Definition

1. Noun:
   • A white sauce: "Béchamel" is a classic French white sauce made by thickening milk with a cooked mixture of butter and flour (called a roux). It is one of the "mother sauces" in French cuisine and serves as a base for many other sauces and dishes.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The recipe for lasagna calls for a layer of bechamel.
  • She prepared a simple bechamel to pour over the steamed vegetables.
  • A good bechamel should be smooth and creamy, with no lumps.

Advanced Usage

• "Béchamel sauce": This is the full, most common term for the sauce. While "béchamel" alone is standard, specifying "sauce" can be helpful for clarity.
  • The croque monsieur is traditionally made with béchamel sauce.

Variants and Related Words

• Béchamel-based (adj): Describing a dish or another sauce that uses béchamel as its foundation.
  • Mornay sauce is a béchamel-based sauce with added cheese.

Synonyms

• White sauce: A general term for sauces with a milk or cream base, often used interchangeably with "béchamel," though technically a plain white sauce may not always use a roux.
• Cream sauce: A broader term that can include sauces made with cream rather than a milk-and-roux base.

Related Phrases

(Note: "Béchamel" is a specific culinary term and does not have phrasal verbs or idioms in the traditional sense.) - To make a bechamel: The standard phrase for the cooking process. - The first step is to make a bechamel by melting the butter and whisking in the flour.

Noun

1. milk thickened with a butter and flour roux