Betcha By Golly Béchamel Sauce

Another thing I learned in my Commercial Cookery class is Béchamel Sauce. The ingredients were enumerated and the method of cooking was taught. But being the inquisitive me, I asked myself (no, not the chef) what is Béchamel Sauce for anyway? I have seen it somewhere, in menus, I guess, but I cannot pinpoint on what dish. I asked my buddy in class and she asked me the same question. So, I resolved to do some research when I get home after class.
 

First of, here is the recipe for the freaking Béchamel Sauce:
           Ingredients:
           1/4 cup unsalted butter
           1/4 cup all-purpose flour
           2 cups milk
           1 small onion
           3 cloves
           1 bay leaf
           salt
           pepper
           cayenne or nutmeg, or both

          Instructions:
          Heat butter in a sauce pan, add flour and simmer briefly. When a roux is created, add hot milk to it while stirring vigorously with a whisk. Bring to boil, slowly, stirring continuously. Add onion, bay leaf and clove and simmer for about 30 minutes or until smooth and thickened. Strain sauce with a fine-mesh strainer. Lastly, add salt, white pepper and cayenne to taste.
          This makes about 2 cups.
 

Before I continue, I think I should explain what a roux is. A roux is base for sauce: a mixture of flour and fat--like butter!-- that is cooked briefly and used as the thickening base of a sauce or soup.
 

Now, next question. How do we use bechamel sauce? Do we use it for dipping? As dressing? Or do we eat it as it is?
 

Béchamel is one of the "mother sauces" in French cuisine. It is a basic white sauce that can be used as the base of many other sauces. For example, when melted cheese or mustard is added, it can be used as topping for cooked meat, vegetables or pasta. Here are the some of the sauces that has Bechamel Sauce as base and with additional ingredients added:

          Mornay Sauce - gruyere cheese is added
          Creme Sauce - cream is substituted to milk
          Soubise Sauce -with diced onions sweated in butter
          Alfredo Sauce - parmesan cheese is added
 

In class, we used our bechamel sauce to create Alfredo Sauce for our freshly made Fettuccini. Our chef said that the classic Alfredo Sauce is supposed to be plain, but, just to make the pasta not too bland, bacon bits were added. When I showed off my cooking skills at home, I did not have any bacon so, I added canned tuna flakes instead. It was a success!