Your tutorials are so beneficial to those of us that came here after watching numerous t.v. chefs and other sources. It's all those special tips that they neglected to tell the viewer that make such a big impact on our final dishes not resembling theirs. (Gotta love video editing!) Very discouraging. The saddest part is the fact that they are being PAID, while you do it for free, using your free time.
The problem with television chefs is the nature of the medium itself. Hosts are chosen for their looks and personality, not their experience or knowledge. If they can be trained to hold a knife and use a can opener, they're ready for prime time. Thus we get the likes of Rachel Ray instead of Thomas Keller - and the crew that you never see behind the scenes is turning out the final dishes shown. Even for Mario Batali. If you are really lucky the writers did a halfway decent job of writing a script that had some useful details in it, even after it went through several revisions and the video worked its way through the editing room. The attitude of the Food Network (and other mainstream media) is that they are producing entertainment, not a free culinary school education. Could they do better? Absolutely, but they aren't going to change the process. On the plus side, such shows have been an inspiration to millions of people to at least try to cook something once in a while instead of living on delivery pizza and fast food. On the negative side, they have inspired many people to attempt to enter the field with a impossibly idealistic idea of what it is like to actually be a chef. This has lowered wages and compounded the problem even more. Then we have the Internet phenomenon where bored housewives who don't know the first thing about cooking have littered UA-cam with terabytes of videos that are nothing more than personal ego trips that make finding legitimate information a nightmare. I can only hope that my channel will eventually grow, and I thank you for your continued support!
ANNOTATIONS 0:09.700 Second, there are quite a few recipes out there telliing you that using an "onion piqué" (clove studded onion) is necessary in classic Béchamel. Yes and no. If you are making up about 2 LITERS of the sauce, then a WHOLE UNCUT onion with 3-4 cloves in it was added. But using a sliced onion with half a dozen cloves is completely wrong. You can use a whole tiny "boiling" onion with 1 clove if it makes you feel better, but I defy you to taste the difference. 0:09.733 PLEASE PAUSE TO READ THE TEXT: First the most common mistake in Béchamel: Attempting to cook the roux too quickly on a high heat and/or without enough stirring. You think you got the desired color, but what you really have is a mixture of a much darker roux and some raw uncooked flour mixed together, and the two colors average out to a paler shade because you can't see what happened at a microscopic level with your eyes. 0:24.300 ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS FOR MORNAY SAUCE 1 t Corn Starch (see video) 60-120g (2-4 oz) Cheese, grated (see video regarding amounts 1/2 t each ground white pepper and dry mustard Traditionally the cheese would be a mixture of Parmesan and Swiss (Gruyére), but any cheese you add makes this a Mornay Sauce. For instance, cheddar is used in Mac and Cheese. 0:24.300 INGREDIENTS FOR BÉCHAMEL 30g (1oz) Butter, possibly clarified - see video 2 T Flour 300ml (10 1/2 oz) Milk (sometimes more) 1/4 - 1/2 t Nutmeg Classically, it would then be thinned to the desired consistency with vegetable stock, depending on the application. These days the viscosity is usually controlled with the amount of milk added. 2:41.013 The darker a roux is, the less thickening power it has. However, the more flavor you get, and the nature of the flavor changes as the roux darkens. Knowing which flavor will compliment which sauce is only learned through experience. 3:22.781 For a Mornay Sauce, the color of the optimum roux will be governed by the type of cheese you use. For Roquefort or Stilton use a white roux, for Parmesan and Gruyére, use blonde. For cheddar use beige. For Jack use toasty to peanut, and for smoked cheeses, try a chocolate roux. 4:27.031 Now watching this video later, I can confirm what I said at the time. This was cooked to the peanut color stage, but in the video I know it looks very yellow. 5:41.700 It is hard to hear me over the whisking, but what I'm saying is that the Béchamel is too hot to add the cheese to. If you do, you will get a grainy sauce, and depending on the cheese you will get a grainy, stringy or oily mess... 5:53.400 ...when you make a Mornay Sauce, you make it in two distinct stages: a finished Béchamel, and then after it cools you add cheese and begin cooking a second time. 7:17.900 For an ultra-traditional Mornay, I would use 30g (1 oz) of Parmesan and the same amount of Gruérye. If it was a soft cheese like Brie, then I would use 120g (4 1/4 oz). While in this case of Jack cheese, I'm in the middle at just under 90g (just over 3 oz). 8:07.895 A thick Mornay Sauce is a good thing. You want to be able to thin it with stock to the consistency you want. Trying to make it thicker later is very difficult, but thinning it is easy. 8:53.700 NOW you can add salt to taste. 8:53.700 RECAP OF KEY POINTS 1. Cook Béchamel slowly in a non-reactive pan, stirring with a wooden spoon. 2. Make a conscious and informed decision about the color of the roux. Don't just use white roux for everything. 3. There is no need to clarify butter for a relatively pale roux that will be cooked properly (slowly). 4. Make the Béchamel thick initially (use proportions shown here) then thin it to the desired consistency with stock. 5. Add corn starch to the roux if it is going to be a Mornay. 6. Allow the Béchamel to cool before adding cheese and heating a second time to build a Mornay Sauce.
I spent over a year trying and failing to make a mornay sauce that would be good for home made mac and cheese. I felt like I tried everything, and no matter what it was never right... Until I found this video. The cornstarch trick, combined with finally understanding that my big mistake had always been undercooking my roux has finally allowed me to make mornay sauce!
Thanks for the valuable information chef. whenever I made bechamel in the past I ended up with those annoying lumps or doing many unnecessary steps, today I made a little and it came out perfect! Also yesterday I made stuffed mushrooms using your recipe and they were also very delicious for me and my family
Thank you for leaving feedback. There is much more detailed information in my cookbooks with photos, graphs and charts that aren't in the videos, in case you didn't know already. Cheers!
I think this video is worth about 6 months of expensive culinary school. Just 6436 views as of today (5 years). I am shaking my head in disbelief as I type this. You should have a masterclass series.
Thank you. Most people watch videos for "food porn" and not to actually learn anything, I have discovered. That's fine - there is plenty of that on UA-cam for them! If you liked the information here, I suggest you check out my cookbook series available on Amazon - and the reviews of it. Cheers!
I often re watch your videos. This one I bet I have watched 5 times. Yesterday this one gave me the confidence to go all the way to Cajun and I ended up with a gumbo that Chef Prudhomme would have wanted me to have. But a funny thing happened along the way. I tasted the soup pretty early and was sure I had ruined it.. Until I remembered that I had homemade stock, with no salt added. After I salted it it went from awful to amazing. I had flavor to build.... I wasn't even half done. I think I am getting this. Yes it was a chef Prudhomme recipe.
Thanks for the vid chef. I really love the way you took time to explain the fundamentals and basic attention point, something that most book or source overlook, or deliberately omit.
Dimas Akbar Thank you for your feedback. Be sure to look through some of my other videos, too! If you like this one, you will probably like the two I put up on the Organic Chemistry in Cooking.
I've never cooled a béchamel before adding cheese. Though, now that I think about it, I've always thought cheddar created a grainy sauce. The grains are exceptionally fine, but it never quite seemed to melt completely. I'll have to give cooling it a try.
I am a little embarrassed chef. Not three weeks ago I asked you what type of cheese to use in a monay and you said, quite as a matter of fact.....swiss and parmesan......I have watched this video a few times because I love to make gumbos and they require a darker roux. I love the mornay sauce I made for the dumplings that Seattle Rinis made, even though I had to make it twice, but I wish I had referred back to this video and I would have added the dry mustard and nutmeg to make this sauce even that much better. What amazes me chef is that I am not a huge fan of swiss cheese, but I would not make a mornay out of anything BUT swiss, its amazing. I will try harder in the future to answer my own questions, you have given all of us a ton of information. I believe without a doubt by the time your done posting videos (hopefully way way later than sooner) we will have become home cooks everyone wants to visit.
+shair00 Thank you again. I have no plan to stop making videos because there are more recipes to show than I could within my lifetime. A video takes a very long time compared to just cooking the dish, and I'm always discovering new foods and ideas every month. Another video is almost finished, by the way. I'm really struggling for time again this week or it would already be done.
There tends to be two schools of Béchamel these days -- either a painfully long drawn out process that is entirely unnecessary, or the Rachael Ray type who tells people they can cook the flour and butter in 30 seconds on a high flame. The way I'm showing here is the practical method. In a restaurant we can't spend an hour making a Béchamel, but we also can't serve something that was both burned and raw at the same time. LOL
Hi, I'm seeing a pattern of stirring with a elongated shallow scoop instrument rather than a straight edge spatula or a rounded spatula. Is this just habbit or for some technical reason? Also it seems you can scrape the bottom of the pot more effectively with a silicone tipped spatula (more contact area) rather than wooden, so why use one over the other? Thanks.
Old school rule ... always stir roux with a wooden spoon. It shouldn't stick to the bottom if you are doing it right, but I'm sure a silicone spatula will work fine.
Hey chef, what's your task doing in finland? How is it? I saw a burger recipe in a restaurant here in Germany and they added a cheese sauce to it consisting of mozzarella, gorgonzola, scarmoza & mascarpone, calling it "quattro formaggi sauce". Which shade of roux would you recommend, if you mix four different cheeses as you refer to the shades with only one type of cheese. Greetings, hope you're doing fine!
I'm establishing a rather amazing restaurant here unlike anything else in Scandinavia, and quite possibly unlike anything else in the entire world. Seriously. As for the roux, a blonde roux is generally a safe choice with a single cheese.
Thanks for the videos, very helpful. In my experience, cornstarch is probably okay if you don't plan on reheating the sauce/filling, etc., but when I've used it and tried to reheat the dish it always turns into a watery mess. I don't know why it happens, but I now avoid cornstarch like the plague. Any thoughts on this subject?
Corn starch will produce a more transparent sauce, but you can't cook it as long or it will break down and lose its thickening power. It is kind of a yin and yang thing, with flour taking longer to cook, producing opaque sauces and retaining its thickening power longer (though it gradually weakens on prolonged cooking, too - just not as easily). There are still other thickening agents such as arrowroot that can be employed. In general, high caliber cuisine these days is less dependent on thickening agents as opposed to reductions. A couple of bottles of wine can be reduced down to a thick, concentrated sauce without any flour or corn starch. Of course that approach is far more expensive, but if we are talking about professional restaurant cooking where people are paying hundreds of dollars for a meal, and sauces are often merely streaks or droplets, then there's really no reason to resort to thickening agents. As a general rule for home cooking and an opaque sauce, a roux made with flour will be your best choice about 99% of the time.
CookinginRussia Thanks for the explanation. I'm not a professional cook, I just like to cook. I grew up in a household where making roux was the norm, but as an adult I have tried branching out...learning new things. However, in this instance, new (cornstarch) has not been my friend. :)
CookinginRussia I recently learned about a thickening agent called xanthan gum. It is not a replacement for roux except for a handful of applications, like thickening a jus or wine reduction. I use it as a 'sauce thickener' quite frequently since it can be added directly to nearly any liquid, to quickly thicken it while barely (if at all) adding/changing flavor, lumps or color. It also retains thickening power well when reheating.
iWishmaster Yes, of course I know about xanthan gum. The main problem is that it is a powerful laxative, so if you use very much of it, the after effects are, umm... well, you get the picture.
Paul prudhomme is a professional cajun chef and he cooks his roux's on a very high heat, but its so easy to burn that I only cook roux very slowly as you describe. I love cajun food, but I will never do darker than a chocolate color because its so so easy to burn and the roux continues to cook after pulling it off the heat. That said, even cajuns love my gumbo
Paul Prudhomme is the very person who I learned the reason for cooking roux slowly from, so I'm wondering where you got that idea. You can use a somewhat higher heat if your lipid is oil instead of butter, and your target roux is going to be very dark, but he takes 45 minutes to get the roux to that color.
In his cookbook Chef Paul Prudhommes's Louisiana Kitchen, Page 26-27"Over the years Ive developed a way to cook roux so it can be make in a matter of minutes, over very high heat, and with very few exceptions this is the method used in this books recipes."
This was one of his first cookbooks, ive not used his newer cookbooks because he uses his seasonings he sells in the store and in the first cookbook, he gives the recipes for the seasoning mix. Maybe he uses a different system for cooking a roux in his newer cookbooks? Im not trying to prove you wrong Chef, I see you as my teacher.
Onelegged Wonder By chance, I actually have that book with me here in Russia (one of only about 60 cookbooks that I brought) and I do see that quote - right after he says that it traditionally takes hours to make a proper roux. The problem with this quote is that it is vague. He says a "high heat" and "minutes" - how high of a heat exactly? How many minutes? And for what volume of roux? This seems like a CLASSIC case of the publisher getting directly involved, because no publisher wants to put out a cookbook that tells people that they have to stand over a hot stove for 3-4 hours to make a dish (especially back in the 1980s). I can easily imagine him trying to find a way to make it sound easier than it is by using vague terms on purpose. I've encountered the same problem many times, particularly when I was doing articles for the LA Times. The CONSTANT editorial comment was "find a way to do this faster and easier to make it more accessible for a general audience" - and the even after I tried to give the half-assed approach, most of the time they would STILL edit it into something even simpler - even though it was now completely wrong and would not produce a good final product. I assure you that K-Paul's kitchen makes roux slowly. I knew a cook who used to work there, and they spent all morning making roux. This is one of the tragic problems of commercially produced books and TV shows. They all have to go through the corporate mass-market filter.
CookinginRussia Well I agree that it is traditionally done over slow heat. he says he can do it in a few minutes over high heat (500F), and like I said, I hate that method, its too darn easy to burn. I love the idea over low heat and its alot easier. But thanks for this video, it really gives alot of information about making a roux and like I said, I wont ever go past chocolate....
It affects the outcome, but any type of milk can be used from low fat to heavy cream when making Bechamel. It just depends on what you are going to use it for.
Hi. Just made this mornay (w/ parmesan and swiss) for pairing with the recent cabbage dumplings recipe. Oh my was it good. Will have to make the veggies to go with it next time. How long will the mornay sauce keep in the frig? Had a little of the dry Spanish Sherry I used for the dumplings to wash it down with. It was ok. Any better suggestion for a pairing?
+Seattle Rinis I like an oak-aged Chardonnay with the dumplings. The sauce will keep for a few days in the refrigerator, but you may need to warm it back up to re-liquify it. Thanks for leaving feedback!
+Seattle Rinis Hey there! Have you tried the smoked clam chowder yet? If not, I recommend it highly. There in Seattle the clam are much much better than what I get in AZ so regular clam chowder would be great, but this smoked clam chowder is addicting. not hard to make either......let me know what you think. hope your doing well!
+shair00 Hey man! Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Too much going on. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I haven't prepared much in the way of seafood - just salmon, cod, rockfish - very simple recipes and nothing yet from Greg. However, now that you mention it, one of my fav markets has plenty of fresh clams so.. Now there's no excuse. The weather's perfect even. On the to-do list! We'll get back.
Chemically it has a different structure and it interferes with the polymerization reaction that easily happens between flour and cheese (which is what produces those long threads you may have encountered in a cheese sauce before). It also helps to maintain the thickening power in a darker roux.
I made a red potato soup ( I had them, why not use them) with smoked gouda cheese. I made the stock from a roasted chicken I had, using your chicken stock recipe. What bothered me about this recipe is that the chef mixed equal parts of flour and butter in a bowl and mixed the uncooked roux into the soup as it was simmering. This did not sit easy with me, so I pulled up this video and made a blonde roux in another pan, then added it to the soup. I was not trying to disrespect this chef by no means, Ive always learned that a roux is cooked to get that raw flour taste cooked out and to get the color needed for the application.
+shair00 What you are referring to is Beurre manié, which is a common method of thickening soups and stews in French cooking. It works fine as long as it is going to be cooked for a long time.
CookinginRussia oik Chef, thank you! BTW, I am sure you know, Chef Paul Prudhomme made his dark roux with high heat and constant stirring. When the roux gets very dark, he would pull if off the heat and add the trinity to stop the cooking and caramelize the vegetables at the same time. This method, although very fast was scary and easy to burn. I like the slow method better.....
shair00 Cooking roux at a high heat is not going to produce a great result no matter how much you stir it. There are some shortcuts that are taken in restaurant kitchens simply because time is of the essence, but the way to get around this is to make a large batch of roux ahead of time and store it until needed. Then you can spend as long as it takes and the result will still be perfect.
Your tutorials are so beneficial to those of us that came here after watching numerous t.v. chefs and other sources. It's all those special tips that they neglected to tell the viewer that make such a big impact on our final dishes not resembling theirs. (Gotta love video editing!) Very discouraging. The saddest part is the fact that they are being PAID, while you do it for free, using your free time.
The problem with television chefs is the nature of the medium itself. Hosts are chosen for their looks and personality, not their experience or knowledge. If they can be trained to hold a knife and use a can opener, they're ready for prime time. Thus we get the likes of Rachel Ray instead of Thomas Keller - and the crew that you never see behind the scenes is turning out the final dishes shown. Even for Mario Batali. If you are really lucky the writers did a halfway decent job of writing a script that had some useful details in it, even after it went through several revisions and the video worked its way through the editing room. The attitude of the Food Network (and other mainstream media) is that they are producing entertainment, not a free culinary school education. Could they do better? Absolutely, but they aren't going to change the process. On the plus side, such shows have been an inspiration to millions of people to at least try to cook something once in a while instead of living on delivery pizza and fast food. On the negative side, they have inspired many people to attempt to enter the field with a impossibly idealistic idea of what it is like to actually be a chef. This has lowered wages and compounded the problem even more. Then we have the Internet phenomenon where bored housewives who don't know the first thing about cooking have littered UA-cam with terabytes of videos that are nothing more than personal ego trips that make finding legitimate information a nightmare. I can only hope that my channel will eventually grow, and I thank you for your continued support!
ANNOTATIONS
0:09.700
Second, there are quite a few recipes out there telliing you that using an "onion piqué" (clove studded onion) is necessary in classic Béchamel. Yes and no. If you are making up about 2 LITERS of the sauce, then a WHOLE UNCUT onion with 3-4 cloves in it was added. But using a sliced onion with half a dozen cloves is completely wrong. You can use a whole tiny "boiling" onion with 1 clove if it makes you feel better, but I defy you to taste the difference.
0:09.733
PLEASE PAUSE TO READ THE TEXT:
First the most common mistake in Béchamel:
Attempting to cook the roux too quickly on a high heat and/or without enough stirring. You think you got the desired color, but what you really have is a mixture of a much darker roux and some raw uncooked flour mixed together, and the two colors average out to a paler shade because you can't see what happened at a microscopic level with your eyes.
0:24.300
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS FOR MORNAY SAUCE
1 t Corn Starch (see video)
60-120g (2-4 oz) Cheese, grated (see video regarding amounts
1/2 t each ground white pepper and dry mustard
Traditionally the cheese would be a mixture of Parmesan and Swiss (Gruyére), but any cheese you add makes this a Mornay Sauce. For instance, cheddar is used in Mac and Cheese.
0:24.300
INGREDIENTS FOR BÉCHAMEL
30g (1oz) Butter, possibly clarified - see video
2 T Flour
300ml (10 1/2 oz) Milk (sometimes more)
1/4 - 1/2 t Nutmeg
Classically, it would then be thinned to the desired consistency with vegetable stock, depending on the application. These days the viscosity is usually controlled with the amount of milk added.
2:41.013
The darker a roux is, the less thickening power it has. However, the more flavor you get, and the nature of the flavor changes as the roux darkens. Knowing which flavor will compliment which sauce is only learned through experience.
3:22.781
For a Mornay Sauce, the color of the optimum roux will be governed by the type of cheese you use. For Roquefort or Stilton use a white roux, for Parmesan and Gruyére, use blonde. For cheddar use beige. For Jack use toasty to peanut, and for smoked cheeses, try a chocolate roux.
4:27.031
Now watching this video later, I can confirm what I said at the time. This was cooked to the peanut color stage, but in the video I know it looks very yellow.
5:41.700
It is hard to hear me over the whisking, but what I'm saying is that the Béchamel is too hot to add the cheese to. If you do, you will get a grainy sauce, and depending on the cheese you will get a grainy, stringy or oily mess...
5:53.400
...when you make a Mornay Sauce, you make it in two distinct stages: a finished Béchamel, and then after it cools you add cheese and begin cooking a second time.
7:17.900
For an ultra-traditional Mornay, I would use 30g (1 oz) of Parmesan and the same amount of Gruérye. If it was a soft cheese like Brie, then I would use 120g (4 1/4 oz). While in this case of Jack cheese, I'm in the middle at just under 90g (just over 3 oz).
8:07.895
A thick Mornay Sauce is a good thing. You want to be able to thin it with stock to the consistency you want. Trying to make it thicker later is very difficult, but thinning it is easy.
8:53.700
NOW you can add salt to taste.
8:53.700
RECAP OF KEY POINTS
1. Cook Béchamel slowly in a non-reactive pan, stirring with a wooden spoon.
2. Make a conscious and informed decision about the color of the roux. Don't just use white roux for everything.
3. There is no need to clarify butter for a relatively pale roux that will be cooked properly (slowly).
4. Make the Béchamel thick initially (use proportions shown here) then thin it to the desired consistency with stock.
5. Add corn starch to the roux if it is going to be a Mornay.
6. Allow the Béchamel to cool before adding cheese and heating a second time to build a Mornay Sauce.
I spent over a year trying and failing to make a mornay sauce that would be good for home made mac and cheese. I felt like I tried everything, and no matter what it was never right... Until I found this video. The cornstarch trick, combined with finally understanding that my big mistake had always been undercooking my roux has finally allowed me to make mornay sauce!
Thanks for the valuable information chef.
whenever I made bechamel in the past I ended up with those annoying lumps or doing many unnecessary steps, today I made a little and it came out perfect!
Also yesterday I made stuffed mushrooms using your recipe and they were also very delicious for me and my family
Thank you for leaving feedback. There is much more detailed information in my cookbooks with photos, graphs and charts that aren't in the videos, in case you didn't know already. Cheers!
I think this video is worth about 6 months of expensive culinary school. Just 6436 views as of today (5 years). I am shaking my head in disbelief as I type this. You should have a masterclass series.
Thank you. Most people watch videos for "food porn" and not to actually learn anything, I have discovered. That's fine - there is plenty of that on UA-cam for them! If you liked the information here, I suggest you check out my cookbook series available on Amazon - and the reviews of it. Cheers!
After cooking this a couple times I am very confident my super bowl nachos will be truly super this year thanks chef!
I often re watch your videos. This one I bet I have watched 5 times. Yesterday this one gave me the confidence to go all the way to Cajun and I ended up with a gumbo that Chef Prudhomme would have wanted me to have. But a funny thing happened along the way. I tasted the soup pretty early and was sure I had ruined it.. Until I remembered that I had homemade stock, with no salt added. After I salted it it went from awful to amazing. I had flavor to build.... I wasn't even half done. I think I am getting this. Yes it was a chef Prudhomme recipe.
Thanks for the vid chef. I really love the way you took time to explain the fundamentals and basic attention point, something that most book or source overlook, or deliberately omit.
Dimas Akbar Thank you for your feedback. Be sure to look through some of my other videos, too! If you like this one, you will probably like the two I put up on the Organic Chemistry in Cooking.
CookinginRussia
Definitely will check it out.:). I wonder tho, if i may ask why coctail book not cooking book?
Dimas Akbar A cook book is in the works. These things take time. :)
CookinginRussia
Looking forward to it chef ;). Thanks~
Nice technique video, I hope you do more. Excellent to have the instructions and the pitfalls to avoid. Won't find that in my CIA book.
Thank you! Yes, more videos are coming.
I've never cooled a béchamel before adding cheese. Though, now that I think about it, I've always thought cheddar created a grainy sauce. The grains are exceptionally fine, but it never quite seemed to melt completely. I'll have to give cooling it a try.
I am a little embarrassed chef. Not three weeks ago I asked you what type of cheese to use in a monay and you said, quite as a matter of fact.....swiss and parmesan......I have watched this video a few times because I love to make gumbos and they require a darker roux. I love the mornay sauce I made for the dumplings that Seattle Rinis made, even though I had to make it twice, but I wish I had referred back to this video and I would have added the dry mustard and nutmeg to make this sauce even that much better. What amazes me chef is that I am not a huge fan of swiss cheese, but I would not make a mornay out of anything BUT swiss, its amazing. I will try harder in the future to answer my own questions, you have given all of us a ton of information. I believe without a doubt by the time your done posting videos (hopefully way way later than sooner) we will have become home cooks everyone wants to visit.
+shair00 Thank you again. I have no plan to stop making videos because there are more recipes to show than I could within my lifetime. A video takes a very long time compared to just cooking the dish, and I'm always discovering new foods and ideas every month. Another video is almost finished, by the way. I'm really struggling for time again this week or it would already be done.
Dang, that was easy. I make bechamel a lot. Always takes a lot more attention than what you did here. Should make life a bit easier for me. Thanks!
There tends to be two schools of Béchamel these days -- either a painfully long drawn out process that is entirely unnecessary, or the Rachael Ray type who tells people they can cook the flour and butter in 30 seconds on a high flame. The way I'm showing here is the practical method. In a restaurant we can't spend an hour making a Béchamel, but we also can't serve something that was both burned and raw at the same time. LOL
you are the man
Jon Carnevale Thank you!
Hi, I'm seeing a pattern of stirring with a elongated shallow scoop instrument rather than a straight edge spatula or a rounded spatula. Is this just habbit or for some technical reason? Also it seems you can scrape the bottom of the pot more effectively with a silicone tipped spatula (more contact area) rather than wooden, so why use one over the other?
Thanks.
Old school rule ... always stir roux with a wooden spoon. It shouldn't stick to the bottom if you are doing it right, but I'm sure a silicone spatula will work fine.
Hey chef, what's your task doing in finland? How is it? I saw a burger recipe in a restaurant here in Germany and they added a cheese sauce to it consisting of mozzarella, gorgonzola, scarmoza & mascarpone, calling it "quattro formaggi sauce". Which shade of roux would you recommend, if you mix four different cheeses as you refer to the shades with only one type of cheese. Greetings, hope you're doing fine!
I'm establishing a rather amazing restaurant here unlike anything else in Scandinavia, and quite possibly unlike anything else in the entire world. Seriously. As for the roux, a blonde roux is generally a safe choice with a single cheese.
Thats good to hear! Give us more info about it, if you are allowed to.
I will be very soon. There have been delays and complications having to do with city permits, as you will see soon in an upcoming video.
Thanks for the videos, very helpful.
In my experience, cornstarch is probably okay if you don't plan on reheating the sauce/filling, etc., but when I've used it and tried to reheat the dish it always turns into a watery mess. I don't know why it happens, but I now avoid cornstarch like the plague. Any thoughts on this subject?
Corn starch will produce a more transparent sauce, but you can't cook it as long or it will break down and lose its thickening power. It is kind of a yin and yang thing, with flour taking longer to cook, producing opaque sauces and retaining its thickening power longer (though it gradually weakens on prolonged cooking, too - just not as easily). There are still other thickening agents such as arrowroot that can be employed.
In general, high caliber cuisine these days is less dependent on thickening agents as opposed to reductions. A couple of bottles of wine can be reduced down to a thick, concentrated sauce without any flour or corn starch. Of course that approach is far more expensive, but if we are talking about professional restaurant cooking where people are paying hundreds of dollars for a meal, and sauces are often merely streaks or droplets, then there's really no reason to resort to thickening agents. As a general rule for home cooking and an opaque sauce, a roux made with flour will be your best choice about 99% of the time.
CookinginRussia Thanks for the explanation. I'm not a professional cook, I just like to cook. I grew up in a household where making roux was the norm, but as an adult I have tried branching out...learning new things. However, in this instance, new (cornstarch) has not been my friend. :)
gmaureen You just have to treat it for what it is. Corn starch is not a direct replacement for flour - that's all. Cheers!
CookinginRussia I recently learned about a thickening agent called xanthan gum. It is not a replacement for roux except for a handful of applications, like thickening a jus or wine reduction. I use it as a 'sauce thickener' quite frequently since it can be added directly to nearly any liquid, to quickly thicken it while barely (if at all) adding/changing flavor, lumps or color. It also retains thickening power well when reheating.
iWishmaster Yes, of course I know about xanthan gum. The main problem is that it is a powerful laxative, so if you use very much of it, the after effects are, umm... well, you get the picture.
Paul prudhomme is a professional cajun chef and he cooks his roux's on a very high heat, but its so easy to burn that I only cook roux very slowly as you describe. I love cajun food, but I will never do darker than a chocolate color because its so so easy to burn and the roux continues to cook after pulling it off the heat. That said, even cajuns love my gumbo
Paul Prudhomme is the very person who I learned the reason for cooking roux slowly from, so I'm wondering where you got that idea. You can use a somewhat higher heat if your lipid is oil instead of butter, and your target roux is going to be very dark, but he takes 45 minutes to get the roux to that color.
In his cookbook Chef Paul Prudhommes's Louisiana Kitchen, Page 26-27"Over the years Ive developed a way to cook roux so it can be make in a matter of minutes, over very high heat, and with very few exceptions this is the method used in this books recipes."
This was one of his first cookbooks, ive not used his newer cookbooks because he uses his seasonings he sells in the store and in the first cookbook, he gives the recipes for the seasoning mix. Maybe he uses a different system for cooking a roux in his newer cookbooks? Im not trying to prove you wrong Chef, I see you as my teacher.
Onelegged Wonder By chance, I actually have that book with me here in Russia (one of only about 60 cookbooks that I brought) and I do see that quote - right after he says that it traditionally takes hours to make a proper roux. The problem with this quote is that it is vague. He says a "high heat" and "minutes" - how high of a heat exactly? How many minutes? And for what volume of roux? This seems like a CLASSIC case of the publisher getting directly involved, because no publisher wants to put out a cookbook that tells people that they have to stand over a hot stove for 3-4 hours to make a dish (especially back in the 1980s). I can easily imagine him trying to find a way to make it sound easier than it is by using vague terms on purpose. I've encountered the same problem many times, particularly when I was doing articles for the LA Times. The CONSTANT editorial comment was "find a way to do this faster and easier to make it more accessible for a general audience" - and the even after I tried to give the half-assed approach, most of the time they would STILL edit it into something even simpler - even though it was now completely wrong and would not produce a good final product.
I assure you that K-Paul's kitchen makes roux slowly. I knew a cook who used to work there, and they spent all morning making roux. This is one of the tragic problems of commercially produced books and TV shows. They all have to go through the corporate mass-market filter.
CookinginRussia Well I agree that it is traditionally done over slow heat. he says he can do it in a few minutes over high heat (500F), and like I said, I hate that method, its too darn easy to burn. I love the idea over low heat and its alot easier. But thanks for this video, it really gives alot of information about making a roux and like I said, I wont ever go past chocolate....
Does the fat content of milk play a rule. Which type of milk is best.
It affects the outcome, but any type of milk can be used from low fat to heavy cream when making Bechamel. It just depends on what you are going to use it for.
Where do I stop stirring for the béchamelle of my lasagna ?
I'm not sure how to answer this. You stir it until it is thickened and the ingredients are incorporated.
I noticed you specified using a non-reactive pan, what is the reasoning behind that? I don't see any particularily acid ingredients.
Roux reaches a very high temperature as it is cooked. Have you read Volume 3 of my cookbook series about this?
No I haven't, gonna check it out. Thanks
Hi. Just made this mornay (w/ parmesan and swiss) for pairing with the recent cabbage dumplings recipe. Oh my was it good. Will have to make the veggies to go with it next time. How long will the mornay sauce keep in the frig? Had a little of the dry Spanish Sherry I used for the dumplings to wash it down with. It was ok. Any better suggestion for a pairing?
+Seattle Rinis I like an oak-aged Chardonnay with the dumplings. The sauce will keep for a few days in the refrigerator, but you may need to warm it back up to re-liquify it. Thanks for leaving feedback!
+Seattle Rinis Hey there! Have you tried the smoked clam chowder yet? If not, I recommend it highly. There in Seattle the clam are much much better than what I get in AZ so regular clam chowder would be great, but this smoked clam chowder is addicting. not hard to make either......let me know what you think. hope your doing well!
+shair00 Hey man! Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Too much going on. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I haven't prepared much in the way of seafood - just salmon, cod, rockfish - very simple recipes and nothing yet from Greg. However, now that you mention it, one of my fav markets has plenty of fresh clams so.. Now there's no excuse. The weather's perfect even. On the to-do list! We'll get back.
Seattle Rinis No - you don't want fresh clams for that. You want canned smoked clams. Fresh is quite different.
Ooops. Should have read over the recipe first. Thanks.
Why is cornstarch added for a Mornay Sauce? Thanks.
Chemically it has a different structure and it interferes with the polymerization reaction that easily happens between flour and cheese (which is what produces those long threads you may have encountered in a cheese sauce before). It also helps to maintain the thickening power in a darker roux.
Finland The accent seams Canadian
I'm American, but I have lived and cooked in several nations over the last few decades, which might make my accent unusual.
I made a red potato soup ( I had them, why not use them) with smoked gouda cheese. I made the stock from a roasted chicken I had, using your chicken stock recipe. What bothered me about this recipe is that the chef mixed equal parts of flour and butter in a bowl and mixed the uncooked roux into the soup as it was simmering. This did not sit easy with me, so I pulled up this video and made a blonde roux in another pan, then added it to the soup. I was not trying to disrespect this chef by no means, Ive always learned that a roux is cooked to get that raw flour taste cooked out and to get the color needed for the application.
+shair00 What you are referring to is Beurre manié, which is a common method of thickening soups and stews in French cooking. It works fine as long as it is going to be cooked for a long time.
CookinginRussia oik Chef, thank you! BTW, I am sure you know, Chef Paul Prudhomme made his dark roux with high heat and constant stirring. When the roux gets very dark, he would pull if off the heat and add the trinity to stop the cooking and caramelize the vegetables at the same time. This method, although very fast was scary and easy to burn. I like the slow method better.....
shair00 Cooking roux at a high heat is not going to produce a great result no matter how much you stir it. There are some shortcuts that are taken in restaurant kitchens simply because time is of the essence, but the way to get around this is to make a large batch of roux ahead of time and store it until needed. Then you can spend as long as it takes and the result will still be perfect.