Did you know the classic Béchamel sauce you know today isn’t the original? in this episode we are diving into a 200-year-old culinary masterpiece: Antonin Carême’s The Art of French Cooking in the 19th Century. In this first episode, we explore Carême’s foundational list of mother sauces, uncover the true origin of the Béchamel , and make the rich, velvety, original version from scratch. then as a bonus I am using the sauce to make a quick old fashioned traditional chicken fricassée!
Ingredients:
For the Base Chicken/Veal Stock:
Chicken wings – 500g (chopped and rinsed)
Pork or Veal trimmings / Ham – 100g
Water – to barely cover the meat
Bouquet Garni (Bay leaf, fresh thyme, mushroom, shallot parsley stalks, piece of leek)
Salt and black pepper – to taste
For the Béchamel:
350 ml veal or chicken stock
40 grams Unsalted butter – for the roux and aromatics
Flour (all-purpose) – 30g (for the roux)
Aromatics (Parsley stalks, sliced mushrooms, leek, carrots, celery, shallot )
Lean unsmoked ham or pork pieces – 100g
Heavy cream 200 ml– added in stages for reduction
Freshly grated nutmeg, salt, and black pepper
For the Fricassée Garnish & Finishing:
Fresh chicken breast – seasoned with salt and pepper
White mushrooms – white-cooked with butter, salt, pepper, and lemon juice
Pre-cooked carrots – sliced
Fresh chervil (or parsley) – for garnish
⏱️ Video Chapters & Timestamps
0:00 – Introduction: Rethinking the Béchamel Sauce & Carême’s Masterpiece
1:04 – The List of 4 Great Mother Sauces (Historic Translation)
2:18 – The True Origin & History of the Marquis de Béchamel
3:50 – Adapting the 19th-Century Recipe for Home Cooking
4:11 – Making the Rich Base Stock (Simmering & Skimming)
6:11 – Preparing the White-Cooked Mushroom Garnish
7:26 – Straining and Clarifying the Base Stock
8:34 – Building the Flavored Roux & Velouté (The Lagipière Technique)
13:46 – Seasoning with Nutmeg & The Cream Reduction Marathon
16:25 – Cooking the Instant Home-Style Chicken Fricassée
18:50 – Adding Parcooked Carrots & Finishing the Sauce
20:02 – Tasting, Final Verdict, and What’s Next in Episode 2
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10 Comments
What did you think of this old béchamel version? next week we tackle the second iteration from Antonin careme and serve it with fish.
Want to learn the ins and outs of French sauces? Then check out my sauce course: https://www.thefrenchcookingacademy.com/master-french-sauces-at-home
Excellent video, I really enjoyed this one!
Perfect recipe and elegant. I am also growing chervil, and I was looking today for a great French recipe with chervil and you have answered perfectly my culinary question, Thank you.
I will be storing chervil for a winter, making a chervil ice cubes covered with melted butter and storing in a freezer to preserve the fine flavor of chervil, if anyone knows a better way, please share. Thank you.
Fabulous Stéphane! I’m so glad you are doing these old classics! I learn so much!
Thanks! I'm definitely going to try this, because I had something like it as a child, and II've trying all sorts of fricassee recipes for decades with no luck. I think this is the one! Where did I have it? No idea. Could be anywhere in Europe, at a restaurant or at a home with a good cook. It could even have been my gran who made it, but then I'd think I would have had it more often, no?
Excellent bechamel video, a true game changer, can't wait to try it in a few of my recipes. Thanks so much for sharing.
cool
We would call that a sauce suprême today. Beautiful sauce and beautiful dish. Thanks
Magnifique Stéphane. I do love a good sauce & I bet that smelled & tasted wonderful – just from looking. You talking of the job of making sauces all day long; I think I could be quite happy being the saucier/sauté chef in a smallish brigade. I've enjoyed making sauces, it was one of the first things my father taught me as a child, I thought it was magical.
Well, now you have to make a recipe from the medieval cookbook (le Viandier) too!