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Bechamel Sauce

A creamy white sauce made from butter, flour, stock, milk, onion, eggs, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Tracy, Suzanne. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Bechamel Sauce

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Put the sliced onion into the milk and heat in a double boiler.

  2. Cook the butter and flour together.

  3. Add the stock, stirring until it thickens.

  4. Remove the onion and add the milk.

Season and finish

  1. Season with salt and pepper.

  2. Beat the yolks of two eggs and pour the hot sauce into them just before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

790Calories
28 gProtein
26 gFat
109 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Tracy, Suzanne. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Cooked with flour to form a roux that thickens the sauce and adds richness.
Flour
Its starch swells in the hot fat and liquid, thickening the sauce.
Milk
Forms the liquid body of the sauce, giving it a creamy texture.
Eggs
Yolks enrich and thicken the finished sauce, adding richness and body.
White stock
Adds savory liquid that the flour thickens into the sauce.

The step that matters

Pour the hot sauce into the beaten yolks just before serving. Egg yolks thicken with gentle heat but can scramble if they meet very hot sauce all at once. Adding the sauce gradually to the beaten yolks, and not boiling the finished sauce, keeps it smooth and velvety.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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