ISO Your Very Best Bechemel Recipe

[Whiskadoodle]

This reminds me, I like Fresh, not frozen, garden peas and thin sliced very young carrots in béchamel sauce. I think I read somewhere that one pound peas = one cup shelled peas, so plan accordingly when shopping the farmer's markets. Probably wouldn't serve alongside Swedish meatballs, maybe this would go good with meatloaf.

 

[di reston]

I've come in late on this discussion! My béchamel sauce is a follows:

7oz blonde roux, 4 pints boiling milk, salt, coarse white pepper, ground nutmeg to taste, 1 onion stuck with 2 cloves, bouquet garni of fresh parsley, 1 bay leaf, 2 sprigs thyme, melted butter.

Make the roux and set aside to cool a little, then add the milk whisking with your balloon whisk all the time and bring to boiling point again add the seasoning, onion and bouquet garni. Simmer for half an hour over a low heat. When done, strain through a fine sieve, divide into portions and freeze.

However, for my cheese soufflé, the recipe is a plain white sauce as follows:

35g butter
35g flour
1/4 litre milk
pinch of nutmeg
four egg yolks

8 egg whites whipped until stiff
150g gruyère cheese grated fine.

Make the béchamel sauce
Whip the egg whites until stiff, then fold in the gruyère cheese.

Fold the béchamel sauce into the egg whites.

Have the oven already at 220°C and put the soufflé in then lower the heat to 200°C. Cook for exactly 30 mins and serve hot. Both these recipes given to me by a French friend who trained at the Professional Cordon Bleu School in Paris.

I went off topic so that I could post this wonderful recipe for soufflé. I hope you all forgive me!

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I've come in late on this discussion! My béchamel sauce is a follows:

7oz blonde roux, 4 pints boiling milk, salt, coarse white pepper, ground nutmeg to taste, 1 onion stuck with 2 cloves, bouquet garni of fresh parsley, 1 bay leaf, 2 sprigs thyme, melted butter.

Make the roux and set aside to cool a little, then add the milk whisking with your balloon whisk all the time and bring to boiling point again add the seasoning, onion and bouquet garni. Simmer for half an hour over a low heat. When done, strain through a fine sieve, divide into portions and freeze.

However, for my cheese soufflé, the recipe is a plain white sauce as follows:

35g butter
35g flour
1/4 litre milk
pinch of nutmeg
four egg yolks

8 egg whites whipped until stiff
150g gruyère cheese grated fine.

Make the béchamel sauce
Whip the egg whites until stiff, then fold in the gruyère cheese.

Fold the béchamel sauce into the egg whites.

Have the oven already at 220°C and put the soufflé in then lower the heat to 200°C. Cook for exactly 30 mins and serve hot. Both these recipes given to me by a French friend who trained at the Professional Cordon Bleu School in Paris.

I went off topic so that I could post this wonderful recipe for soufflé. I hope you all forgive me!

That souffle sounds wonderful. I think I could use the recipe, and divide the souffle into individual ramekins.

With recipes like that, you can go off topic anytime.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the Noth

 

[Addie]

In my first home eco. class in the 7th grade, the very first food we learned to make was a simple white sauce, butter, flour, salt and milk. Add a sliced hard boiled egg and serve over a piece of toast.

 

[di reston]

Try the soufflé recipe - it rises like a chef's hat! Now that I call magic. I have a recipe for swedish meatballs somewhere, but I have to find it. Will post asap. Chief, you have paid me an awesome compliment! Try the soufflé - it rises like a chef's hat and presents at table very handsomely, and does well in indivual soufflè molds.

di reston

Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[erehweslefox]

Chief Longwind...

I am pretty much a self taught cook. All the french mother sauces intimidate me. So I totally get your reluctance on bechermel. I finally trained myself to make a decent hollandaise, and that is only because after I started teaching myself to cook I tended to have eggs and lemons about the house and, really, eggs Benedict are the only good cure for a decent hangover.

Taught myself to cook mainly over a fire, so a lot of my cooking skills involve cast iron pans and ovens. I generally take a $50 food budget for the week as generous for me and my beloved wife (I know, she deserves better) so given that I have a limited budget, and I think of the stove as an indoor fire, I have a strange perspective on cooking. Now I did get a pressure cooker for Christmas, so that is changing.

I hate to say it, but you might be overdoing the meatballs.

My recipe;

5 lbs ground beef. I use the 73% beef that comes in a tube. I also don't ask a lot of questions about the 27% You end up with a lot of excess grease, I use it to condition my cast iron.
2 cups bread crumbs. If you do it right, you can get expired wonder bread for this.
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs. I never get why they charge an extra buck for extra large, really? Try sometime holding up them side by side.
2 tbsp mustard. OK I don't skimp on this, I use Colman's I have shite for base, but I have good condiments
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup parsley

1/4 cup oil for frying.

all the ingredients combine, and mix well, set up into balls. Put up in freezer for 10 minutes to set.

Fry in oil on medium high heat in a warm cast iron pan until seared.

This will make a bunch of meatballs, I freeze them in groups of ten in a ziplock.

Swedish Meatballs

2 1/4 cups beef broth
1 tbsp Worcestershire
2 tbsp mustard
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp minced parsley
12 oz cooked egg noodles

combine 2 cups broth, Worcestershire, mustard, spices, whisk together bring to a near boil

Make a mix of corn starch and rest of broth. At boil whisk in and whisk in cream slowly so as not to scald.

Add meatballs from previous recipe and simmer.

Cheers,

TBS

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Chief Longwind...

I am pretty much a self taught cook. All the french mother sauces intimidate me. So I totally get your reluctance on bechermel....

I hate to say it, but you might be overdoing the meatballs.

My recipe;

5 lbs ground beef. I use the 73% beef that comes in a tube. I also don't ask a lot of questions about the 27% You end up with a lot of excess grease, I use it to condition my cast iron.
2 cups bread crumbs. If you do it right, you can get expired wonder bread for this.
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs. I never get why they charge an extra buck for extra large, really? Try sometime holding up them side by side.
2 tbsp mustard. OK I don't skimp on this, I use Colman's I have shite for base, but I have good condiments
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup parsley

1/4 cup oil for frying.

all the ingredients combine, and mix well, set up into balls. Put up in freezer for 10 minutes to set.

Fry in oil on medium high heat in a warm cast iron pan until seared.

This will make a bunch of meatballs, I freeze them in groups of ten in a ziplock.

Swedish Meatballs

2 1/4 cups beef broth
1 tbsp Worcestershire
2 tbsp mustard
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp minced parsley
12 oz cooked egg noodles

combine 2 cups broth, Worcestershire, mustard, spices, whisk together bring to a near boil

Make a mix of corn starch and rest of broth. At boil whisk in and whisk in cream slowly so as not to scald.

Add meatballs from previous recipe and simmer.

Cheers,

TBS

I'm sorry. I wasn't clear enough. I have no trouble making any of the Mother Sauces. I was responding to my friend's statement that he'd had this Bechamel Sauce at a fancy Detroit restaurant that was the best he'd ever eaten. I wanted to top that sauce. But others who responded were correct, Bechemel is Bechemel. Just stick to the original recipe.

As for the meatballs, again I've pretty much got them down to a science, and they are similar to your own, but with some changes in ground meats and seasonings.

The person I was making this for wanted Swedish meatballs that were principally, meatballs in a Bechemel. If I were to make them for a pot luck, I would still make a roux, but brown it more, and make an Espagnole Sauce instead of a Bechemel. I would add mushrooms as well, and use a combination of milk and cream. This would acutally be a small sauce made from the Espagnole Sauce.

I took my Swedish Meatballs to work and served them over noodles. The friend told me that the meatballs were the best he'd ever had, and that the sauce was perfect.

The meatballs were actually a combination of the Yooper meatball (half ground beef, half chudagi sausage, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, an egg, liquefied onion, S&P, and my own herb and spice mix. The meatballs were made smaller that those that come from the Mediterranean countries, and firmer. I did my homework and researched Swedish Meatballs. I believe I posted the recipe already.

I appreciate the addition of mustard to the meatball mixture. Your meatballs sound very good. I will have to try your recipe. Like you, I am a self-taught cook, and can make virtually anything I want, from light and moist yeats risen doughnuts, to home-made pasta, to Ahi Tuna and Swordfish on the barbecue.

The list of things I've made are too numerous to write down on this site. I am a fairly accomplished cook, and put recipes in our local Tribal Paper.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but rather, give you an idea of what I can do, so that we can share recipes, and trust that they will produce quality food.

I appreciate your comments, and again, your meatball recipe looks great, though I would make the sauce differently.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[erehweslefox]

I, my friend, will say that no conversation concerning meatballs is a wasted conversation. And I will check out your blog, I'm thinking of starting my own using wordpress, by coincidence.

I'm working on the french mother sauces. I seriously learned to cook as a scout over a campfire. Gotten better since then.

Wife and I are from the East Coast, and back in PA, we spent four years out in Oklahoma, I also have some relatives up in Minnesota. Native cooking up on the lakes has a lot of wild rice and river fish, correct? Would love to hear recipes.

One of my favorite recipe sources is 'Heavenly Cooking' which was put out in three leaf binder form from St. John's Episcopal Church, in Vinita Oklahoma.

So if you have good meatballs, try this

Sweet + Sour

2 1/4 cups pineapple juice
1/2 cup brown sugar or two tbsp maple syrup or molasses
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup catsup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp sriracha
1 can pineapple chunks
bunch of chives
2 cups cooked rie
25 count meatballs

Combine 2 cups pineapple with brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup and soy sauce. Bring to boil

Make a slurry with the rest of the pineapple juice and the corn starch.

Put to gether and whisk

Add meatballs

add sriracha

toss and cover, simmer for 8-10 minutes, dress with green onions, server over rice