My daughter made her first white sauce

Every cook needs to know how to make a basic white sauce, and my 14 year old daughter just made her first. It turned out beautiful--smooth, with just a little sheen. She added grated sharp cheddar cheese and turned it into a velvety-smooth cheese sauce. Here's the basic recipe--

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat

add 2 tablespoons flour and whisk until blended (this is a roux)

all at once, add 1 cup of milk that has been heated nearly to a boil.

Immediately begin whisking until all the butter-flour mixture and milk are combined

Continue whisking until sauce begins to boil, at which time it will thicken. Cook an additional 4-5 minutes to cook the raw flour taste away.

This makes a medium white sauce. Notice the butter and flour are equal portions. If you want a thinner white sauce, say for a cream soup, decrease the butter and flour to 1 1/2 tablespoons. For a thicker sauce, which is what you would use to bind ground meats for croquettes (see earlier post) increase the butter and flour to 3-4 tablespoons each.

The trick to a smooth sauce is heating the milk before it goes in, and whisking vigorously.

Note: the flour loses it's thickening power the longer it cooks. You can achieve a completely different taste and color by using a slightly higher ratio of fat to flour, and cooking the roux until it takes on a golden color, and then adding the milk. In this case, you'll need more fat/flour to thicken the same amount of liquid, but you won't need to cook it as long to get rid of the raw flour taste.

You can also alter the fat you use--oil, bacon drippings, butter....they will all behave the same way.