White sauce

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

300ml milk

½ teaspoon salt (miss this out if it’s a sweet sauce)

This is a foolproof method. Melt the butter over a medium heat. As soon as it sizzles, add the flour (and salt) and stir with a little whisk. Fry gently for 2 minutes, stirring. Add all the cold milk at once. Continue stirring with the whisk until it thickens. Add a little more milk if you want the sauce thinner.

This is what’s known as béchamel sauce.

To this basic sauce you can add:

·         Cheese (for cauliflower cheese etc.)

·         Chopped parsley (to serve with fish or ham)

·         A teaspoon or two of mustard (to serve with chicken or roast meat)

·         Brandy (to a sweet version, for your Christmas pud)

If you’re making a soufflé, let the basic savoury sauce cool a bit, then stir in 2 egg yolks. This will help the soufflé to stay ‘up’.