Classic Béchamel Sauce

With just six ingredients—including salt and pepper—classic béchamel sauce is simpler than it might sound. The creamy sauce is essentially a roux thinned with milk. That’s it! A pinch of nutmeg is traditional to enhance its creamy flavors, but it is by no means essential.

One of the Mother Sauces of French cuisine, codified in Auguste Escoffier’s 1903 Le Guide Culinaire, a basic béchamel recipe is forgiving and versatile. It’s the base for countless dishes, including moussaka, lasagna Bolognese, mac and cheese, and sausage gravy. Whisk in a little grated Gruyère and Parmesan (about ½ cup of the first, ¼ cup of the latter) and you’ll have mornay sauce—or swap in whatever melting cheese you like—and bake it into a hearty rigatoni casserole or collard greens gratin. You could also simply stir chopped parsley, tarragon, or chervil (or a combination) into a finished béchamel and use it to sauce roasted chicken, poached or baked salmon, or grilled veggies.

This recipe was adapted for style from ‘The Fannie Farmer Cookbook’ by Marion Cunningham. Buy the full book on Amazon or Bookshop.