Béchamel sauce or Biratta cream (, ) is one of the mother sauces of

French cuisine French cuisine is the cooking traditions and practices of France. In the 14th century, Guillaume Tirel, a Court (royal), court chef known as "Taillevent", wrote ''Le Viandier'', one of the earliest recipe collections of medieval France. In ...

, made from a white

roux Roux () is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or Cooking oil, oil on the stove top, blended until smoo ...

(butter and flour) and milk, seasoned with ground

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Origin

The first recipe of a sauce similar to béchamel is in the book by François Pierre de La Varenne in 1651, made with a

, as in modern recipes. The name of the sauce was given in honour of Louis de Béchameil, a financier who held the honorary post of

chief steward A chief steward is the senior crew member working in the steward's department of a ship. Since there is no purser on most ships in the United States Merchant Marine, the steward is the senior person in the department, whence its name. In the Br ...

to King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. The first named béchamel sauce appears in ''The Modern Cook,'' written by Vincent La Chapelle and published in 1733, in which the following recipe for "Turbots (a la Bechameille)" appears:

Adaptations

There are many legends regarding the origin of béchamel sauce. For example, it is widely repeated in Italy that the sauce was created in Tuscany under the name "salsa colla" and brought to France with Catherine de Medici, but this is an invented story, and archival research has shown that "in the list of service people who had dealt with Catherine de Medici, since her arrival in France and until her death, there were absolutely no Italian chefs." Both the béchamel recipe and its name have been adopted, even adapted, in many languages and culinary traditions. Béchamel is referred to as: * ''besciamella'' or ''balsamella'' in Italy, *''μπεσαμέλ'' (spelled ''mpesamél'', pronounced ''besamél'') in Greece, *''بشمل ''(''bashamel'') in Egypt, *'' :he:רוטב בשאמל'' in Israel, *''бешамель'' (''biešamieĺ'') in Russia, *''beszamel'' in Poland, and * ''white sauce'' in the U.S. These adaptations have also caused various erroneous claims for the recipe's origin.

Variants

Béchamel can be used as the base for many other sauces, such as Mornay, which is béchamel with

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

. In Greek cuisine, béchamel (σάλσα μπεσαμέλ) is often enriched with egg.

Uses

Béchamel is used in dishes such as the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

lasagne al forno and ''canelons'' ( Catalan; Castilian ''canelones''), a Catalan version of Italian cannelloni. It was introduced to Greek cuisine by the chef Nikolaos Tselementes in the 1930s, notably in moussaka and

pastitsio Pastitsio (, ''pastítsio'') is a Greek baked pasta dish with ground meat and béchamel sauce, with variations of the dish found in other countries near the Mediterranean Sea. Name and origin Pastitsio takes its name from the Italian ''pas ...

. The Karelian-Finnish ''sipatti'' is smoked, cubed and sauteed pork belly in white sauce base, and ''kananmunakastike'' is boiled and sliced eggs in a white sauce base. These are typically eaten as main dishes with potatoes. In

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, Béchamel is an important and basic sauce used in many dishes, Such as, Egyptian Macarona Bechamel, a comfort food recipe popular in Egypt made from Penne pasta and a minced meat sauce baked with creamy béchamel.and Zucchini Bechamel Casserole.

References

External links