Community Pick
Magic White Sauce (and Variations)
photo by Chrissyo
- Ready In:
- 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 5
- Yields:
-
2 cups
ingredients
- 2 cups milk (low fat or non-fat milk works fine)
- 100 g butter or 100 g margarine, chopped into small pieces
- 1⁄2 cup plain flour
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)
directions
- Pour milk into a saucepan.
- Add all other ingredients.
- Place pan over a medium heat, and, using a wire balloon whisk, whisk sauce constantly until butter melts.
- Be sure to work the whisk into the edges of the pan to incorporate all the flour.
- Whisk frequently until the mixture comes to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reaches the desired consistency.
- Taste and add extra seasoning if required.
- Variations: Mustard Sauce Make sauce as per recipe, but use 1 ½ cups milk and ½ cup chicken stock.
- Along with the salt, add 2 teaspoons mustard powder, ¼ teaspoon onion powder and substitute a good pinch of cayenne pepper for the black pepper.
- Stir in 1 teaspoon lemon juice when sauce is completed.
- Cheese Sauce Make sauce as per recipe, but use 1 cup milk and 1 cup cream.
- Along with the salt, add a good pinch of nutmeg and substitute a good pinch of cayenne pepper for black pepper.
- At the simmering stage stir in 75g- 100g grated tasty cheese (I like a mixture of mature cheddar and parmesan).
- Stir in 1 teaspoon lemon juice when sauce is completed.
- Parsley Sauce Make sauce as per recipe, but use 1 ¾ cups milk and ¼ cup cream.
- When sauce is finished, mix in 4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
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Reviews
-
I can't believe I've never reviewed this Kooka! Delicious, easy & yes, a little bit magic! I have used this recipe to make both cheese & mustard sauces with perfect results every time. Update: I reviewed this years ago & thought I would add that it is still my "go to" white sauce & the one I recommend to others. I am thinking II would like to try it as the base for a fish pie. I'll let you know how that goes :-)
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Wonderful! I added garlic to the butter, cooled it then followed the recipe. Perfect for my shrimp and scallop dinner! Thanks<br/><br/>Updated: <br/>This is my go Basic White Sauce Recipe. I've found it's too thick as written so I reduced the flour by 1/2. Depending on what I am using this recipe for & the additional items I add, I adjust the flour to suit the needs. We love garlic, so I add at least 2-3 cloves minced garlic to the butter, slowly cook the butter until the garlic is soft & the flavor is blended with the butter, then refrigerate it until cool before making the sauce.<br/>I've used this recipe for seafood, Ravioli & lasagne. I add different cheeses. Usually about a total of a cup of assorted kinds again it depends on the main dish. For Lobster Ravioli, I added a cup of romano & Parmesan and I added 1 pack of Old Bay spice. Made a great New Years Eve dinner.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>Above: Slideshow of our garden at Avalon Slideshow of our recent holiday at Woodgate Beach, South-East Queensland, Australia. Hi! I'm Kookaburra, from Australia. First, a promise. I will only post recipes on this site which I've made myself and to which I would personally give a 5 star rating - what you give them is up to you ;-) I look forward to receiving your feedback. If you look at my reviews, they're all 5 stars. That doesn't mean I give 5 stars to every recipe I try. I'm just not interested in giving poor ratings to anyone else's recipe because I accept that different people have different tastes. So, I've decided that I'll only review those recipes which I really love and which I'd make again and recommend to friends. If a recipe meets that criteria - even if it needs a bit of 'tweaking' to match my tastes, I'll give it 5 stars. If not, I'll just delete it from my recipe book and no hard feelings. I'm not advocating this as the 'right' approach. I just decided I needed a consistent strategy for rating and this is mine. I'm passionate about cooking - and eating! What I look for in food is something that 'zings' in the mouth. I like lots of taste - I'm not a big fan of subtlety. I don't often cook recipes exactly as written. I like to experiment and adapt things to my own taste. A retired marketing executive and academic, I live with my elderly (but thoroughly modern) mother in a tiny mountain village at the edge of the rainforest. I'm female, happily single, in my mid-40s and boast the Rubenesque figure of a passionate cook! Avalon, our 'story-book' cottage, overlooks a small lake. As I sit at my computer or work in the kitchen, I'm serenaded by a cacophany of native birds - including a very fat family of kookaburras! We have quite a large property and are lucky to have vegetable gardens and a variety of fruit and nut trees. I look forward to sharing recipes on Recipezaar with family, friends and friends I've yet to meet. last minute flight</p>