"Dee Randall" > wrote in message
...
> I've never made a bechamel that I would consider exceptional or even
> acceptable (for me). Today I tried a different tactic.
>
> I was going to have a different meal altogether but when I looked in the
> frig there was 3 cups of cream and some brown crimini mushrooms. The
> cream was 8 days out of date, but still acceptable, and the mushrooms
> might have been if-y when I bought them (in a cellophane pack).
>
> I cleaned up the mushrooms to where they didn't smell too amoniac and
> fried them. While they were frying I got out and compared Giada's and
> Mario's bechamel sauce and found that Mario's recipe fit my 3 cups of
> cream (without calculating the difference of Giada's 4 cups' recipe).
> Both called for milk - not cream. I didn't care because I've never made a
> fit bechamel so far -- always lumpy and spending more time with lumps
> than the cooking!
>
> I heated the cream in the microwave slowly to about 160º while I heated
> the 5 T butter (both recipes called for the same amount of butter) and
> then sprinkled 1/3 cup flour into it. Giada' recipe said to cook 2
> minutes, Mario's said to cook 6-7 minutes. I cooked until starting to
> turn a little brownish, as Mario said, maybe about 4 minutes. DH poured
> the hot cream into the butter/flour mixture 1 cup at a time while I
> whisked. It was very thick; I would assume mainly due to cream instead of
> milk. I added 1/2 the amount of salt and nutmeg called for, and it still
> was pretty pungent with salt & nutmeg. NO LUMPS!
>
> Then I added the finished mushrooms and the spaghetti to the big pan of
> bechamel and used tongs to separate them as they cooked. This really
> tasted like carbonara.
>
> I saved the rest of the bechamel (in the freezer) for another day.
> Necessity was the mother of invention as I rescued the mushrooms and the
> rest of the cream that I had bought to make chocolate truffles.
>
> Served with 'organic' fresh carrots, salt & pepper; butter lettuce with
> oil and vinegar and a glass of wine, French for DH; Italian for me.
>
> It's now snack time and a movie -- thanks TJ's for salza and chips - as
> they say, "Good to go."
> Dee Dee
>

Sounds delicious but PLEASE do not call it Bechamel sauce. Bechamel is one
of those few recipes that has a definite history, rooted in classical French
cooking, and it does not use cream but rather milk or white stock. Call it
Dee Dee Sauce if you like - but let's preserve the meaning of traditional
recipe names!!


--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm