Béchamel, or French White Sauce

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861

Source: The Book of Household Management
Status: success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (9)

1 small bunch of parsley ↝ Parsley, raw [Not included in a food category]
2 cloves ↝ Garlic, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
1/2 bay-leaf ↝ Spices, bay leaf [Spices and Herbs]
1 small faggot of savoury herbs
salt to taste ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
3 or 4 mushrooms, when obtainable ↝ Mushrooms, raw [Other vegetables and combinations]
2 pints of white stock
1 pint of cream ↝ Cream, whipped [Cream cheese, sour cream, whipped cream]
1 tablespoonful of arrowroot ↝ Arrowroot, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]

Instructions (6)

Put the stock into a stewpan, with the parsley, cloves, bay-leaf, herbs, and mushrooms; add a seasoning of salt, but no pepper, as that would give the sauce a dusty appearance, and should be avoided.
When it has boiled long enough to extract the flavour of the herbs, etc., strain it, and boil it up quickly again, until it is nearly half-reduced.
Now mix the arrowroot smoothly with the cream, and let it simmer very gently for 5 minutes over a slow fire.
Pour to it the reduced stock, and continue to simmer slowly for 10 minutes, if the sauce be thick.
If, on the contrary, it be too thin, it must be stirred over a sharp fire till it thickens.
Always make it thick, as you can easily thin it with cream, milk, or white stock.

Original Text

BECHAMEL, or FRENCH WHITE SAUCE.

367. INGREDIENTS.—1 small bunch of parsley, 2 cloves, 1/2 bay-leaf, 1 small faggot of savoury herbs, salt to taste; 3 or 4 mushrooms, when obtainable; 2 pints of white stock, 1 pint of cream, 1 tablespoonful of arrowroot.

Mode.—Put the stock into a stewpan, with the parsley, cloves, bay-leaf, herbs, and mushrooms; add a seasoning of salt, but no pepper, as that would give the sauce a dusty appearance, and should be avoided. When it has boiled long enough to extract the flavour of the herbs, etc., strain it, and boil it up quickly again, until it is nearly half-reduced. Now mix the arrowroot smoothly with the cream, and let it simmer very gently for 5 minutes over a slow fire; pour to it the reduced stock, and continue to simmer slowly for 10 minutes, if the sauce be thick. If, on the contrary, it be too thin, it must be stirred over a sharp fire till it thickens. This is the foundation of many kinds of sauces, especially white sauces. Always make it thick, as you can easily thin it with cream, milk, or white stock.

Time.—Altogether, 2 hours. Average cost, 1s. per pint.

[Illustration: THE CLOVE.]

THE CLOVE.—The clove-tree is a native of the Molucca Islands, particularly Amboyna, and attains the height of a laurel-tree, and no verdure is ever seen under it. From the extremities of the branches quantities of flowers grow, first white; then they become green, and next red and hard, when they have arrived at their clove state. When they become dry, they assume a yellowish hue, which subsequently changes into a dark brown. As an aromatic, the clove is highly stimulating, and yields an abundance of oil. There are several varieties of the clove; the best is called the royal clove, which is scarce, and which is blacker and smaller than the other kinds. It is a curious fact, that the flowers, when fully developed, are quite inodorous, and that the real fruit is not in the least aromatic. The form is that of a nail, having a globular head, formed of the four petals of the corolla, and four leaves of the calyx not expanded, with a nearly cylindrical germen, scarcely an inch in length, situate below.

Notes

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