On Tue 21 Mar 2006 09:55:54a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Bob (this one)?
Quoted message said:
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]...
>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...
Did I say "sauce"? <g>
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I bet that's never come up before.
LOL!
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No, seriously.
"seriously"
Quoted message said:
Pastorio
-- Wayne Boatwright Õ¿Õ¬ ________________________________________
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 ofan 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."
And you're gonna make us guess the other 3? Does the winner get a prize? <g>
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.
Carbonara?
Do you mean Alfredo? (and by "mean" I mean in the American colloquial sense, because in Italy they kinda don't know what Alfredo is, they call pasta in white sauce something like pasta in white sauce...though I don't imagine this will actually forestall the flamewar about to erupt...)
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.
Carbonara?
Do you mean Alfredo? (and by "mean" I mean in the American colloquial sense, because in Italy they kinda don't know what Alfredo is, they call pasta in white sauce something like pasta in white sauce...though I don't imagine this will actually forestall the flamewar about to erupt...)
--Blair
Dammit, Blair...
You have the brains of a yadda, yadda and wouldn't know a yadda, yadda and your use of English is worse than an illiterate yadda, yadda...
Just in case nobody else jumps in. I mean we have a system to uphold.
"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
Hi Dee Dee, It's the reverse of what you said. For 1 of cup flour you use 2/3 cup of oil. In the microwave you have to put in a bit more oil than that, as needed. The usual ratio for making a roux with butter is 1 part butter to 1 part flour. For olive oil it is less, particularly on the stove. As per your example when I want to make a very brown roux I will do it on the stove top with 1 cup of flour and 2/3 cup oil and store the unused portion in the frig. It will last a long time, as long as the oil can be left in the frig, and much longer than a butter based roux. I do this routinely. It is much more heart healthy than the old fashion roux, and it gives you a glistening, much nicer sauce. Kent Kent
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"Kent" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
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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
