How to make a basic white sauce

30g butter

1 heaped dessert spoon plain flour

300ml of milk

Salt

Pepper

preparation 2 mins • you cook for 9 mins • total time 11 mins

Makes a pint of white sauce

Watch a 30 second preview of my cook-along video below

If you cannot view the video below, click here to download QuickTime from Apple's website.

A lump-free white sauce can be used in so many ways, that I thought I'd show you this basic technique. A homemade white sauce tastes so much better than a packet version. It's basically flour and melted butter with milk - From this you can add grated cheese and a teaspoon of mustard for a cheese sauce. You can simply throw in a handful of chopped fresh parsley for a parsley sauce to go over fish (or in a lasagne). You can also substitute the milk for the stock of whatever meat you're cooking with.

Small saucepan

Spoon to stir

Before you start, get the flour, butter and milk ready next to the hob. Put a small saucepan on the hob and click here!

Turn your saucepan onto a low heat and slowly melt the butter. Turn the heat off and add 1 heaped dessert spoons of plain flour. Stir the pan to incorporate the flour into the butter. Turn the heat back on low and cook, whilst stirring, for 1 minute to cook out the flour.

Next, add a small splash of milk and stir it in. Once the milk has been stirred in, the flour and butter should come together into a ball. At this point, add another dash of milk and repeat the process. Keep doing this - each time you should be able to add a little more milk than the time before, as the mix loosens a little. The key to avoiding lumps is to add a little at a time. Persevere until all the milk has been poured in and you have a nice thick sauce.

At this point, you can add some parsley for a classic white sauce, or lots of grated cheese and a teaspoon of English mustard for a delicious cheese sauce.

I hope that you enjoy it.

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