Béchamel sauce

File:B%C3%A9chamel_sauce.jpg

The first recipe of a sauce similar to béchamel is in the book {{lang|fr|Le cuisinier françois}} by François Pierre de La Varenne in 1651, made with a roux, as in modern recipes.{{Cite book |last=La Varenne|first=François Pierre|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k114423k |title=Le cuisinier françois , enseignant la manière de bien apprester et assaisonner toutes sortes de viandes... légumes,... par le sieur de La Varenne,... |date=1651 |language=FR}} The name of the sauce was given in honour of Louis de Béchameil, a financier who held the honorary post of chief steward 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,{{cite book |last=Kurlansky |first=Mark |date=8 May 2018 |title=Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6htCDwAAQBAJ |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=9781632863843 }} in which the following recipe for "Turbots (a la Bechameille)" appears:

{{blockquote|Take some Parsley and Chibbol,{{Cite web|title=Oxford English Dictionary: chibol, n.|url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/31513}} and mince them very small, put in a Saucepan a good lump of Butter, with your Parsley and Chibbol, and some minced Shallots, season'd with Salt and Pepper, some Nutmeg, and a dust of Flour: Take a Turbot boil'd in Court Bouillon, take it off by pieces and put it into your Stew-pan: put in a little Cream, Milk, or a little Water, put it over the Fire, and stir it now and then, that your Sauce may thicken; then let it be of a good Taste, dish it up, and serve it up hot for a first Course.{{cite book |last=La Chappelle |first=Vincent |date=1733 |title=The modern cook: containing instructions for preparing and ordering publick entertainments for the tables of princes, ambassadors, noblemen, and magistrates. As also the least expensive methods of providing for private families, in a very elegant manner. New receipts for dressing of meat, fowl, and fish; and making ragoûts fricassées, and pastry of all sorts, in a method, never before publish'd. Adorn'd with copperplates, exhibiting the order of placing the different dishes, &c. on the table, in the most polite way|url=https://archive.org/details/b30526693_0003/page/138/mode/2up?q=turbot |location=London |publisher=T. Osborne |page=138}}}}

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,{{Cite web |last=Cesari |first=Luca |date=2024-01-21 |title=Caterina de' Medici: così i francesi hanno inventato il mito di una regina in cucina |url=https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/caterina-de-medici-cucina/ |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=Gambero Rosso |language=it-IT}} 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."{{cite web|url=https://thenewgastronome.com/caterina-de-medici-a-gastronomic-myth/|title=The New Gastronome The Illusive Story Of Catherine de' Medici A Gastronomic Myth|author=Antonella Campanini |date=18 December 2018|website=Università di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo|access-date=3 April 2023}} 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,{{cite web|url=https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Italian-Style-Bechamel-Sauce/ |title=Besciamella (Italian-Style Béchamel Sauce)|author=Farideh Sadeghin |date=7 January 2008|website=saveur.com |access-date=8 October 2020}}
• μπεσαμέλ (spelled mpesamél, pronounced besamél) in Greece,{{cite web|url=https://www.thespruceeats.com/bechamel-sauce-recipe-p2-1706172 |title=A Basic Greek Besamel (Bechamel)|author=Nancy Gaifyllia |date=27 March 2020|website=thespruceeats.com |access-date=8 October 2020}}
• بشمل (bashamel) in Egypt,{{cite book|last=McWilliams|first=Mark|date=2016|title=Food and Communication: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yjZlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT14|publisher=Oxford Symposium|page=15|isbn=9781909248496}}
• :he:רוטב בשאמל in Israel,
• бешамель (biešamieĺ) in Russia,{{cite book|last=Molokhovets|first=Elena|date=1998|title=Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets' A Gift to Young Housewives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttlCGJxfLRUC&pg=PA265|publisher=Indiana University Press|page=265|isbn=9780253212108}}
• beszamel in Poland,{{cite book|last=Strybel|first=Robert and Maria|date=2005|title=Polish Heritage Cookery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UtA6-pyGJmMC&pg=PA519|publisher=Hippocrene Books|page=519|isbn=9780781811248}} and
• white sauce in the U.S.{{cite web |url=https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-a-bchamel-sauce-wh-132035 |title=How To Make a Béchamel Sauce (White Sauce) |last=Durand |first=Faith |date=2010-11-10 |website=Kitchn |publisher=AT Media |access-date=2020-09-10}}

These adaptations have also caused various erroneous claims for the recipe's origin.{{cite book|last=Tselementes|first=Nicholas|author-link= |date=1972|title=Greek Cookery|url=http://www.godecookery.com/byznrec/byznrec.htm|location=D.C.|publisher=Divry|page=|isbn=9780900834745}}{{cite web|url=http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/SauceHistory.htm|title=History and legends of Béchamel sauce|date=16 September 2015|website=What's cooking America|access-date=3 April 2023}}

Béchamel can be used as the base for many other sauces, such as Mornay, which is béchamel with cheese.Delmy Dauenhauer, 10 Ways to Use Béchamel Sauce, London : SamEnrico, 2015, {{ISBN|9781505738384}}. In Greek cuisine, béchamel (σάλσα μπεσαμέλ) is often enriched with egg.{{Cite book |last=Tselementes |first=Nikolaos K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTWyPUUs3kgC&q=bechamel |title=Greek Cookery |date=1950 |publisher=D.C. Divry |pages=92 |language=en}}

Béchamel is used in dishes such as the Italian lasagne al forno{{cite web|url=https://www.the-pasta-project.com/lasagne-al-forno-with-bolognese/ |title=Classic Lasagne al Forno with Bolognese |author=Jacqui Debono |date=27 February 2018|website=the-pasta-project.com |access-date=8 October 2020}} and canelons (Catalan; Castilian canelones), a Catalan version of Italian cannelloni.{{cite web|url=https://www.littlespain.com/news-item/canelones-de-san-esteban/|title=Canelones de San Esteban|website=littlespain.com|access-date=5 April 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.barcelona.cat/culturapopular/en/festivals-and-traditions/food-and-drink/canelons/|title=Cultura popular – Canelons|website=barcelona.cat|date=19 May 2014 |access-date=25 July 2023}} It was introduced to Greek cuisine by the chef Nikolaos Tselementes in the 1930s,Aglaia Kremezi (1996), "Nikolas Tselementes" in Walker, Harlan (Ed.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=lpOqTUucwhUC&pg=PA162 Cooks and Other People], (Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, 1995). Totnes: Prospect Books. {{ISBN|0907325726}}. pp 162–169 {{Google Books|lpOqTUucwhUC|Text}}

notably in moussaka{{cite web |author=Eli K. Giannopoulos |date=14 May 2013 |title=Traditional Greek Moussaka recipe (Moussaka with Béchamel) |url=https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/mousakas/ |access-date=8 October 2020 |website=mygreekdish.com}} and pastitsio.{{cite web |last1=Mannering |first1=Sam |date=21 August 2022 |title=You should make pastitsio - a kind of Greek lasagne - tonight |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-drink/129601691/you-should-make-pastitsio--a-kind-of-greek-lasagne--tonight |access-date=14 September 2022 |publisher=Stuff |quote=Pour the bechamel sauce over the top of the beef, followed by the rest of the pasta, pressing it slightly into the bechamel}} The Karelian-Finnish sipatti is smoked, cubed and sauteed pork belly in white sauce base,{{cite web | url=https://www.soosinystavat.fi/ruokaperinnetta | title=Ruokaperinne }} and kananmunakastike is boiled and sliced eggs in a white sauce base.Kotiliesi magazine, Otava Media 2024. https://kotiliesi.fi/resepti/isoaidin-kananmunakastike/ These are typically eaten as main dishes with potatoes.

{{portal|Food}}

• Sausage gravy
• List of sauces

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Béchamel}}

• [http://stellaculinary.com/podcasts/video/culinary-school-bechamel-sauce-how-to-video/ Free Culinary School Video Episode 11]—An educational podcast episode that talks about the classical French technique used for making Sauce Béchamel and a few secondary sauces including Mornay, Basic Cream, Cheddar Cheese and Mustard Sauce.
• {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Bechamel|year=1905 |short=x}}

{{White sauces}}

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{{Foods featuring butter}}

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