I never thought much about how easy it was as a small child in the 1940's to make creamed beef over toast. For me it was the first of the comfort foods to come to mind. The chipped beef came - and still comes - in neat round, thin, slices in a small glass jar and were very salty. The sauce itself is simple:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions were just simple - melt the butter, add the flour (and a bit of salt), make a roux by mixing it so all the flour is incorporated with the butter - but on a low heat, do not brown, stir in the milk and watch the sauce begin to thicken, stiring to the thickness you desire.
That is so simple - and can do so much. For us, one of the most loved is the creamed chipped beef. It is salty, though, but one small jar of chipped beef heated in Bechamel Sauce served over your favorite toasted bread is true comfort food.
In fact, Bechamel Sauce is the foundation for much of what we call 'comfort food.' How many casseroles contain a simple sauce - whether made in a sauce pan or combined to cook in the oven? The combination of butter, carb, milk, and salt combines in a lot of prepared foods, not justs the ones cooks love.
After the basic Bechamel comes the Morney - a basic Bechamel Sauce adding grated cheese, some pepper and perhaps egg yolk - which earned it's own name. If Morney Sauce is used with fish dishes, it can be thinned with fish broth. The cheese is determined by the chef - Parmesan, Gruyere, alone or together, or other cheese the chef desires.
Think macaroni and cheese. Cheese alone doesn't change the pasta into a favored dish - it's the combination of butter, flour, milk, salt, pasta, and cheese combined into a dish every child desires, even if parents know it should be limited. Look how Kraft turned that combination into profit!
Now, take time to make a Bechamel Sauce - then causually mention your French cooking to others as the occasions arise. You can focus on the smoothness that consistent whisking give; that whisking doesn't mean beating the sauce, but slow steady moving; mention how the sauce coats the back of the spoon as it begins to thicken, but don't mention how quickly that can occur. Then you can move into the Mornay Sauce and how home shredded cheese doesn't include the covering marketed cheese does, allowing the smooth melting into the base Bechamel.
Yes, cooking is chemistry, but we want it to be easy chemistry and not blow up in our faces. Take the accolades and smile.
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