Sauces

From Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

Roux
Flour and butter are cooked slowly together for several minutes and used as a thickening agents. Cooking eliminates the raw, pasty taste uncooked flour will give to a sauce and prepares the flour particles to absorb liquid.

Thin sauce or soup: 1 tbsp flour per cup of liquid
Medium, general purpose sauce: 1 1/2 tbsp flour per cup of liquid
Thick: 2tbsp flour per cup of liquid
Souffle base: 3 tbsp flour per cup of liquid


Sauce Bechamel/ Sauce Veloute
6-cup sauce pan
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
Wood spatula/spoon

Melt the butter over low heat. Blend in the flour, cooking slowly, stirring, until butter and flour froth together for 2 minutes without coloring. This is a white roux.

2 Cups of milk and 1/4tsp salt heated to the boil in a small sauce pan
OR 2 Cups boiling white stock
A wire whip

Remove roux from heat. As soon as it has stopped bubbling, pour all of it into the liquid at once. Immediately beat vigorously, gathering all the bits of roux from the edges of the pan. Set sauce pan on moderately high hear and stir with wire whip until sauce comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring.

Salt and white pepper

Remove from heat and beat in salt and pepper. If not used immediately, clean sauce off inside edges of pan with a rubber scrapper. To prevent a skin from forming on its surface, float a thin film of milk, stock, or melted butter on top. Set aside uncovered, keep it hot over simmering water, refrigerate, or freeze it.