For 2 cups of medium-thick sauce
2 ½ tablespoons butter
3 ½ tablespoons flour
2 cups hot milk
½ teaspoon salt and several grinds of white pepper
Melt
the butter in the 2 ½-quart saucepan, and then blend in the flour with a
wooden spoon to make a smooth somewhat loose paste. Stir over moderate heat until the butter and flour foam together for 2 minutes without coloring more than a buttery yellow. Remove from heat.
When
the bubbling stops, in a few seconds, pour in all but ½ cup of the hot
milk at once, whisking vigorously to blend thoroughly. Then
whisk rather slowly over moderately high heat, reaching all over the
bottom and sides of the pan, until the sauce comes to the simmer; simmer
2 to 3 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon and thinning out the sauce
as necessary with dribbles of milk. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the spoon nicely. Whisk in the salt and pepper, tasting very carefully and adding more as needed.
Ahead-of-time note:
To prevent a skin from forming over the surface of the sauce, (1) whisk
it every few minutes until it has cooled, or (2) film the surface with
milk – spread a tablespoon or so of it over the surface of the sauce
with the back of a kitchen spoon or so of it over the surface of the
sauce with the back of a kitchen spoon 0 or (3) press a sheet of plastic
wrap right down onto the surface. The sauce will keep 2 to 3 days under refrigeration or maybe be frozen.
For a thicker or thinner sauce,
Thin sauce, such as for cream soups: 1 tablespoon flour and ¾ tablespoon butter per cup of milk.
Thick sauce, such as for cheese soufflés: 2 tablespoons flour and 1 ½ tablespoons butter per cup of milk.
For a lighter or a richer sauce,
use skim milk for the former, or, for a rich sauce, use half-and-half
or whisk several tablespoons of butter into the finished sauce.
First aid for a lumpy sauce: push
it through a fine-meshed sieve, then whirl it in an electric blender,
and finally whisk it over heat until it simmers a moment.
From The Way To Cook by Julia Child.
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