A basic white sauce is a great technique to perfect, as it is the base of so many other sauces and dishes (soufflés/fish pies etc...)
Gordon Ramsay shows you how simple it is to combine butter, milk and flour to achieve the smoothest, silkiest sauce with no lumps in sight
When making a white or roux sauce, you won't be able to leave the stove while you are cooking, so make sure you have all your ingredients out before you start: that's 25g of butter and 25g flour and 300ml of cold milk. You'll need two key utensils: a wooden spoon and a balloon whisk.
Start by placing a heavy bottomed sauce pan on a medium heat and melting the butter.
Once melted, add your flour directly to the pan (no need to sieve) and, with the wooden spoon, mix it all together to form a thick paste. If your pan is drying out (i.e. it doesn't look oily from the butter anymore) turn the heat down or remove the pan from the heat for a moment.
Before you start, make sure that the milk is cold - this will stop your sauce from going lumpy. Now add the milk in thirds into the sauce pan - this will allow you to make sure that you will achieve just the right consistency. Add the first third of milk into the saucepan and stir with the wooden spoon. Once the milk has been mixed into the paste, add your next third of milk. When the paste has been diluted and becomes a liquid, replace the wooden spoon with a balloon whisk. Continually whisk so all the lumps disappear. Now add your last third of milk. You will need to whisk quite hard to get rid of the lumps so don't be afraid of putting some real effort into it.
Add 60g of grated cheddar cheese. Add into your white sauce and whisk vigorously.
Once the sauce starts to boil, it will turn shiny. Season generously with salt and pepper and add a pinch of nutmey for some extra flavour. Remove from the heat and your white sauce is ready.
