White sauce?

[Chile Chef]

So far I've made 2 white sauces, And they both turned into Elmer's glue.

Am I doing anything wrong? I'm ready the directions to the letter. And I've constantly stir the sauce like it say's to do in the directions.

Do I just want to keep practing?

[Russellkhan]

It would be a lot easier to figure out what to suggest if we knew what you were doing. What is the recipe you're following?

[Chile Chef]

Originally Posted by Russellkhan

It would be a lot easier to figure out what to suggest if we knew what you were doing. What is the recipe you're following?

The recipe would take too long to dig up but let me see if I can dig it up!

I guess it wasn't too hard after all.

But I turn any white sauce into glue for some reason and it doesn't taste too good!

Make a Basic White Sauce

[Dumpandstir]

First thing is keep the horse hooves out of the sauce. It doesn't matter if you grate them fine or Julianne them, either way it tastes like glue.

[appleyard14]

use 1 tablespoon of flour and butter, and 1.75 cups of milk.
Thats a big roux for 2 cups of milk

[linicx]

Put the recipe away.

Put your butter over low heat in a pan and melt it. Use a wooden spoon and add only enough flour to make a smooth paste. Add the milk at little at a time and stir quicly while you do. Repeat while stirring until the sauce is as thick/thin as you like. Continue cooking and stirring until you no longer taste flour. Then add salt or pepper as needed.

The trick to no paste is liquid. The trick to no lumps is constant stirring. High heat = burnt butter.

[Jeff G.]

Originally Posted by linicx

Put the recipe away.

Put your butter over low heat in a pan and melt it. Use a wooden spoon and add only enough flour to make a smooth paste. Add the milk at little at a time and stir quicly while you do. Repeat while stirring until the sauce is as thick/thin as you like. Continue cooking and stirring until you no longer taste flour. Then add salt or pepper as needed.

The trick to no paste is liquid. The trick to no lumps is constant stirring. High heat = burnt butter.

I would add.. let the roux cook a bit before adding the milk. Not only does that remove that "flour" taste, the longer the roux cooks the less the gluten will bind so it will have less of a chance of turning to paste. You don't want to brown the flour and butter as it is a white sauce.. just let it cook for a bit.

[kitchenelf]

The standard time for mixing the fat/flour mixture to remove the flour taste is usually 3 minutes. Then start adding your liquid while stirring...I prefer a whisk. You may simply need to add more liquid or you may be cooking too long.

When you make your white sauce what are you using it for? Soup...sauce...mac and cheese?

[Constance]

I use my grandmother's rule: 1 tbl butter to 1 tbl flour to 1 cup milk. Melt the butter over low heat, stir in the flour and remove from heat. Add milk a little at a time, stirring and mashing out any lumps with the back of your spoon. Return to heat, turn to med/high, and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce reaches the desired thickness. Remove from heat and stir in any desired seasonings.

[Loprraine]

I use the 1 / 1 / 1 ratio that Constance does, and cook it like KE does.

[jennyema]

Originally Posted by Loprraine

I use the 1 / 1 / 1 ratio that Constance does, and cook it like KE does.

The 1:1 fat and flour ratio is the proper way to make bechemel sauce, but the amount of liquid will vary depending on how thick you want it.

You can always thin the sauce, so add the liquid gradually.

The sauce must come to simmer before the flour will thicken it.