Milk sauce for meat recipe. Milk sauces

So, for the classic bechamel recipe we need the products that every housewife usually has in the refrigerator: milk, butter and flour. All! This is enough to make a base for the sauce.

Often in recipes there are such equivalent substitutions: butter - for margarine, flour - for starch.

Previously, I was calm about margarine, but over time, firstly, I realized that such fat often contains vegetable components, and secondly, no matter how much margarine makes a dish cheaper, you will still notice a difference in taste. It tastes better with butter, but I won’t insist too much.

As for starch, it can serve as a sauce thickener, but the technology for introducing it into the sauce is somewhat different (I will talk about this in more detail at the appropriate stage).

Before making the sauce, be sure to gather all the ingredients so you have them on hand. Because the sauce cooks very quickly and will require your constant attention. Therefore, let's start by measuring the required amount of flour and butter and grating the hard cheese.

For 1 glass of milk, take 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of butter if you plan to prepare a thick milk sauce. So thick that it sticks to a piece of fish, sliding heavily onto the plate. If you need a rarer sauce, then take 1.5 tablespoons of flour and butter. If desired, make rare sauce - 1 tablespoon. The rare sauce is often prepared for stewing or baking dishes.

You can use any cheese for the sauce. Whichever one you take, that’s the accent of taste you’ll get. I used regular hard cheese (Russian) because I wanted to enhance the creamy, milky notes of the sauce.

First of all, place the butter in a hot frying pan and melt it. Watch carefully - the oil should not boil. Enough to melt it.

Now gradually add the flour into the butter. Add little by little, stirring all the time. No need to overcook the flour. Let it be slightly golden in color; the entire butter-flour mixture should be the color of ripe wheat. We ended up with what is called a roux blanc (a French cuisine term).

It could have been done differently. In a dry, hot frying pan, heat the flour, stirring thoroughly, then add the melted butter into it. The end result should be the same in both cases.

If you use starch instead of flour as a thickener, then it does not need to be calcined or fried. The starch is immediately combined with milk, mixed and added to the melted butter.

Add milk to the butter-flour mixture. I've read different opinions about what temperature milk should be. For myself, I chose the simplest method - add room temperature milk to the pan. It’s easier for me this way and I haven’t noticed any particular pitfalls in using cold milk.

After adding milk, stir the sauce all the time and cook for about 4-5 minutes. At first it will seem to you that the sauce is very liquid, but just a couple of minutes will pass and the sauce will begin to thicken rapidly. At this stage, you need to add flavor accents: salt, pepper, nutmeg, sugar and vanillin (for sweet dishes), etc. I limited myself to salt and grated cheese.

A very important point. There is no need to add acidic ingredients to the milk sauce. For example, such as: lemon juice, wine, vinegar and so on. The fact is that when adding acid, the sauce will almost certainly curdle. And then you will have to redo everything. In the case of fish, it is better to pour lemon juice over the prepared portioned piece, and then put a spoonful of ready-made bechamel milk sauce with cheese on top.

Also, when thinking about the thickness of the future sauce, do not forget that you will add cheese. The cheese will add thickness and volume, which means you need to reduce the amount of flour and butter in advance (although my family likes milk sauce to be thick, so I add a small piece of cheese to the same 2 tablespoons of flour and butter). In addition, cheese itself has a salty taste (especially blue cheeses), so be careful with salt.

It is often recommended to strain the finished sauce. I don’t have such a need - the sauce comes out homogeneous and beautiful. Therefore, I immediately serve it hot with pink salmon baked in a sleeve with spices and rose wine. I like to add unique flavor and aroma to my dishes, so I flavored the sauce with a sprig of fresh catnip (a type of mint with lemon essential oils).

The French are sure that the main thing in any dish is the sauce. And there is no reason not to believe these true connoisseurs of delicious food, because they know a lot about it no less than about fashion or love. The most popular sauces include dairy-based dressings. Their delicate texture, pleasant creamy color and, of course, charming soft taste will make your usual lunch or dinner much more interesting, nutritious and tastier. A distinctive feature of all dairy seasonings is the ability to create different flavor variations, ranging from a classic creamy sauce to tart sweet or even smoky-salty notes.

Probably every experienced housewife today knows how to prepare milk sauce for cutlets and other meat dishes. With this dressing, the meat turns out even more tender and flavorful, while the recipe has a completely simple composition that does not threaten the family budget.

You will need:

Milk – 0.5 l
Butter – 2 tablespoons
Wheat flour – 2 tablespoons
Fresh parsley – 1 small bunch
Fresh dill – 1 small bunch
Salt - to taste
Ground black pepper - to taste

Number of servings – 4

Cooking time – 20 minutes

Classic French cuisine

The presented recipe for a classic milk sauce often becomes the basis for other, more complex dressings. It necessarily contains an oil-flour mixture, which French chefs call “white roux.” The flour for such a base must be calcined in a frying pan - with or without oil. This procedure allows you to achieve a completely special structure of the product, which does not allow lumps to form when adding milk.

To prepare the perfect sauce, it is recommended to use good non-stick cookware, as both flour and milk can easily burn if you are a little distracted or undermix the dressing. It should be noted that this gravy cannot be boiled, as it will instantly lose its characteristic consistency and acquire an unpleasant taste.

Pour 2 tablespoons of wheat flour into a heated frying pan. You don’t need to heat the product for a very long time to achieve a rich creamy shade - it’s enough to simply achieve the appearance of a pleasant nutty aroma. After this, remove the container from the heat and cool the flour slightly.
Pour the slightly cooled flour into a saucepan, then immediately add salt and pepper to it in the required amount. Now slightly warmed milk is poured into the mixture. It is better to do this in portions to make it easier to stir the flour and eliminate any lumps that appear. After this, the sauce is put on the fire and heated for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly, without bringing to a boil.
After the specified time, add butter to the saucepan; the mass is heated again until the butter is completely melted. The dressing is removed from the heat, after which finely chopped herbs are added to it (ideally, it should be chopped in a blender). The sauce is infused under a closed lid for 20 minutes, after which it can be served or used to prepare a dish.

If you are making a base for another dressing—such as vanilla sweet or spicy milk sauce—the recipe will not include salt, pepper, or herbs. The base is cooked in the same way as the standard version of the seasoning, and only after adding oil can other ingredients be added to it. Instead of salt, granulated sugar or powdered sugar is added to sweet sauces, and various spices, herbs, even hot pepper are added to spicy sauces. Knowing the classic version of milk sauce, the housewife has the opportunity to experiment with flavors every time.

Innings

Milk gravy can be used both as an independent sauce, served separately, and used in the process of preparing dishes. For example, the classic recipe for cutlets in milk sauce involves baking a meat product, previously filled with milk dressing. When cooked, the sauce turns into a soft, creamy “glaze” that coats the cutlets. But, of course, the dressing goes well with other dishes:

You can serve the gravy not only with cutlets, but also with other meat dishes that go very well with milk gravy. It can be stewed beef, baked chicken or a juicy pork chop - in any case, the spicy or tangy taste of the meat will be complemented by the soft creamy taste of the sauce.
The sauce will be an excellent addition to a variety of casseroles made from potatoes and vegetables. The result is an excellent dietary dish that has a full range of nutrients and excellent taste.
Light vegetable dishes - dietary stew or steamed vegetables - are no less worthy company for milk sauce.
Milk dressing is often prepared to serve fish dishes. To highlight the taste of the fish, garlic and onions may be included in its recipe, but the classic version of the gravy can also decorate the dish.

The list of possibilities that milk sauce opens up for the housewife is endless! This is a great culinary trick that allows you to make an appetizing and very tasty dish for a Sunday family dinner without spending too much time and money.

Chapter:
Milk dishes
4th page

MILK AND SOURCE SAUCES

Milk sauce

Ingredients :
For liquid sauce: 2 cups milk, 1 tbsp. spoon of flour, 1 tbsp. spoon of butter, salt.
For a sauce of medium thickness: 2 cups milk, 2 tbsp. spoons of flour, 2 tbsp. spoons of butter, salt.
For thick sauce: 2 cups milk, 2.5 tbsp. spoons of flour, 2.5 tbsp. spoons of butter, salt.

Preparation

Liquid, medium-thick and thick milk sauces differ in composition, but the method of preparing them is the same. Fry the flour in butter, then, stirring continuously, dilute it with hot milk, add salt to taste and boil for 5-7 minutes. Liquid sauce is served with hot vegetable and cereal dishes. A medium-thick sauce is used when baking vegetables, meat and fish. Thick sauce is used for stuffing.

Potato starch milk sauce

Ingredients : 3 tbsp. spoons of milk and 2 teaspoons of starch, 2 cups of milk, salt.

Preparation

Dilute the starch in cold milk and gradually, stirring, pour it into the boiling milk. Salt the sauce to taste.

Milk sauce with cheese

Ingredients : 1/2 cup thick milk sauce, 2 tbsp. spoons of meat broth, 1 tbsp. spoon of grated cheese, 1 teaspoon of butter, salt, red bell pepper.

Preparation

Add meat broth, grated cheese (Swiss, Emmental, etc.) to the thick milk sauce and mix thoroughly. After this, add butter, salt and red bell pepper.

Milk sauce with egg (for potato and cabbage dishes)

Ingredients : 1 tbsp. spoon of flour, 1 yolk, 1 tbsp. spoon of butter, 1/8 cup of milk, broth.

Preparation

Lightly fry the flour in butter, dilute with broth and let the sauce boil for 10-15 minutes, then dilute the egg yolk in milk, pour into the sauce and stir. Instead of yolk, you can add chopped boiled egg to the sauce.

Milk sauce with Madeira

Ingredients : 3 cups cream or milk, 1/2 cup Madeira, 7 yolks, 100 g butter, 1/2 cup broth (fish or poultry), ground red pepper, salt.

Preparation

Mix raw yolks with cold cream or milk and cook on the stove or in a water bath with continuous stirring, without bringing the mixture to a boil. When the mass thickens, remove it from the heat, add broth, boiled wine, pepper and salt. Then strain the sauce, stirring, heat and season with butter. Serve with poached fish, game, and poultry.

Milk sauce with onions

Ingredients : 2 onions, 1 tbsp. spoon of butter, 3 tbsp. spoons of meat broth, 1 glass of milk sauce, salt, red hot pepper..

Preparation

Chop the onion and fry in butter so that its color does not change. Then pour the onion with meat broth and cook until done in a bowl with a lid. After this, add medium-thick milk sauce to the broth with onions and cook for 5-7 minutes, then add salt and red hot pepper to taste and rub through a sieve.

Vanilla milk sauce

Ingredients : 2 glasses of milk, 1 tbsp. spoon of flour or starch, 3 yolks, vanillin.

Preparation

Dilute flour or starch with cold milk (1/2 cup). Grind the yolks with sugar, combine with the diluted flour and gradually pour in 1/2 cup of hot milk. Flavor the mixture with vanilla and cook until thickened over low heat, stirring continuously. Then remove the sauce from the heat and continue stirring until completely cooled. Serve with creams, puddings, dough products soaked in syrup, etc.

Sour cream sauce (basic)

Ingredients : 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pinch of sugar, pepper.

Preparation

Add the remaining ingredients to the sour cream and mix thoroughly. If you feel that the sauce is not sour enough, you can add vinegar or fruit juice. The taste of the main sour cream sauce can be changed by adding some seasonings to it: mashed yolk of a hard-boiled egg or a third of a glass of vegetable oil; two tablespoons of finely chopped greens; one tablespoon of tomato puree; one tablespoon of grated onion; one or two teaspoons of mustard.

Natural sour cream sauce

Ingredients : 500 g sour cream, 25 g butter, 25 g flour, spices, salt.

Preparation

Saute the flour until light yellow without oil, cool, combine with butter, add sour cream while stirring, bring the mixture to a boil, add salt, add ground pepper, boil for 3-5 minutes, strain, and then bring to a boil again.

Sour cream sauce with white sauce added

Ingredients : 500 g sour cream, 2 tbsp. spoon of butter, 2 tbsp. spoons of flour, 1/4 onion, 1/4 parsley or celery root, 500-600 ml of broth or decoction, spices, salt.

Preparation

Pour sifted flour into the melted butter and sauté until the flour turns a slightly creamy color, cool to 60-70°C, gradually pour in bone or meat-and-bone broth, or vegetable broth, while stirring, each portion of broth or broth should be added after , as the previous portion of the broth is completely combined with the sautéed flour. Add parsley or celery (root), onion to the sauce, bring to a boil; simmer over low heat for 25-30 minutes. 10-15 minutes before readiness, add salt, peppercorns, bay leaf, then strain the sauce, grate the vegetables and bring the mixture to a boil. Pour sour cream into the hot sauce, bring it to a boil again, and simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Mayonnaise-sour cream sauce

Ingredients :
Option I: 250 g sour cream, 250 g mayonnaise, 2 tbsp. spoons of butter, 2 tbsp. spoons of flour, 750-800 ml of broth or vegetable broth, spices, salt.
Option II: 125 g sour cream, 125 g mayonnaise, 3 tbsp. spoons of flour, 700-800 ml of broth or vegetable broth, spices, salt.

Preparation

Saute the flour without fat until slightly creamy, dilute with broth or broth, add sour cream, mayonnaise, salt, stir the mixture well, bring to a boil, simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes and strain. You can add pieces of butter to the finished sauce so that a film does not form on the surface. Mayonnaise-sour cream sauce should be prepared shortly before use. It should be stored in a water bath, stirring occasionally. If the sauce thickens or the oil begins to separate from the total mass of the sauce, you should add hot broth to it and mix thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is formed.

Hot sour cream sauce
(for potato, cabbage, carrot cutlets and casseroles)

Ingredients : 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup vegetable broth, 1 tbsp. spoon of flour, 1 tbsp. spoon of butter, salt.

Preparation

Lightly fry the flour with butter and dilute with vegetable broth and sour cream. Boil for 5 minutes, add salt to taste and strain.

Sour cream sauce (for vegetable dishes)

Ingredients : 2 yolks, a little mustard, 2 cups sour cream, 4 tbsp. spoons of 3% vinegar solution, 20 g sugar, salt, pepper.

Preparation

Grind the yolks of hard-boiled eggs with mustard and sour cream. After this, add vinegar, sugar, salt to taste and ground pepper.

Sour cream sauce with onions

Ingredients : 25 g butter, 2 onions, 1.5 cups hot sour cream sauce, 1 tbsp. spoon of tomato puree, salt.

Preparation

In a frying pan, fry finely chopped onion in butter until tender, then mix with hot sour cream sauce and cook for 5-7 minutes. Then remove from heat, add salt and tomato puree to taste and mix everything. Serve the sauce with cutlets and other meat dishes.

Sour cream sauce with dill

Ingredients : 1 tbsp. spoon of flour, 0.5 tbsp. tablespoons butter, 1 cup sour cream, 15 g dill, salt.

Preparation

Lightly fry the wheat flour in butter, dilute with sour cream and add chopped dill and salt to taste. Heat to a boil over moderate heat. Serve with boiled meat and fish.

Sour cream sauce with horseradish and grated apple

Ingredients : 100 g horseradish, 1 apple, 1 glass sour cream, vinegar, salt.

Greetings, dear readers. Today I will show you an interesting cooking method. Everyone knows the delicate and slightly sweetened taste of this gravy, which was added to cutlets in kindergarten, and sweet to mother’s pancakes and pancakes.

Sometimes you just want to diversify your culinary delights with something new or long-forgotten old. It is in such cases that this gravy is needed. It is easily prepared from available products and has many types and variations - sweet and spicy, with spices and mushrooms, with cheese and nuts. They don’t do it with anything. It is easy to prepare on time when guests are already arriving - the cooking time is 10-15 minutes. As such, white, also known as milk sauce, but with the addition of broth, is not the height of cooking and anyone, even a novice housewife, can prepare it. Although the dressing is extremely simple, it is a staple of classic cuisine.

Milk sauces are also served with side dishes, enriching their taste. Prepared with milk, cream or sour cream, it adds beneficial shades to dishes. And correctly selected gravy shows the professionalism of the cook. Properly prepared will only add honor to you. The sauce without lumps and uniform consistency can be considered an absolute success. If you couldn’t avoid lumps, you can strain the gravy through cheesecloth or a fine strainer, or blend it in a blender.

Preparing the dressing is extremely simple and quick, so I won't even break it down into separate steps.

In a frying pan you need to fry the flour in butter, but the main thing is so that there are no lumps. To do this, you can sift the flour into the frying pan through a sieve, so the chances of getting a heterogeneous mass are minimized. After which we pour hot milk into the resulting mass, but under no circumstances boiling milk - a lot of lumps will form. While pouring, you need to stir continuously. One of the important points I read is that you need to stir with a wooden spatula. Then add salt to taste and cook for 6-7 minutes over medium heat. That's all, the sauce is ready, you can serve it.

It must be remembered that such gravy does not last long, so it is prepared right before use. Although it can be frozen and then served again if it is melted in steam and boiled.

Ingredients

Every housewife or owner has everything we need at home. The amount of flour, milk and butter varies depending on how thick the sauce is needed, but the cooking method is no different. A little later I will tell you what liquid, thick, and medium gravy goes with. In the meantime, here are the ingredients for a medium-thick dressing, if you take one glass for 250 grams, and one tablespoon for 20 grams.

I think it never happens that there is no butter or flour at home. We will need very little of them - a couple of spoons. It will be more difficult with milk - it suddenly turns sour or runs out, after all, it is an extremely consumable material. It is also quite likely that in the kitchen, in some clever cabinet, there is nutmeg. Well, at least a little bit. Yes, and sugar and salt should also be somewhere. If not sugar, then at least salt.

Wheat flour – 2 tbsp. spoons.
Nutmeg (optional) – 1-2g.
Milk – 2 glasses.
Salt and sugar to taste.

An interesting fact about nutmeg: if you eat a lot of it, it can cause hallucinations. As they say, medicine in large quantities is poison.

Thick sauce.

Making thick milk sauce is just as easy as making regular, medium-thick sauce. To do this, you will need to increase some of the flour and butter, while reducing or leaving the same amount of milk. You will get approximately the following proportion:

Wheat flour – 2.5 tbsp. spoons.
Milk – 1.5-2 glasses.

Thick gravy is suitable for stuffing cutlets and some pork and beef dishes. Sometimes herbs, finely chopped boiled mushrooms and spices are added for taste. On the contrary, liquid is used as a gravy for a variety of dishes and side dishes, and is sometimes served with fruits and desserts. In this case, you can add vanillin or candied fruits to the sauce, then it will look like melted ice cream and children will absolutely love it. The medium-thick sauce is used for roasting meat, fish and vegetables, and gives them a delicate milky taste.

And now that we know the basics, we can proceed to the “experiments” section. Add whatever your heart desires to the sauce, the main thing is not to overdo it and combine it correctly. We will help you with this. Below are the most popular milk sauce recipes and what goes best with them.

Milk sauce with spices.

There are infinitely many varieties of dressing - each cook adds something different, be it cloves or even wine. For example, gravy with spices. Additives do not affect the amount of ingredients in any way, so you can take the milk sauce recipe that you like best.

The most compatible spices with sauce:

Ginger – gives a pleasant sourness and makes the meat a little softer. This addition is more typical of American cuisine.
Grating the nutmeg into the sauce just before serving will make it sweeter and more flavorful.
Coriander, mixed with the gravy, will reveal itself in the form of a light smell and taste of anise, giving off all the spice.
Ground sesame will give the dressing, and with it the dish, a nutty, spicy aroma.
Cinnamon is perfect for sweet sauce or gravy with fish.
Ground black pepper will add a spicy taste.
Turmeric will give the gravy a fiery yellowish color and an oriental aroma.

Good to know! Cheap spices are unlikely to be suitable for beautiful and expensive dishes. You will have to add a lot more of them in order to somehow feel their taste and smell in the dressing. On the contrary, the expensive ones are enough at the tip of a knife to experience the full range of flavors. Of course, it all depends on the manufacturer, how conscientious he is.

Milk sauce with onions and mushrooms

Gravy with onions and mushrooms is ideal for meat. There are options when one onion is used, or only mushrooms, but then it’s worth increasing the amount of one of them twice as much, so that it doesn’t turn out that someone gets an additional part of the seasoning, and someone doesn’t.

What we need:

Wheat flour – 2 tbsp. spoons.
Butter – 2 tbsp. spoons.
Milk – 1 glass.
Onions – 100 g.
Champignons – 100 g.
Salt and spices to taste.

First you need to peel the onion, wash the vegetables, then finely chop the champignons and the same onion. Then pour them into a frying pan and fry until the moisture from the mushrooms has completely evaporated. Fry the flour in butter. Pour in hot milk, gradually whisking the mixture until smooth. Add mushrooms and/or onions, salt and spices to taste. Don't be afraid to try a sauce that isn't ready yet, it can help a lot if it's a little burnt or missing something. Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. The meat dressing is ready.

Sweet milk sauce

Another type of milk gravy is sweet. So tender and viscous, melting in your mouth. If you don’t know what to pour on pudding, pancakes, or what to fill a pie with, sweet sauce is the best solution. Also, it goes well with other dishes - fish, meat and desserts. The main thing is what kind of taste you want to achieve.

The method for preparing sweet gravy with milk is as simple as the classic one.

Compound:

Milk – 2 glasses.
Flour – 1.5 tbsp. spoons.
Butter – 1.5 tbsp. from a spoon.
Sugar – 3 tbsp. spoons.
Vanillin – 1-2 grams.
Cinnamon – 2-3 grams.
(image 4)

Step one is to boil the milk and sugar and let it cool. The second is to calcinate the flour in oil. Third, pour in the milk, stirring constantly. Fourth – add vanillin and cinnamon. Fifth, wait about seven minutes for the sauce to cook. Sixth, enjoy your favorite dish with sauce.

Classic milk sauce (Béchamel).

Here I will show you the oldest and most proven method of preparing your favorite sauce - Bechanel milk sauce. This universal sauce goes with whatever you want.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour – 2 tbsp. spoons.
Butter – 2.5 tbsp. spoons.
Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp. spoons.
Milk – 3 glasses.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Melt butter and mix with vegetable oil. Gradually, stirring, add flour. Then slowly pour in the milk, still stirring. Add salt to the resulting milk-flour mass and cook for about ten minutes.

If the consistency of the gravy should be thinner, add a little more milk. If you need a thicker sauce, cook over low heat until the desired thickness is obtained.

Milk sauce with cheese

For various types of cuts and salads, cheese and milk sauce is used. It is suitable both as a refill and as an independent addition. It will require a little more sauce, but that's not a problem - it's easy to make.

So what you need:

Ready milk sauce – 650 ml.
Cheese, preferably hard, – 100 g.
Butter – 60 g.
Broth – 250 ml.
Ground pepper, salt - to taste.

In the ladle, first of all, heat the broth up to 50 degrees Celsius. But you shouldn’t boil it, otherwise lumps will appear when pouring. Then, carefully pour into the sauce, stirring thoroughly. The cheese needs to be finely grated. If this is not possible, chop in a blender until the mixture is almost homogeneous. Add cheese to the resulting broth mass. Mix and heat until the cheese is completely melted. Let the sauce cool to room temperature, then dilute it with melted warm butter.

Milk sauce with ginger and garlic

Another simple but tasty variety of sauce is milk gravy with ginger and garlic - this is used to season fish dishes. It has a delicate aftertaste, spicy aroma and spicy bitterness of garlic. This seasoning goes well with fish just as well as lemon.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour – 2 tbsp. spoons.
Butter – 2 tbsp. spoons.
Milk – 2 glasses.
Ginger (root) – 20g.
Garlic – 2 medium sized cloves.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Now let's start cooking. Prepare the ingredients for use: peel the ginger, grate the root, press the garlic with a special press. The next step is to heat a frying pan and sauté the flour in the oil. Afterwards, pour in the hot milk, stirring constantly so that lumps do not form. If they do appear, then you should pass the sauce through a sieve or beat thoroughly with a mixer. Then add ginger, salt, pepper and garlic. Boil for about three more minutes and remove from heat. The fish sauce is ready.

Quick ways to make milk sauce

Milk sauces themselves are a very quick-cooking seasoning. Once - ten minutes and the gravy is ready. But when time is short, you need to remember that increasing the heat to maximum will not speed up the process, and may only burn the gravy. Then all that remains is to redo it if there are any products left. Although you can cheat and add strong seasonings to cover up the burning smell.

I think you will be interested to know the history of the invention of this sauce. Did this French sauce actually originate from France? Many recipes, not only French ones, originate in the Ancient world, when culinary elders mixed milk and flour, and sometimes used eggs instead of flour, added spices, and then served them to the table.

According to one version, Béchamel was invented by the Marquis de Nointel, Louis Béchamel, who, having become rich thanks to his ingenuity and knowledge of art, became closer to Louis the Fourteenth. Having perfectly studied painting and woodwork, he always gave the king competent advice on decorating the palace. But despite all this, the Marquis considered cooking to be his calling. He was captivated by the creation of exotic dishes, experimenting with the size and color of food.

Over time, Béchamel became the personal chef of Louis XIV. The culinary arts expert was awarded the title of Marquis of the Chateau de Nointel. He worked from morning to night - the king loves to have a tasty and frequent snack. His Majesty’s appetite had to be satisfied by the Marquis, each time coming up with something new to please the ruler. Bechamel didn’t just like to give orders, but he himself participated in the creation of almost every culinary delight for the king’s table.
Thus, through trial and error, the sauce was invented. But, as they say, everything new is long forgotten old. Bechanel, as a sauce, was known earlier, in small provinces. And only closeness to the king gave him a separate name and wide distribution.
This is the basis of the second version - the Marquis only modified an already known recipe, brought in his own and distributed it. It is also stated that the chef Pierre La Varenne came up with the recipe, but did not give the sauce a name.

The third version generally proves that the sauce is not at all originally French, but was brought from Italy by the Medici family. By the way, this confirms the fact that even in ancient Italy, an almost identical seasoning, in terms of composition, with the beautiful name “Balsamella” was present on the tables. And in France, the sauce was known long before its “invention” by the royal chef. Duke Kar also wrote about this in his personal diary. He called Béchamel lucky and described the recipe for milk sauce, which he served on the table along with other dishes, and lamented that the sauce, despite everything, was not named after him.

But today, rest assured, no one even remembers the history of such a simple and tasty sauce. It is simply prepared and added to dishes. This is the fate of all the most common dishes now. You will know a little more and when you put a stewpan with meat in a creamy sauce on the table, slyly drop a few words about the history of the seemingly used dressing at all times. For example, that now you don’t need meat juice to prepare it, but you will need sour cream or milk, and some lovers of a particularly delicate taste prepare it based on cream, and it is added more to the second, and not to soups, as happened before, about four centuries ago. .

In any case, now milk dressing is a worthy decoration for your table and a wonderful addition to dishes. Bon appetit!

It's no secret that with a well-chosen and well-prepared sauce, almost all dishes become tastier. However, not all modern housewives agree to spend a lot of time and effort preparing gravy. They want to find a recipe that allows them to make a delicious sauce from available ingredients in a relatively short period of time. Such recipes exist. It is absolutely easy to prepare a completely universal and not too high-calorie sauce from milk, butter and flour. It belongs to classical cuisine and is considered the main sauce, that is, it can not only serve as gravy, but also be used to prepare other sauces and dishes. This sauce is universal: it can be used for baking or as a gravy for meat, fish, pasta, vegetables, and if prepared thick, it will become an excellent filling for donuts.

Cooking features

As already mentioned, the process of preparing milk sauce is not very difficult and does not take much time, but the housewife cannot do without knowing some of the subtleties.

The amount of flour used in the recipe depends on how thick you want the sauce to be. To make a thick sauce, you need to take a third of a glass of flour per glass of milk, that is, about 50–60 g. If you want to get a medium-thick sauce, then for two glasses of milk it is enough to take two tablespoons of flour, this is about 30–35 g. For use As a gravy, a liquid sauce is most often made, for which take a heaped tablespoon of flour (about 20 g) for two glasses of milk. The amount of butter usually matches the amount of flour used, that is, for a liquid sauce you need 20 g of butter, for a sauce of medium thickness - 40 g, for a thick sauce - 60 g of butter.
To ensure that no lumps form in the sauce when preparing the sauce, the flour is initially calcined in a dry frying pan. This does not need to be done for long: as soon as the nutty aroma appears, remove the pan with flour from the heat. The cooled flour is transferred to a saucepan and proceed to the next stage of preparing the sauce.
Milk is added to the sauce in small parts, each time whisking the contents of the saucepan until a homogeneous mass without lumps is formed.
At the next stage, add butter cut into pieces. Once the butter has dissolved in the sauce, it is ready. However, even after this, you can add additional ingredients to it: herbs, seasonings, salt or sugar. In this case, you can cook the sauce a little longer.
Some recipes call for thickening the sauce not with flour, but with eggs or starch. In this case, the technology will be slightly different. If egg yolks are used, the sauce is heated in a water bath or very low heat, while trying not to bring it to a boil. If the recipe specifies starch, then add it to the hot sauce after dissolving it in cool water.
It is better not to use ingredients such as vinegar or lemon juice when preparing milk sauce, as the milk may curdle.

Milk sauce is most often used hot, pouring it over dishes before serving. For meat, the classic version of the sauce is most often used, for fish - sauce with garlic, for pasta - with cheese, and for desserts - sweet milk sauce.

Classic milk sauce recipe

wheat flour – 20–120 g;
butter – 20–120 g;
milk – 0.5 l;
nutmeg (optional) - on the tip of a knife;
salt or sugar - to taste;
greens (optional) - to taste.

Cooking method:

Sift the flour and pour into the pan. The amount of flour is determined based on how thick the sauce you want to make. Most often, a medium-thick sauce is made, which requires about 40 g of flour.
Place the frying pan with flour on the fire. Heat the flour, stirring, until a nutty smell appears.
Remove the pan from the heat, pour the flour into the saucepan and wait a couple of minutes until it cools.
Light a fire under the saucepan and start pouring milk into it in a thin stream, while whisking it with a whisk.
Cut the butter into thin slices and place them in a saucepan with the sauce. Stir to help it dissolve faster.
Add salt or sugar, depending on what dish the sauce is being prepared for. If you do not plan to serve it with dessert, you can additionally add pepper and finely chopped or blended herbs. Nutmeg will add a pleasant aroma to the sauce.
When the sauce has thickened sufficiently and the added salt or sugar has dissolved, remove the saucepan from the heat.

After this, the sauce can be immediately used for its intended purpose or poured into a saucepan and placed on the table so that guests can pour it over the dishes served to them themselves.

Milk sauce with ginger and garlic for fish

flour – 20 g;
butter – 20 g;
milk – 0.25 l;
parsley – 20 g;
ginger root – 10 g;
garlic – 1 clove;
salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

Peel and grate the ginger root.
Pass the garlic through a press.
Finely chop the parsley with a knife.
Toast the flour until it acquires a nutty flavor. Remove from heat for a while.
Return the pan with flour to the stove. Add milk in small portions. Don't forget to whisk it so that there are no lumps. If you still cannot avoid their formation, strain the sauce through a sieve and return to the stove.
Add ginger, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper to the sauce. At the same time, put a piece of butter in it.
Continue heating the sauce until the butter has dissolved. All this time it needs to be stirred.

Milk sauce prepared according to the given recipe will be a good addition to fish dishes.

White sauce with onions and mushrooms

milk – 0.25 l;
flour – 40 g;
butter – 40 g;
onions – 100 g;
champignons – 100 g;
salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

Peel and finely chop the onion.
Wash and dry the mushrooms with a napkin. Cut them into small cubes.
Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onions and mushrooms and cook until the liquid released from the champignons has evaporated.
In a clean frying pan, heat the flour for a minute. Pour milk into it in a thin stream, constantly whisking it with a whisk.
Add mushrooms and onions to the sauce, stir.
Cook until the sauce thickens sufficiently.

This sauce goes especially well with meat and vegetables. It can be made with only mushrooms or only with onions. In this case, the amount of mushrooms or onions can be increased by one and a half to two times relative to the amount specified in the recipe.

Milk sauce with cheese

milk sauce prepared according to the classic recipe – 0.3 l;
hard cheese – 50 g;
butter – 20 g;
broth – 100 ml.

Cooking method:

Boil the broth and mix it with the sauce. Heat the resulting mixture over low heat.
Finely grate the cheese and add it to the sauce. Warm the sauce, stirring until the cheese has dissolved.
Remove the sauce from the stove, add a piece of softened butter to it, and beat with a blender.

This sauce goes well with potatoes, pasta, and vegetable casseroles, giving them a creamy, cheesy taste.

Sweet milk sauce

milk – 0.5 l;

flour – 30 g;
butter – 30 g;
sugar – 60 g;
vanillin - on the tip of a knife;
cinnamon (optional) - a pinch.

Cooking method:

Boil the milk and add sugar to it. Wait for it to dissolve. Cool to room temperature.
Fry the flour until caramel-colored and pour the milk into it in a thin stream, whisking it constantly.
Add vanilla, cinnamon and thinly sliced butter.
Continue heating the sauce, stirring until it reaches an even thick consistency. During this time the butter should completely melt.

This sauce can be poured over cheesecakes, pancakes or pancakes. If you want to use it as a filling, you need to use 4 times more flour and butter when cooking.

Milk sauce is a universal seasoning that can be served with side dishes, meat and fish dishes, and even desserts. It is prepared quickly and from available products. Even an inexperienced housewife can master the technology of making sauce.