MirepoixBéchamel let down with cream and reduced back. The simplest derivative and the one most often made badly, because people add the cream and stop there.
| Time | |
|---|---|
| Servings | 4 |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Equipment | Saucepan, whisk |
| Mother sauce | Béchamel |
- 500 ml — whole milk
- 25 g — plain flour
- 25 g — butter
- 150 ml — double cream
- 5 ml — lemon juice
- 5 g — salt
- 1 pinch — white pepper
500 ml béchamel : 150 ml cream
- Make the béchamel and cook it out properly — the cream will not hide raw flour, it will dilute the flavour that should be covering it.
- Stir the cream in and reduce until the sauce is back where it started. Skipping this step is why cream sauce so often tastes of nothing.
- Finish with a few drops of lemon off the heat. Cream flattens a sauce; the acid is what puts the edges back.
Compared with Béchamel
- Added: double cream 150 ml, lemon juice 5 ml
- Not used: onion, clove, bay leaf, nutmeg, grated
- Different amount: salt 5 g (Béchamel: 4 g)
- Same amount: whole milk 500 ml, plain flour 25 g, butter 25 g, white pepper 1 pinch
Both recipes serve 4.
- One serving (1 of 4): whole milk 125 ml, plain flour 6.25 g, butter 6.25 g, double cream 37.5 ml, lemon juice 1.25 ml, salt 1.25 g
- Double batch (8 servings): whole milk 1,000 ml, plain flour 50 g, butter 50 g, double cream 300 ml, lemon juice 10 ml, salt 10 g
In the same library
- Mustard sauce — 30 min · Easy
- Mornay — 35 min · Easy
- Mousseline — 22 min · Hard
- Soubise — 50 min · Easy
- Suprême — 45 min · Medium
- Steak au poivre — 20 min · Medium
Source · Mirepoix · Auguste Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire (1907), no. 141