How To Make White Sauce
White sauce can seem a daunting prospect for many a cook. It is so easy to get wrong, and so simple to buy one off the shelf. Yet making your own can save money and be rewarding. It is essential for so many dishes, from lasagne to cauliflower cheese.
I remember the first time I tried to make white sauce, a kindly friend advised me to use cornflour and use the microwave. What came out was a brick of slodge that was entirely unedible! But after a bit of research and a bit of trial and error, I can say that it's not that daunting after all.
Firstly you need to get your quantities right. Depending on how thick you want it, for 1/2 a pint of sauce you need about 50g of butter, 1 tablespoon of flour (heaped for a little thicker) and 1/2 a pint of milk. Begin by melting the butter in the saucepan on a medium heat - you want to be careful not to burn butter as it boils at a lower temperature than olive or vegetable oil. If you are using onions in your sauce (for e.g. if you are making Macoroni cheese, onions are quite nice!), then fry the onions in your melted butter until they are nice and brown. Next, take the saucepan off the heat and allow to cool for 20-30 seconds, then add a splash of milk and your flour. Immediately the mixture should become a thick sludge. You need to keep stirring vigorously in order to prevent lumps. Replace the suacepan on on the heat and (still stirring) begin to add the milk bit by bit, gradually thinning the sauce. Each time you add some milk, make sure you return the mixture to bubbling hot.
Flour thickens by mixing with butter and heating. It takes about 20 minutes for the flour to fully thicken and for the flour to lose it's 'floury' taste. You can flavour the sauce by adding a bay leaf and some nutmeg - about 1/2 tsp. For a cheese sauce, add mature chedder and begin with small amounts, adding more until you have your required taste. And Roberts your father's brother. A simple white sauce for lasagne, cauliflour, leeks... you name it!
If you want to make the sauce in advance, you can put some clingfilm on the sauce (as a kind of skin) to prevent an actual skin forming.