Bechamel - Sauce Primer Part Deux

Bechamel is simply milk thickened with a roux and seasoned. You've heard of roux, right? It's just equal parts of butter/fat and flour mixed together into a paste like substance and cooked: for a few minutes (roux blonde), until it's browned (roux brun) or for just a minute or two (roux blanc) to cook out the flour taste. Of course if you use a freshly milled flour, it's not so much an issue. Once you have your roux, you add milk, slowly - whisking the entire time and cook a few minutes more until thick and just bubbly, add some nutmeg, salt and pepper, and you have yourself a Bechamel. From here you can make a Sauce Mornay, or Cheese Sauce.

Classic Mornay uses Gruyere and Parmesan but you can make your cheese sauce with any good cheese you like - think mac and cheese, but please don't think orange cheese, please. What is orange cheese, you might ask? It's just food coloring! Annato if it's organic. That's all. Just a coloring agent. No added flavor. Just orange color. So the bigger question is, why? Why bother? I sincerely have no idea why people would prefer orange cheese. But I digress.

From a basic Bechamel you can add horseradish and wine for a lovely sauce. While I don't think it's necessary to give you a Bechamel "recipe" per se, I do think it's important to give you ratios. For 1 quart of sauce you'll add 6oz of roux (3 oz butter, 3 oz flour) and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, salt and white pepper to taste. Using 1 quart of Bechamel to make Mornay, add 8oz of shredded cheese, whisked into barely simmering Bechamel. Clearly then, your Mornay sauce will vary greatly in flavor depending on the flavor of the cheese. Please remember that some cheeses DON'T melt: feta, paneer, ricotta. That's because they are made by curdling milk with acid. Cheeses made with rennet will melt beautifully by contrast. So choose creatively but also wisely. Enjoy!