Magic White Sauce (and Variations) Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

How to jazz up white sauce? ›

Add ground black pepper or ground cayenne pepper to white sauce to give it a kick. Add marjoram, beef bouillon powder and a pinch of ground thyme powder for country fried steak or other beef dish. Add paprika, parsley, white wine and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice for seafood dishes.

Tip in the flour and stir it into the buttery veg until well mixed. Divide the milk between three cups and add one cup to the pan, stirring until completely incorporated. Add the second cup and repeat. Pour in the remaining milk and bring to the boil, stirring continuously.

To change the thickness of a white sauce, simply use more or less butter and flour (keeping them equal) while using the same amount of milk. Thin white sauce: Use 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour. Medium white sauce: Use 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of flour.

Add a bit of elegance with a few tablespoons of chardonnay or other dry white wine, or sprinkle in some Parmesan cheese to give the sauce a little zing. Other types of cheese, as well as a variety of herbs, may also be used to kick this sauce recipe up a notch to tailor the flavor to whatever you want to serve with it.

It's easy to get lost when it comes to the creamy sauces of French cuisine. Learn the difference between a classic roux, béchamel, and mornay.

White sauce – also known as béchamel – is made with flour, milk, and butter. It's a basic sauce that can be used as a base for other sauces or as a topping for dishes like lasagna. Alfredo sauce, on the other hand, is made with butter, cream, and Parmesan cheese, and has a much richer flavour than white sauce.

For the white sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and cook over the heat for one minute. Gradually whisk in the hot milk, whisking until thickened. Add the Dijon mustard and parmesan cheese and season well with salt and pepper.

Tzatziki is a creamy cucumber yogurt dip (or sauce) made from simple ingredients including strained yogurt (or Greek yogurt), cucumbers, garlic, and sometimes fresh herbs such as dill or mint. Traditionally, it is made from strained sheep or goat's milk yogurt, but a full-fat Greek yogurt works just fine in this dip.

Béchamel sauce (also known as “besciamella” in Italian), is a creamy 3-ingredient white sauce made from butter, flour and milk. It's most commonly used for mac & cheese and lasagna Bolognese, but plays a key role in many authentic Italian pasta dishes, pizza sauces and casseroles.

Béchamel – milk-based sauce, thickened with a white roux. Beurre blanc – Reduction of butter, vinegar, white wine and shallots.

Why won't my white sauce thicken up? ›

Cause: Ratios are wrong (too much liquid or not enough flour) or roux is cooked too long or too short. Solution: First try and cook it for a bit longer and see if it thickens up. If not, make a little more roux in a separate saucepan (using equal parts butter and flour).

The Greek version, besamel, includes the addition of egg yolks, which gives the traditional white sauce a light yellow color. This sauce is used in moussaka (a layered eggplant dish), pastit*io (baked pasta with ground meat), and melitzanes papoutsakia (little eggplant shoes).

Heartier herbs like thyme or oregano can be added in to simmer with the sauce. Add delicate herbs like parsley, basil, or chervil at the end to maintain their delicate, aromatic flavor. Quick tip: Swirl in a bit of leftover pesto to add another herbaceous twist to your Alfredo sauce.

Using less salt will result in a bland, boring pasta even the best sauce can't compensate for. To the white sauce add: One tablespoon each of fresh parsley and fresh oregano, and two teaspoons fresh thyme, together with one scallion, all which are chopped fine. Add this to the sauce along with salt and pepper.