Savoury White Sauce

In this post I'm going to go over my method of making a white sauce, used in pasta bakes, pies, and dishes with white meats. It's pretty robust in the sense that it can be used in a large variety of dishes.

Lasagne, for example, or the pasta bake I've done in this post.

First, melt some butter in a pan, I used around two tablespoons.

For this you'll need some flour (either plain or self-raising), and some milk, I'd say about a pint.

Let the butter melt completely, once it has, we need to add some flour. You need to add the same amount of flour as there is butter, so two heaped tablespoons is golden.

Once the flour has been added, use a whisk to bring it together, it'll go very elastic. Take this off the heat right away, just for a moment while we do the next step.

Here's where this method gets quite challenging. I'll try to make it as simple as possible, but it was very hard to photograph. It takes some concentration, and a lot of commitment!

While still off the heat, add some milk to the mixture, not a lot, but enough for the elastic butter and flour mixture. Use a whisk to bring this all together. When you can't see any lumps, put the pan back on the heat, and keep it on a mid-high heat.

You need to keep this moving at it heats, or lumps will start to form and the mixture will be ruined. You can use a wooden spoon round the bottom of the pan to remove any flour/butter mixture. Just make sure that it doesn't burn on the sauce. Try alternating between the whisk and the spoon. Find what works for you!

When the sauce starts to thicken, remove from the heat again, and add some more milk. Put it back on the heat and repeat this process, and remember to keep the sauce moving. Use the wooden spoon again round the pan and get everything off the bottom of the pan again, and keep stirring.

The sauce will continue to thicken after around five minutes of stirring. Be patient with it, don't worry, it'll turn. Just watch out for any lumps. Should the sauce become lumpy, you could blitz this with a food processor.

Add more milk and repeat it again until you've got enough sauce. You're looking for a smooth, thick and creamy consistency.

This does take some patience and can be quite difficult, but if you can master it, it's a godsend, and can be used in so many dishes. It's fantastic with light meats, in italian and pastry dishes, or used on pasta with some cheese as a macaroni cheese dish. Same with carbonara, I can go on and on.

The sauce itself will be pretty tasteless, so season it with salt and pepper, and add to whatever you like. At this stage, the sauce is done. What you do with it is completely up to you.

I like to add cheese, bacon and chicken to it. One of the first meals I ever made was at school. I think I was around 12, so a good ten years ago! I fried some chicken and bacon pieces up in a pan, added them to the sauce with some cheese and seasoning, and then poured the whole lot into an ovenproof dish, and topped with mash potato and cheese.