How To Make A Roux, Bechamel, & Cheese Sauce ~ Chef@Home

Hey , Chef Perry here again with simply smart dinner plans .

Today , we're gonna talk about how to make a roux a beam and a cheese sauce .

So our friend and subscriber , John wrote us asking how do you make a proper ro I tend to end up with a mess of lumps and clumps .

Well , John , a classic crew is a pretty simple thing to make as long as you know , a couple of very important steps that avoid that lumpy mess .

Various roux has been used in France to thicken and flavor recipes for more than 300 years .

The only two factors that really can affect a roux are the proportions of fat to flour and the heat of the pan .

A roux is just a cooked mixture of fat and flour used as a thickening or flavoring agent in stews chowders or sauces .

We're going to melt our butter over medium heat and use a proportion of three parts of butter to four parts flour .

In this case , three tablespoons of butter , four tablespoons of flour , cooking the flour like this removes its raw taste , but maintains its great thickening properties .

We're just gonna stir that around a little with a fork to combine the two .

Don't worry if you see some little lumps or something in there , we're gonna take care of that in the next step .

Just want to get it smooth and evenly proportioned .

So it'll cook right in the bottom of the pan .

Now , we're going to want to cook the roux , stirring it with a whisk for about two minutes for a white roux .

There are four varieties of roux based on their final color .

These are white , blonde , brown and dark brown and dark roo have more flavor but less thickening ability than a lighter roux .

We're going to focus on a white roux , which is what we've made here and it's pretty much done right now .

Our next step is to make a bechamel or a white sauce , which is our roux that we just made with milk added .

This is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine .

So our next step is to add the milk and John .

I think this might be where you're running into trouble .

One of the keys to a sauce is that you always add hot liquid when cold milk hits a hot roo , it's very likely going to seize up .

And that means lumps , bring that milk to almost a boil before you add it .

And as you can see the two are going to whisk together .

Nice and smooth .

Now we're just gonna whisk the heck out of it for three or four minutes until it thickens up and comes back to a boil .

Now , it's just a matter of constantly whisking to make sure the milk doesn't scorch to the bottom of the pan .

By the way , I use two cups of very hot milk in this recipe .

Once the white sauce is bubbling .

Let it cook .

Still whisking for about a minute .

You'll also note that I'm making a fairly thin white sauce because I'm gonna add cheese to it to thicken it up .

If I was making like a clam chowder , I'd use more flour and make a thicker roux and then I'd thin it back down with clam juice .

You can see in just that minute , our white sauce has thickened up pretty nicely .

So now I'm just gonna season it with a little bit of salt about a teaspoon and maybe a couple of grinds of some fresh black pepper in there .

And then we're gonna grab our whisk and just kind of combine those seasonings into our white sauces .

It sits here off the heat .

So now we have a finished white sauce which we made by adding milk to our flour and butter roux .

You can see it's nice and thick when it coats a spoon like that , it's done .

You can use it as is or as a base for a gravy , a chowder or how about cheese sauce mona as the French call it is made by adding shredded cheese to our boiling white sauce .

I like to start out with a 2 to 1 ratio .

So for two cups of white sauce , I'm using one cup of shredded , extra sharp cheddar .

You can always add more cheddar if you like .

I usually do but be sure to have some more hot milk on hand in case it starts to get too thick .

If it does thicken up , add the hot milk one tablespoon at a time until you get back to the desired consistency .

As you can see , our cheese is incorporating nicely with the white sauce and now we have a mona sauce .

Now , your sauce may seem a little thin at this point , but don't panic .

Remember I'm making this batch for mac and cheese .

So I know that the al dente pasta that I'm cooking on the other side of the stove is going to soak up that extra liquid along with some awesome cheesy flavor .

So my Marna sauce has thickened up a little more while I was playing for the camera .

So I'm going to add the pasta along with just a little bit of the pasta water to thin it back down .

This pasta is cooked al dente which means to the bite or to the tooth .

And what that means is that it still needs a little bit more cooking time .

And what it's going to do is since I've taken it out of the water , the only moisture it has to soak up is this cheese sauce which is going to make it really , really good .

By the way , if you're wondering how I cook the pasta , you can visit our post five tips for perfect pasta via the link below this video .

As you can see , I'm adding my pasta just a couple of ladles at a time .

So it's easy to combine with the cheese sauce for this recipe .

I cooked up a pound of whole wheat penne , which tends to be a little more firm than the white flour pastas .

So there is a lovely pan of finished mac and cheese , but because you can never have too much cheese , I'm gonna add more cheese .

I like to throw a little sharp cheddar on right before I serve it like this .

Uh because it gets kind of that sticky gooey cheesy thing going on .

I also like to throw in a little bit of chili powder .

Uh You can use cayenne pepper .

Uh You can use paprika , whatever your favorite seasonings are just to give it a little extra kick or you can leave it the way it was .

We're gonna stir that up and get it all nice and mixed and combined .

Now , this is a point where your macaroni and cheese is really ready to serve .

It's nice and ooey gooey as you can see and everybody's gonna love it .

But because good enough is never good enough .

I'm gonna add a couple more of my favorite ingredients .

To this .

I like to sear up a little bit of , uh , fresh sausage .

I think this is lingua and , uh , just to get a char and get a little bit extra grease off of it .

And then I like to add in some fresh steamed broccoli just to get my veggie in there and get a little different , different mouth feel to it than that .

And we're gonna stir that in nice and even we're gonna spill a little , hey , this is my home kitchen spills happen .

That's just the way it's gonna be .

Uh but we're gonna mix this all up and it's gonna be ready to serve here in just a second .

By the way , if you have some picky little eaters at home or picky big eaters at home , this is a great way to incorporate some more veggies into their diet .

Uh mac and cheese like spaghetti sauce is something you can throw just about anything in and it's gonna be good and they're gonna like it .

So there's our finished dish .

We started with a roux which we turned into a Basam from which we create a delicious cheese sauce and finally made some next level .

Mac and cheese .

And I like to put even a little bit more cheese on the top .

So John , thanks so much for posting your question .

I hope this video helped you out .

If anyone else would like to see their recipe or cooking questions , answered my camera .

Is ready and waiting .

Please submit your questions via the link below and visit simply smart dinner plans dot com for lots more great recipes tips and our free weekly meal plans and shopping lists .

This is Chef Perry and I'm gonna go eat some mac and cheese .