Butter Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare a roux using equal parts flour and butter.
Add ½ cup of boiling water to the roux instead of milk.
Stir until smooth and well combined.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Roux
- Thickens the sauce, giving it body as the starch cooks with the fat.
- Butter
- Forms the fat base of the roux, adding richness and flavour to the sauce.
- Boiling water
- Loosens the roux into a liquid sauce in place of milk.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling water to the roux. Adding liquid cold or all at once can leave lumps, because starch granules clump before they hydrate. Adding the hot water gradually while stirring lets the starch disperse and thicken evenly into a smooth sauce.
“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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