Bechamel Sauce

Some source said that Duke Phillippe De Mornay, Governor of Saumur, lord of the Plessis Marly, leader of the Hugenots sometime in the late 1500's, invented B?chamel sauce.

Louis de B?chamel was maitre d’hotel, or in other words, in charge of food and service for King Louis XIV who was born in 1638. He was King from 1643 to 1715. Louis de B?chamel, of course, wanted to give himself as much favorable publicity as he could in order to hold his job. He just had to look important. He named the basic white sauce of Mornay, B?chamel Sauce.

Some cookbooks credit B?chamel, the French financier of the 12th century with inventing B?chamel Sauce but this is entirely untrue. B?chamel, the financier, was strictly a moneyman and knew nothing about food and cared less.

The B?chamel recipe in most gourmet cookbooks of our present day is just a writer's dream.

5-tablespoon butter
5-tablespoon flour
1 3/4 cups cold milk
Salt - Pepper - nutmeg

Put butter into a pan and melt over low heat. Do not brown. Remove the pan from heat. Add flour and stir in well with butter but do not brown. Add 1 3/4 cups of cold milk. Remember cold milk. Warm milk will make the mixture lumpy. Put back on the stove over medium heat. Stir well and bring to slow boil until the mixture thickens, salt and pepper to taste and then quickly remove from heat. This is sometimes called a white roux.