Béchamel
The beliefBéchamel is expected to go lumpy, and to be safer out of a packet.
The truthEqual weights of flour and butter, then milk. Lumps come from a temperature mismatch: keep the two the same and there are none.
How to make it
What you need
- 50 g butter
- 50 g flour
- 500 ml milk, warmed
- Half a teaspoon of salt
- A pinch of black pepper and grated nutmeg
How the engine read this list (6 lines)
| 50 g | Butter | butter |
| 50 g | Flour | flour |
| 515 g | Milk | milk |
| 3 g | Salt | salt |
| 0 g | Black pepper | black-pepper |
| — | Nutmeg | no record |
An empty weight means that line could not be turned into grams — either the amount is open ("to taste") or the ingredient has no record here. Neither enters the sum as zero; they do not enter it at all.
Warm the milk in a separate pan without boiling it. The point is to bring it to the same temperature as the fat.
Melt the butter over a medium flame, add the flour and cook it for two or three minutes, stirring constantly. It should not colour — just foam, and lose its raw smell.
Add the warm milk in three goes, whisking each one smooth before the next. The first addition is the thickest and the hardest.
Bring it to the boil and cook two minutes more, whisking. The sauce has to boil for the starch to reach full thickness.
Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg. The nutmeg is not really optional: it is the one spice that rounds off the taste of milk.
The others that work the same way
Hazelnut spread
The truthRoasted hazelnuts, ground long enough, release their own oil and turn to cream on their own. The rest is cocoa and sugar.
Tahini
The truthGrind roasted sesame for long enough and it releases its own oil. You add nothing.
Mayonnaise
The truthOne yolk binds 200 ml of oil. The only reason it splits is adding the oil too fast.