White Sauce II

This is the medium-thick member of a graduated family of white sauces: thin for cream soups, medium for creamed vegetables and gratins, thick enough to bind croquette filling. The ratios are the whole point, and they still hold.

• The ratiosMedium sauce is 2 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons flour to 1 cup milk. The thick version raises the flour to 1/3 cup (or 1/4 cup cornstarch as a substitute) with 2 1/2 tablespoons butter, which sets firm enough to shape and fry once chilled.
• Method, since it is only cross-referencedMelt the butter, stir in the flour and cook the paste a minute or two without letting it colour, then add the milk gradually off the heat and return it to a simmer, stirring, until it thickens. Cooking the flour first is what removes the raw-paste taste.
• Milk temperatureWarm milk incorporates more smoothly than cold, though adding cold milk in small increments with constant stirring works well too. Lumps come mainly from adding too much liquid at once rather than from the temperature.
• Cornstarch is not interchangeable spoon for spoonThe recipe rightly gives cornstarch at 1/4 cup against 1/3 cup flour, since starch thickens more powerfully. Cornstarch also needs only a brief boil to set and turns the sauce glossier and slightly slick compared with flour's opacity.
• SaltA quarter teaspoon per cup is light by modern palates, especially with unsalted butter. Season at the end and taste; a thick sauce destined for croquettes needs a firmer hand because the coating and frying mute it.
• YieldAbout one cup, enough to sauce vegetables for four. The thick version is stiff enough to bind a quantity of minced chicken, fish or vegetables into croquettes, though the recipe gives no proportion.
• Skin and holdingA film sets on the surface within minutes. Press plastic wrap or buttered paper directly onto the sauce, or lay a butter shaving on top, if it must wait.
• For croquettesMix the thick sauce with the filling while hot, then spread it in a shallow pan and chill thoroughly, several hours or overnight, before shaping. Warm mixture will not hold a shape and will burst in the fat.