it different. I guess even the
"classic" recipes are not set in stone.

--
Peter Aitken

On Tue 21 Mar 2006 06:28:22a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Peter
Aitken?

Quoted message said:

"Donald Martinich" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Peter Aitken said:

"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
> acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

snip!

Quoted message said:

Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is
one of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in
classical French
cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock.
Call it Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of
traditional recipe names!!

I'm all for that, Peter! And in that spirit, I will quote from my 1961
English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique: "Originally, the
bechamel was made by adding a liberal amount of fresh cream to a thick
veloute sauce."

D.M.

That's quite interesting because Julia has it different. I guess even
the "classic" recipes are not set in stone.

Fettucini Alfredo anyone?

--
Wayne Boatwright o¿o
____________________

BIOYA

Dee Randall said:

I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

<snip>
As another poster said, it might have been very good, but not a
Béchamel.
Now, how come you have problems with lumps in Béchamel? I find it an
easy sauce to make: Melt a big blob of butter with some salt, pepper
and a tsp flour. You should obtain a thick paste. Still on moderate
heat, start adding milk *very* slowly (at the beginning - actually,
the process is very much like making mayonnaise - you add the liquid
extremely slowly at the beginning, then you can start adding faster),
the milk should mix evenly with the paste. When you have added a cup
of milk, you can start adding it faster. See, no lumps! Then you let
it cook 20 minutes on low heat, stirring from time to time. Done!

Nathalie in Switzerland

Wayne Boatwright said:

On Tue 21 Mar 2006 06:28:22a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Peter
Aitken?

Quoted message said:

"Donald Martinich" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
"Peter Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote:

>"Dee Randall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
>news:[email hidden]...
>
>>I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
>>acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.

snip!

>Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is
>one of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in
>classical French
>cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock.
>Call it Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of
>traditional recipe names!!

I'm all for that, Peter! And in that spirit, I will quote from my 1961
English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique: "Originally, the
bechamel was made by adding a liberal amount of fresh cream to a thick
veloute sauce."

D.M.

That's quite interesting because Julia has it different. I guess even
the "classic" recipes are not set in stone.

Fettucini Alfredo anyone?

That's not really a sauce, you know...

I bet that's never come up before.

No, seriously.

Pastorio

Bob (this one) said:

That's not really a sauce, you know...

Yeah, it is. ....seriously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sauces

nb