Bechamel Sauce

In my opinion every cook should know how to make a few of the mother sauces, especially Bechamel. What is a mother sauce, you ask? I am very happy to tell you! There are five mother sauces as described by chef Auguste Escoffier in his book: A Guide to Modern Cookery. These sauces, in both French and Italian cuisine, are the basis for most of the other sauces you will find. The five mother sauces are Bechamel, Espagnole, Veloute, Hollandaise and Tomate.

For this post we are going to talk about Bechamel, which is one of my favorites. There are so many things you can do with a Bechamel sauce…you can turn it into a Mornay sauce (a cheese sauce with Gruyere and Parmesan cheese), or the English version Cheddar cheese sauce. Bechamel Sauce on it’s own is used in a wide array of dishes as well.

The basic recipe for a Bechamel is 1 to 3 tablespoons of butter and flour to one cup of milk. It is most important to keep the ratio of butter and flour equal. Otherwise your sauce will have an overly starchy non good eats flavor. Trust me I know this from experience. What you need the sauce for will depend on how many tablespoons of butter and flour you use honestly.

One tablespoon each of butter and flour per cup of milk makes a thin, easily pourable sauce. Two tablespoons of each makes a medium thick sauce. Three tablespoons of each makes an extra thick sauce.

Melt the butter and whisk in the flour until smooth. This forms a roux.

Cook the roux for about five to seven minutes. You don’t want it to get dark, but stay a light golden sandy color. Make sure to stir frequently. 

 Depending on the recipe…some say to warm the milk, some say to leave it cold. The whole purpose of it is to prevent lumps. Honestly I’ve never found it to make much of a difference. I just pull out my milk when I start so it can get to room temperature. Add the milk slowly, whisking it constantly. If you are making more than one cup…add a cup at a time, mixing well each time. Whisk together until smooth. Bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. The milk will thicken with the roux. Season with salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg (freshly grated is best). Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use.

That’s the basic mother sauce…now you can get creative!

One of my favorite variations is to make a cheese sauce for homemade mac cheese. I make the thin sauce version as the cheese will thicken the sauce. I add a teaspoon of Worcestershire and a cup of shredded cheese. (A ½ cup to a cup of cheese per cup of milk is my normal ratio.)  As for what type of cheese to use? Any cheese that has a good melting point is good. Really it will be up to your tastes. Just make sure to have the cheese shredded (it melts better) and to add it to the sauce in small quantities, stirring well each time.

New Recipe! Superbowl Munchies

After talking with my friend who is hosting the game day party we decided on....

Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken Bites!

It was an meat dish I found on Pinterest but I've made a few tweaks to it for my liking.

You need:
2 pounds of chicken tenders, thawed out (about 13-15 pieces)
1 T of salt
1 tsp of fresh cracked pepper
1/4 tsp of paprika
2 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Enough bacon to wrap (about 1 1/2 packages depending on the bacon)
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
Toothpicks

Mix all seasonings in a bowl. I prefer to mix all the seasonings together for things like this to ensure a more uniform flavor.

 

After seasonings are mix, cut each chicken tender into two or three pieces, depending on how big you want the bites to be. Season the chicken liberally with the seasoning. You may end up with a little extra seasoning mix but you can store it in an airtight container for another use.

 

Cut your bacon into smaller pieces. One strip of bacon is way too much for a bite, no matter how much I like bacon. Wrap each piece of bacon around a piece of chicken and secure with a toothpick. (Note: I find it easier to skewer the toothpick at an angle vs straight in. I find it holds the chicken and bacon together more securely for the latter stages).

Take your brown sugar and put into a plate. Scrunch it around so it is nice and loose. Roll, coat each bite into the brown sugar and put into a pan sprayed with a Pam. Don't be surprised if by the time you are done coating the bites, the earlier pieces don't look like they have much brown sugar. The bacon soaked up that yummy brown sugary goodness and it will make for some nice caramelization. Trust me.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven. It took about 35 minutes with me turning the bites over every 10 minutes. I hate when something that is bacon wrapped but the bottom part of the bacon is soggy. No I like my bacon crispy all the way around. I found some pieces were done before others so I pulled them out and set aside so they didn't burn. The one good thing is the bacon fat keeps the chicken moist so they don't dry out.

End verdict? Well so far the husband and I have given them two thumbs up. First you taste the sweet smokey bacon and then the juicy spicy chicken. The spice leaves just a touch of lingering...enough to for you to know you had some spice but not enough to over power your taste buds. 

I will let you know what the group thought of them after the game.

Oh, as a bonus picture...my two pups who act like they never get fed kept watch over me while I made these. Every time I looked behind me I saw this:

Please Mom, can we have some? We love bacon!

EDIT: The group LOVED the bites! They are best warm as cold chicken tends to toughen up a bit. But there wasn't a single bite left by the then of the evening. Found out that it is REALLY good with pineapple so next time I just may make a pineapple chutney to accompany the bites.