Mar 22, 2011
Thanks for reminding me of the basic proportions of butter, flour, and milk. Can be seasoned 1000 ways to serve as a base for zillions of dishes. I use it instead of condensed cream of mushroom soup to bind casseroles when I don't want the mushroom taste. With a little nutmeg it is the "creamed" part of creamed spinach. It surrounds the main ingredients in chicken pot pie. It isn't much by itself--its glory is what you can do with it and the rich, comforting texture it gives to a dish, especially casseroles. I looked up the recipe for something to use to bind a salmon casserole, and of course I will add minced onion and seafood-friendly seasonings like Worcestershire to it. If it is too thin for your purpose, simply turn the heat down as low as possible (or put it in the top of a double boiler) and continue cooking and stirring until it thickens more, and/or add grated cheese. For the guy who found it didn't work for pastitsio, that is because the sauce traditionally used for that dish is not actually bechamel, but more of an unsweetened, soft egg & cheese custard. Unfortunately many recipes for moussaka and pastitsio incorrectly refer to the topping as bechamel simply because some flour is used in thickening the milk base (as is done in bechamel) before the egg and cheese are added.
—Little Old Lady
