Classic Béchamel Sauce for Lasagna
The famous French sauce for an Italian dish! This sauce is made from just three ingredients — milk, butter, and flour. It has a mild, milky flavor and goes with almost anything. Béchamel is an essential component of dishes like moussaka, quiche, and lasagna.
Cooking method
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Step 1:
Get your ingredients ready. Use only high-quality butter for béchamel — ideally 82.5% fat. That kind of butter has less moisture, which is best for the quality of the sauce.
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Step 2:
Use a heavy-bottomed pan, since the sauce gets fairly thick and can scorch as it heats. Béchamel is made with constant stirring, so the pan should also stand up to scratching — keep that in mind. Put the butter in the pan over low heat and melt it without letting it boil.
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Step 3:
Add the flour to the butter and immediately start whisking it vigorously. Keeping the pan on the heat and stirring constantly, cook the flour mixture for a few minutes until it smells lightly nutty. Don't step away from the stove even for a moment — the flour can start to burn.
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Step 4:
Pour in the milk in a thin stream. Do this carefully, whisking briskly, until the mixture is smooth and lump-free. If you're not experienced with making sauces, warm the milk first — it'll blend in more easily.
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Step 5:
Once all the milk is in, keep cooking the sauce, stirring constantly. After about five minutes it will start to thicken noticeably.
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Step 6:
Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg to the sauce and stir. At first the spices will be slow to disperse — don't worry, they'll blend in eventually. Keep cooking the sauce for another five minutes, until it reaches the consistency you want. Don't forget to stir! The thicker the sauce, the more easily it scorches.
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Step 7:
The sauce is ready. Use it almost right away, or a skin will form on the surface. If you make it ahead, be sure to cover it with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface.
- I make this sauce often and never have any trouble with it. The key is to keep stirring the whole time. For lasagna, béchamel is made with a lot of milk — at least 800 ml, or you may not have enough. It's important that the consistency isn't too thick.
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Whole cow's milk - 68 kcal/100g
- Milk 3.5% fat content - 64 kcal/100g
- Milk 3.2% fat content - 60 kcal/100g
- Milk 1.5% fat content - 47 kcal/100g
- Concentrated milk 7.5% fat content - 140 kcal/100g
- Milk 2.5% fat content - 54 kcal/100g
- Ground black pepper - 255 kcal/100g
- Whole durum wheat flour fortified - 333 kcal/100g
- Whole durum wheat flour, universal - 364 kcal/100g
- Flour krupchatka - 348 kcal/100g
- Flour - 325 kcal/100g
- Butter 82% - 734 kcal/100g
- Amateur unsalted butter - 709 kcal/100g
- Unsalted peasant butter - 661 kcal/100g
- Peasant salted butter - 652 kcal/100g
- Melted butter - 869 kcal/100g
- Salt - 0 kcal/100g
- Nutmeg - 556 kcal/100g
