BASIC BECHAMEL SAUCE

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 Cups Whole Milk
• 35g Unsalted Butter
• 30g Flour
• 1/4 of an Onion
  • Peeled
• 2 to 3 Whole Cloves
• 1 Fresh Bay Leaf
• Salt, to Taste
• Ground Pepper, to Taste
• Nutmeg
• 1/3 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
  • Optional

Directions

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat, stirring occasionally. You just want it to be warm, like around 110 F, not hot, and certainly not boiling.
   
   
2. Meanwhile, in a separate heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until it’s liquefied.
   
   
3. With a wooden spoon, stir the flour into the melted butter a little bit at a time, until it is fully incorporated into the butter, giving you a pale-yellow-colored paste called a roux.
   
   
4. Heat the roux for another minute or so to cook off the taste of raw flour. As with the milk, you don’t want the roux to be too hot. It should be moderately warm but not cold, either.
   
   
5. Using a wire whisk, slowly add the warm milk to the roux, whisking vigorously to make sure it’s free of lumps.
   
   
6. Now attach the bay leaf to the onion using the cloves, and add them to the sauce. Simmer between 180 and 205 F for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure the sauce doesn’t scorch at the bottom of the pan.
   
   
7. The resulting sauce should be smooth and velvety. If it’s too thick, whisk in a bit more milk until it’s just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. You can retrieve the clove-stuck onion and discard it now.
   
   
8. Whisk in the parmesan cheese and continue to cook until it has melted.
   
   
9. Remove the sauce from the heat. For an extra smooth consistency, pour the sauce through a strainer.
   
   
10. Season the sauce very lightly with salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Be particularly careful with the white pepper—and the nutmeg. A little bit goes a long way! Keep the béchamel covered until you’re ready to use it.

Notes:
I didn’t have whole cloves, so I just sprinkled some ground cloves in instead.