White Sauce, Home & Restaurant Economics

Shuffling through old recipes, I found this chart from a home economics class from years ago. It's a chart to make white sauce. Below, I typed up a much clearer chart for you.

White sauce is one of the mother sauces. That means it's a basic sauce that can be transformed into other sauces. Add 1 cup grated cheese to the finished sauce and Voila! you have cheese sauce.

To make the sauce, melt butter in medium sized pan over low heat.  Add flour and salt. Whisk until combined. Continue whisking and cooking for 3 - 5 minutes. Slowly add the milk which has been scalded (heated).  Turn the heat up to medium. Whisk all together and continue cooking a few minutes or until of a smooth consistency. Take off heat. If there are any lumps, strain before using.

We'll revisit Madame White Sauce again. We'll see what other talents she has to share with us.

White sauce has been a staple in kitchens for generations. That was before some restaurant owner figured out if he called it béchamel he could charge five more dollars for it.

(If the chart is too small, double click on it.)