INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Source: My grandfather z"l said this sauce was invented by Duke Phillippe
De Mornay, Governbor of Saumur, l-rd of the Plessis Marly, leader of the
Hugenots sometime in the late 1500's.
My father z"l used to tell me that when someone writes or talks about
Bechamel Sauce they should know what they are talking about. He said almost
invariable persons who write or talk about Bechamel Sauces actually have no
idea at all what they are talking about. They copy a recipe from a
cookbook, the author of which, likewise did not know the true recipe either
and just made bad guesses. Even the so-called finest cookbooks do not have
the true Bechamel Sauce recipes.
Some cookbooks credit Bechamel , the French financier of the 12th centry
with inventing Bechamel Sauce but this is entirely untrue. Bechamel, the
financier, was strictly a money man and knew nothing about food and cared
less.
He said everyone, as the centuries went by, wanted to "get into the act",
so to speak and many famous cooks tried to protend that they either
invented BS or at least knew the original recipe. Escoffie, in his
cookbook, tried to give the idea that he knew how to make BS which he
difinitely did not. Escoffier was a very good cook but knew little of the
history of cooking and tried to bluff his way through cooking more than
anything else. His BS was terrible. Alexandre Dumas, was a poor cook and
knew little about cooking, in his book "Dictionary of the Cuisine", never
bothered to write the truth about cooking but simply wrote what he thought
would make a book that would sell. His BS recipe was entirely different
from that of Escoffier and Escoffier's different from everyone else. The
Bechamel recipe in most gourmet cookbooks of our present day is just a
writer's dream.
Louis de Bechamel was maitre d"hotel, or in other words, in charge of food
and service for King Louis XIV who was born in 1638. He was King from 1643
to 1715. Louis de Bechamel, of course, wanted to give himself as much
favorable publicity as he could in order to hold his job. He just had to
look important. He named the basic white sauce of Mornay, Bechamel Sauce.
Put 5 level Tbsp. of butter into a pan and melt over low heat. Do not
brown. Remove the pan from heat. Add 5 level Tbsp of flour and stir in well
with butter* but do not brown. Add 1 3/4 cups of cold milk**. Remember cold
milk. Warm milk will make the mixture lumpy. Put back on the stove over
medium heat. Stir well and bring to slow boil until the mixture thickens,
salt and pepper to taste and then quickly remove from heat. This is
sometimes called a white roux.
To make a brown Bechamel Suace, make just the same but let the butter brown
lightly before adding the flour. This is also sometimes called a Brun-Roux.
These basic Bechamel Sauces are the general basis for many sauces and
souffles. Bechamel Sauce in itself, is not used alone at all as some cooks
would try to make you believe. Bechamel Sauces contains no cream, vegatable
stock, onion, thyme, or nutmeg,etc. Nor if making Fleishig do they contain
chicken stock or veal stock, etc. These one would add after the basic sauce
is made.
To make Pareve: *  substitute a pareve, non-dairy margin type product. If
product contains 100% vegetable oil, use only 80% and make up difference
with water to equal the water content in butter. ** substitute a pareve,
non-dairy product mixed with water to equal consistency of milk
Posted to JEWISH-FOOD digest V96 #51
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 1996
From: "HILLEL Y. CANALIZO" <HILLEL.CANALIZO@worldnet.att.net>

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