Roux

This is a simple sauce basis and the jumping-off point for large proportion of French sauces. See Roux@WP for more.

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour

Method

Melt the butter over a medium heat.
Stir in the flour, combine well.
Cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly. ''Don't let it darken.''

Derivatives

Blond roux

As for regular roux, but use vegetable or nut oil and it'll come out darker.

Béchamel (white) sauce

1 cup (250ml) milk

Cook roux as described above.
Gradually add the milk - about ¼ at a time - whilst whisking or stirring vigorously.
Cook on a medium-low heat, stirring often, until thickened. This normally takes 10-15 minutes.

Mornay (cheese) sauce

One (250ml) cupful of grated cheese. ''(A good medium-to-mature cheddar (e.g. Cathedral City) works really well.)''

Cook béchamel as described above.
Add cheese. Stir until melted.

Leftover sauce can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days, though it'll be very thick. You can reheat in the microwave, but the effect won't be so good. At all costs try to avoid turning it into rubber 8-)

Velouté sauce

This one is good for poultry. See also Velouté@WP.

Prepare a light stock (e.g. chicken)
Cook blond roux as described above, use it to thicken the stock - add stock gradually to the pan, stirring well.
Heat the combination fairly gently, whilst stirring, for 2 minutes further. ''Don't forget that it'll thicken on standing.''
If you have meat juice from cooking, add that too.
250ml of made-up stock seems to go well with a 2tbsp roux.

Things to try

Add mustard and/or Worcester sauce to the Mornay recipe.
Use real roux in gravy, as opposed to just throwing a bit of flour in :-)