Long Live 'the Queen'

By RUSS PARSONS

Nov. 7, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES DEPUTY FOOD EDITOR

Escoffier called it “the queen of sauces.” In today’s kitchens, it’s often called “paste.” It’s hard to think of another food preparation that has fallen so far and so quickly out of favor as the simple white sauce.

At one time, white sauce--flying the French flag as bechamel--was important not only in its own right but as the matriarch of a whole family of sauces. Add pureed onion to make sauce soubise, cheese for mornay, lobster butter for nantua, paprika or tomato for aurore. The list is long, and largely forgotten: cardinal, ecossaise, poulette, crevettes.

In fact, there was an entire monarchy of flour-thickened sauces, all of which are now regarded as about as stylish as the Queen Mum. Still, it wasn’t more than a generation ago that the names bechamel, espagnole, veloute and all of their seemingly infinite permutations were part of the lingua franca of every professional kitchen.

Then came the revolution--or, at least, the most recent revolution--in cooking. In the 1970s, flour-thickened sauces, which had survived and even thrived during the previous culinary eras, were banished.

“That word ‘roux’ should be expelled from the gastronomic dictionary,” said Michel Guerard, as Roy Andries de Groot reported in his 1975 book, “Revolutionizing French Cooking.”

Jean Troisgros, who also called for the elimination of roux from “our dictionary” was even more vocal: “That eternal and inevitable butter-flour mixture used for thickening everything in sight, which never provided any flavor of its own, has been thrown out of the kitchen window.”

What happened?

“Now,” Troisgros continued, “we thicken our sauces by reduction, a simple process which not only provides a better body to the sauce but also concentrates and sharpens the flavor--an essence, a magnification of the dish. Finally, at the very last moment before serving, we melt in a small quantity of butter or cream, with no cooking at all, to complete the sauce with a sense of light and simple softness.”

In the hands of such a master as Guerard or Troisgros, this is no doubt a nice sauce, perhaps even a major improvement. Unfortunately, all chefs are not masters, and throwing bechamel out the window only opened the door for endless rounds of beurre blanc (essentially nothing more than melted butter), blankets of over-reduced heavy cream (talk about paste!) and oceans of stocks boiled down until they taste like motor oil.

But now, even Guerard, who, with his ultra-light cuisine minceur was probably the chief rabble-rouser in the anti-bechamel revolution, has had second thoughts. As early as 1978, in “Michel Guerard’s Cuisine Gourmande,” he ruefully admitted: “Handled with finesse, binding with flour is better for you than the enrichment of sauces with outlandish quantities of butter and reduced cream.”

And well he might be a bit sheepish, having turned his back on hundreds of years of tradition the way he did. There are recipes for a sauce called bechamel dating at least to the 18th century. Supposedly, the dish is named after one Louis de Bechameil, the 17th century Marquis de Nointel, who skillfully navigated the tricky political currents during the reign of Louis XIV.

The preparation was used well before that. Supposedly, one contemporary of the marquis commented, “That fellow Bechameil has all the luck. I was serving breast of chicken a la creme 20 years before he was born, yet, as you can see, I have never yet had the chance of giving my name to the most insignificant of sauces.”

Florentine cookbook author Giuliano Bugialli says, “Though this sauce was given the name ‘bechamel’ by the French in the 18th century, it probably existed long before that in Italy. The 15th century recipe for crema di miglio fritta starts with a technique very close to this.”

Close, but maybe no cigar. Crema di miglio fritta means “cream of fried millet,” and millet, lacking gluten, does not form a roux, the basis of white sauce. And if this technique were really just about the same as bechamel, one wonders why the Italians didn’t just keep on using their own term instead of adopting the French name (salsa besciamella or balsamella).

The early bechamel sauces were made slightly differently than today’s. The recipe of Antonin Care^me, from the early 19th century, is typical. A sauce veloute (stock thickened with a flour-and-butter roux) was enriched with cream. “Pour in . . . little by little, thick cream and then you reduce this bechamel, taking care to stir with a wooden spoon to make sure the sauce does not stick to the bottom of the pan.”

In a marginal note, Care^me added that you could use reduced milk instead of cream--”if the latter cannot be obtained except the day before it is required, which renders it extremely liable to have a sourish taste.”

(An even earlier recipe for bechamel “au naturel” from the 1751 book “La Nouvelle Cuisine,” seems almost modern: Heavy cream is reduced, then poured over the sliced breast of a spit-roasted chicken. But it was an aberration and probably tasted no better then than it would today.)

It was with the code Escoffier that bechamel became defined as milk bound by a butter and flour roux, and that is the way it is known today, even if its uses are different.

For bechamel still exists, though no longer as the queen it once was. Today, it is more often a handmaiden used to bind other preparations--a paste, if you will.

From the most ornate vegetable gratin to the simplest macaroni and cheese, from lasagna and chicken pot pie to chipped beef on toast, you will find it, quietly biding its time, waiting until, perhaps, it will rise again.

BAKED MACARONI AND MANY CHEESES

3/4 pound uncooked elbow macaroni, about 3 cups

6 tablespoons butter plus extra for casserole dish

1 small onion, cut in 1/4-inch dice, about 1 cup

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

3/4 pound assorted cheeses (including Cheddar), grated, 2 1/2 to 3 cups

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Hot pepper sauce or cayenne

1/4 pound Cheddar cheese, grated (1 cup)

1 cup bread crumbs

The secret to a great macaroni and cheese is a good white sauce--with great cheese added. In other words, sauce Mornay. Anyway, this is a very restrained, very dry, very Presbyterian sort of macaroni and cheese from “Jasper White’s Cooking From New England,” (Harper & Row, 1989). Although it would make a fine accompaniment to a roast as it is, if you want to serve it on its own, it might be improved by increasing the amount of milk in the cheese sauce by 1/2 cup.

Cook elbow macaroni in large pot of boiling salted water until cooked through, softer than al dente but not mushy. Transfer to colander and rinse under cold water, then drain well. Set aside.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in saucepan over low heat. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 3 or 4 minutes. Add milk in small amounts, allowing sauce to thicken after each addition. When all milk has been added, simmer very slowly at least 20 minutes.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce. Stir in assorted cheeses. When cheeses are nearly but not completely melted, remove from heat and mix with macaroni.

Butter casserole dish. Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in small skillet. Pour macaroni mixture into buttered casserole. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese and bread crumbs and pour melted butter all over top. Bake at 375 degrees until top is bubbling and brown, about 40 minutes.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Each of 6 servings contains about:

735 calories; 800 mg sodium; 117 mg cholesterol; 40 grams fat; 63 grams carbohydrates; 31 grams protein; 0.32 gram fiber.

TUSCAN-STYLE LASAGNA FROM SAN FREDIANO (Lasagne di San Frediano)

This lasagna from Tuscany uses both white and green pasta and is topped with a golden baked Salsa Besciamella (bechamel sauce). It is from Clifford A. Wright’s “Lasagne” (Little, Brown, 1995). You can substitute a good brand of commercial noodles to save time.

SALSA BESCIAMELLA

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

Salt

Freshly ground white pepper

2 cups hot milk

Pinch nutmeg, optional

ASSEMBLY

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 pound fresh porcini, portobello or oyster mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup beef broth

1/4 pound prosciutto, cut into thin strips

3/4 pound ground veal

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

White Lasagna Noodles

Green Lasagna Noodles

1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

SALSA BESCIAMELLA

Melt butter over medium heat in saucepan. Add flour, salt and pepper and whisk constantly 2 minutes. Slowly pour in hot milk off heat, whisking vigorously.

Once all milk is added, reduce heat to low and simmer 12 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with nutmeg and add more salt and pepper to taste.

ASSEMBLY

Heat olive oil in casserole with 2 tablespoons butter. Once butter has melted, saute onion and garlic over medium heat until onion is translucent, about 6 minutes, stirring frequently so garlic doesn’t burn. Increase heat to high, add mushrooms and mix well. Pour in wine and continue cooking while wine evaporates, about 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add beef broth. Cook 15 minutes. Set aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium heat and saute prosciutto 10 minutes. Add veal and brown, about 4 minutes, breaking meat up with wooden spoon. Salt and pepper to taste, being careful with salt, since prosciutto is salty. When mushrooms are done cooking, transfer veal mixture to mushroom casserole and cook 15 minutes. Mixture should be moist but not sauce-like. If too dry, add water to correct consistency.

Bring large pot of water to rolling boil. Salt abundantly and gradually drop in white and green Lasagna Noodles. Drain when half cooked and transfer to pot of cold water until needed. Dry lasagna before using.

Butter lasagna baking pan with 1 tablespoon butter and cover bottom with White Lasagna. Spoon some of mushroom mixture over lasagna and cover with sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano (reserve 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano for final layer) and layer of Green Lasagna. Continue in this order, finishing with layer of Green Lasagna. Cover with Salsa Besciamella, layering up to 1/4 inch thick and reserving rest, if any, for another use. Sprinkle on remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano and dot with remaining butter.

Bake at 400 degrees until top is speckled brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

500 calories; 1,078 mg sodium; 141 mg cholesterol; 29 grams fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 25 grams protein; 0.83 gram fiber.

LASAGNA NOODLES

This is Clifford A. Wright’s recipe for homemade lasagna noodles. You will need to make both the regular recipe and the green variation for the Tuscan-Style Lasagna.

2 cups flour

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons olive oil, optional

2 to 3 teaspoons water

Flour for dusting

To make lasagna by hand: Pour flour onto work surface. Make well in middle, piling up flour to resemble walls of volcanic crater. Break eggs into well, add salt and drizzle in olive oil.

Break yolks with your fingers and begin to incorporate eggs with flour little at time, with your fingers, drawing more flour from inside wall of crater. Make sure you don’t break through wall or eggs will run. Scrape off any dough on your fingers and knead into dough.

Once flour and eggs are combined into ball, knead 8 to 10 minutes. As you press down while kneading, use ball to pick up any loose clumps of dough. Don’t add any liquid until you’ve kneaded for at least 3 minutes. If dough is too dry at this point and you must add water, do so only by wetting your hands, as many times as you need. If dough is too wet--meaning if there is any sign of stickiness--dust with flour. Continue kneading, pressing down with full force of both palms, until smooth ball is formed. Wrap dough in wax paper or plastic wrap and set aside 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature.

Unwrap the ball of dough and dust with flour. Place on floured surface, pressing down with your palms to flatten. With rolling pin, roll pasta out until about 12 inches in diameter and cut into thirds. Roll each third with rolling pin until thin enough to fit into widest setting of pasta-rolling machine. Roll once at widest setting. Tighten setting one notch and roll again. Gather sheet of pasta, fold in thirds, and roll through roller so to make nice rectangle.

Continue ratcheting down setting until dough is thin as possible. Dust dough on both sides with flour at slightest sign of stickiness. If necessary, continue to dust with flour while rolling through narrower and narrower settings; otherwise dough will become hopelessly stuck together. By now, you will have very long thin sheet of pliable dough that looks and feels like velvety chamois cloth.

Cut ribbon into 6- to 12-inch lengths, 2 to 5 inches wide. Sprinkle some flour in large baking tray and dust each length of cut lasagna on both sides with flour. Let rest in airy place on paper towels, white kitchen towels, or a white sheet reserved for this purpose 1 to 2 hours before cooking, refrigerating or freezing. Leave for 48 hours for completely dry pasta.

To make noodles with food processor: Combine flour, eggs, salt and olive oil, if desired, in work bowl. Pulse to combine. With machine running, add water, little at time, until mixture forms ball that gathers on top of food processor blade. Continue running 1 to 2 minutes to knead dough.

Remove from food processor and gather any stray bits of dough in bottom of work bowl into ball. Flatten into disk, wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and set aside to rest 30 minutes to 1 hour. Roll out as described.

Variation: To make Green Lasagna, briefly cook 1/2 pound finely chopped spinach, Swiss chard or beet greens. Squeeze dry and add to egg mixture. Do not add water.

Makes enough pasta for 4 lasagna servings.

Each serving, noodles only, contains about:

247 calories; 457 mg sodium; 106 mg cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 44 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams protein; 0.17 gram fiber.

CAULIFLOWER LOAF (Pain de Choufleur)

This timbale from the revised edition of Richard Olney’s “The French Menu Cookbook” (Godine, 1985) has an elegant, subtle taste of cauliflower, which would be completely lost if made in the modern fashion, as an egg-and-cream custard, rather than as an egg-enriched white sauce.

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup flour

1 cup hot milk

Salt, pepper

About 1/4 cup small, tender green beans

1 small carrot

2 heads cauliflower

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

Freshly grated nutmeg

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in saucepan and whisk in flour. Cook, stirring, over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes. Add hot milk, little at time, whisking constantly. Cook until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to very low and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce loses raw flour taste, 30 to 45 minutes.

Cut green beans into approximately 2-inch lengths and split in half. Peel carrot and cut into 2-inch lengths. Slice these thinly into match-like strips. Blanch beans and carrot in rapidly boiling salted water until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain well, refresh under cold running water and pat dry.

Grease 1-quart mold (any form) with about 1 tablespoon butter and arrange carrot and bean fragments in simple design, pressing well against buttered surface. Refrigerate mold at least 1/2 hour to fix vegetables in place.

Break cauliflower into florets and cook in boiling salted water until just tender, not mushy, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and return to empty saucepan with remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until dry, about 2 minutes. Pass through fine sieve or food mill.

Stir cauliflower puree into white sauce. Beat in eggs and egg yolks and season to taste with salt, pepper and very little nutmeg. Pour mixture into mold and tap bottom couple of times against wooden surface to settle contents. Lightly press buttered parchment paper against surface.

Place baking pan big enough to hold cauliflower dish on middle rack of 350-degree oven. Place cauliflower dish in pan and add boiling water to baking pan to come halfway up sides of cauliflower dish. Bake until center is firm to touch, about 1 hour.

Remove from oven and cool loaf 5 to 10 minutes. Remove parchment paper and place large plate over cauliflower dish. Invert dish to unmold onto plate.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Each of 10 servings contains about:

129 calories; 135 mg sodium; 157 mg cholesterol; 9 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 0.46 gram fiber.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

A Bechamel Family Tree

Flour

+ Butter

+ Milk

= Bechamel

+ Anchovies

= Anchois