White sauce again

[ewx]

...I ask because I was originally taught to add milk by degrees, but someone suggested adding the lot at once, and that seems to have always just worked for me: which made me wonder why anyone used any more complicated approach.

Comments

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

Adding the milk by degrees means that you don't get lumps - you're thinning the paste gradually, rather than mixing a thick paste with lots of liquid.

[lnr]

My way only goes lumpy if you leave it cooking on the heat without stirring. Because it cools when you add all the milk the paste doesn't cook into lumps and just dissolves.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

But I don't get lumps anyway...

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

If you get lumps, you can always put a food processor thingy in it, anyway.

[mhk.livejournal.com]

Not getting lumps when adding all the liquid at once depends on the roux not being over-cooked and it helps if the roux has a slightly greater proportion of fat than recommended.

Or perhaps you're just a damn good cook!

[lnr]

Interesting since I note that in fact the white sauce in the tuna aurora has twice as much fat as I would use!

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

I've never had any problem putting everything (flour, butter, milk, seasonings) into one pan together in one go, and stirring it with a whisk while heating it. No lumps unless I forget to stir it.

I've been given to understand that this method doesn't work if you use a spoon instead of a whisk to stir it, but I've never tried making it with a spoon so I can't comment from personal experience.

[antinomy.livejournal.com]

This is more or less my technique. I usually use a whisk but have used spoons in non-stick pans. I can report that it works fine, you just have to be a little more attentive with the stirring to start with.

[mtbc100.livejournal.com]

I do it more or less how my NVQ cookery book tells me. I don't normally think to try experimenting with simpler things. Normally, my more interesting experiments are instead interpolations between different recipes for the same thing.