The mystery of white sauce

I'm going to let you in to a secret now.

It's a life or death thing - if you tell anyone else, I'd have to hunt you down.

You ready?

You sure?

Here goes:





It's not hard to make white sauce.







Honestly. I promise. Hand on heart. Forget lumps. You never need to have them again. Forget burning your butter. I laugh in the face of it.

Yes, yes, I know the roux method often can be tricky. But really, you hardly ever have to use that! (Although I did in my previous post...I just didn't tell you that.)

So, just for Vic and Nic, here is my sure fire way of making white sauce, perfectly:

1. The ingredients:

Traditionally, you would use milk, flour, and butter. For it to be a white sauce, you really do need the milk. The flour can be wheat flour, corn flour, gluten free flour, I've even used bread flour in the past, although I wouldn't recommend using a seeded one...Cornflour is particularly easy to keep lump-free, however.

You can use butter, margarine, lard or virtually any type of oil or fat. If I'm just making a sauce (e.g. for Broccoli Cheese), rather than (as in the case of the Rarebit) something that I'm making the sauce around the filling (if that makes any sense) then I'll use the spreadable butter I always have in.

And of course, you can use Lactofree or milk substitutes if you're that way inclined.

You probably also need a flavouring, e.g. cheese or parsley and some seasoning. White sauce on it's own is really just a base for making flavoured sauces.

2: The amounts

So you've decided what you're going to use. Now you need to work out how much you need.

The proportions depend on how thick you want your sauce to be, but don't worry, if it's too thick or too thin we can deal with that later. For a sauce that is a little thicker than double cream, I use about 4 heaped teaspoons of flour, 1 teaspoon of butter, and 3/4 - 1 pint of milk.


3: The method:

This is how I do it.

Mix flour and a little bit of the cold milk in a mug, so it's a smooth paste. Make sure you get right into the corners of the mug so all the flour is mixed in, and you've squashed any lumps floating on top against the sides so they mix in properly. Top the mug up with milk and mix again, just to make sure.

Add to the rest of the milk, which should be in your pan, and add the butter/fat. Heat up on a low-medium heat, stirring gently but constantly. The flour cooks just before boiling point, and so as the sauce gets near to this point you will notice it starting to thicken, and then just as it boils it will have got as thick as it's going to. Turn the heat off immediately, and check how thick it is.

4: Troubleshooting

-If it is too thick, then add a bit more milk.

-If it is too thin, then mix a little more flour in a mug with a little more milk (but not too much this time - just enough so that it is in a paste but will pour out of the mug easily.) and add to the pan. Stir it immediately, then put it back on the heat and warm to boiling point again. NEVER add the extra flour straight to the pan and NEVER add it when it's only just below boiling point. Remember that the thickening is caused by the flour cooking, and lumps are what happens when the flour has cooked before having a chance to disperse properly.

HOWEVER, remember that flavourings such as cheese will thicken the sauce further.

-If, by some miracle such as being unable to follow my instructions, you have managed to get a lumpy sauce:

a) Whisking and sieving may help - but only if it's not too thick/the lumps aren't too prolific or too large. Remember Bridget Jones's Diary. "Sieve it Una, sieve it."

b) Otherwise, it might be best to chuck and start again.

-If you've burnt the milk, it's pretty unrescuable. Sorry. Stir more next time, and keep it on a lower heat.


If you can think of, or get any other problems I've not thought of, put a comment on the blog and I'll address it.

Hope that helps.