Is mornay sauce supposed to be slightly gritty?

[BAPyessir6]

Yes, you can make roux in advance and keep it in the fridge to use later. It will turn hard as a rock, but you can nuke it to soften it up, or just put it in your hot stock.

CD

I find roux much easier to use/add to stocks and sauces over Beurre manie. I find the amount of time needed to cook the raw flour taste of Beurre manie out of the liquid to take usually longer than the few minutes to get a light roux.

 

[caseydog]

Is there any benefit to making roux (specifically bechamel)? with oil over butter? Is it just preference, or have you made bechamel with oil over butter?

I know butter has some semblance of water in it, so I wonder if that would change the final bechamel product when/if only oil is used.

I use oil, and lately it is avocado oil. It is easier, and I don't notice any difference in flavor. By easier, I'm referring to the smoke point. Butter is easy to burn, while avocado oil is not.

I've used beef tallow, bacon grease, and when I make biscuits and sausage gravy, I use the sausage grease. A roux is just equal parts flour and fat. You can use whatever fat you want.

CD

 

[dragnlaw]

What was your ratio of cheese to your béchamel?
Perhaps next time use more Gruyère than Parm?

 

[taxlady]

What was your ratio of cheese to your béchamel?
Perhaps next time use more Gruyère than Parm?

Look at the package, it came mixed together. Wait, the Guryère was mixed with cheddar.

 

[pictonguy]

Yeah butter is traditional with a bechamel but if a person doesn't make bechamel then more than likely any other fat will work depending on what it's for. Béchamel is one of the 5 mother sauces in classic French cooking and butter is what's normally used. For making a roux that isn't for bechamel I normally use tallow or duck fat.

 

[Meryl]

I've just been reading an amusing article about the origins of bechamel sauce, which was named after Louis de Bechamel during the Louis IV reign. Apparently, the first versions of this sauce date back even further apparently in Tuscany, the sauce being called "salsa colla", and was then adopted in France in honor of the marquis and given his name, for obvious reasons, I wouldn't be attracted by a "glue sauce"!
Anyway, whether this is a legend or not, France and Italy do have a reputation for being rivals, especially when it comes to wine!

 

[pictonguy]

I've just been reading an amusing article about the origins of bechamel sauce, which was named after Louis de Bechamel during the Louis IV reign. Apparently, the first versions of this sauce date back even further apparently in Tuscany, the sauce being called "salsa colla", and was then adopted in France in honor of the marquis and given his name, for obvious reasons, I wouldn't be attracted by a "glue sauce"!
Anyway, whether this is a legend or not, France and Italy do have a reputation for being rivals, especially when it comes to wine!

It's funny that Catherine De Medici after marrying Henry II of France at age 14 had this major influence over French cuisine is pretty well romanticized and exaggerated as well, French haute cuisine developed a century later without clear signs of Italian origin. The salsa colla story is also one of those stories that seems to have a life of it's own without any documentation. It will live on, lol.

 

[jennyema]

Is there any benefit to making roux (specifically bechamel)? with oil over butter? Is it just preference, or have you made bechamel with oil over butter?

I know butter has some semblance of water in it, so I wonder if that would change the final bechamel product when/if only oil is used.

Roux can be made with any sort of oil. The ratio is the important part — it should be 1:1.

Roux for gravy, gumbo, etc are usually made with oil.

Bechemel, however, by definition, is made with butter. A bechemel made with oil will have a much different taste and consistency.