The Ferguson Recipes – Recipes, Plain & Simple
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The Ferguson Recipes – Recipes, Plain & Simple
Recently Added!
Poulet à la Crème (Chicken in Cream Sauce)
Few dishes capture French home cooking quite like Poulet à la Crème, a comforting braise of chicken thighs simmered in a silky white wine and cream sauce brightened with fresh tarragon. Browned chicken thighs are gently coated in flour, then bathed in dry white wine and chicken stock before a fina…
Poulet à la Crème (Chicken in Cream Sauce)
🌅 Recipe Of The Day! 🌇
🖨 🖨
Béchamel Sauce
Béchamel Sauce
{Serving suggestion only*}
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Béchamel sauce, one of the five classic 'mother sauces' in French cuisine, forms the foundation for countless dishes from creamy gratins to the perfect croque madame. This silky white sauce begins with a simple roux of butter and flour, gradually enriched with warm milk until velvety smooth. Master this technique and you'll unlock endless culinary possibilities – transform it into a cheese-laden Mornay sauce for decadent mac and cheese or add puréed onions for a delicious Soubise to accompany meats and vegetables. - Claude
No Jump Zone
Ingredients
2 oz unsalted butter
2 oz all-purpose flour
1 qt whole milk, warmed

For the Soubise
One onion. thinly sliced or even diced
2 Tbsp (1 oz) unsalted butter
Directions
In a small sauce pot, gently warm milk – be careful not to boil or scorch.
In a medium sauce pot, melt butter over medium heat.
Whisk flour into butter to create a roux – be careful not to brown.
It should be about the consistency of wet sand.
While whisking, slowly add warm milk to the roux.
Do not add all the milk at once.
Add part of it, whisk until there are no more lumps, then add some more.
Ensure no lumps remain.
Reduce heat to low and allow sauce to cook just until raw flour flavor is cooked out.
Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.
When it is done right, it should coat the back of a spoon, and when you drag your finger across the back of the spoon, you should see the space in the middle where you have removed the sauce with defined rows of sauce flanking it.
Once complete, the sauce can be seasoned and flavored in any number of ways, depending on the final application.

Soubise
One such application is a Soubise, which is an onion sauce.
Sauté enough sliced or diced onions in butter to properly flavor the sauce to your liking.
In a food processor or a blender, combine the onions and Béchamel until the onions are petty much unrecognizable.
Strain the sauce to remove all of the onion bits so you have a nice, smooth sauche.
Serve with fish or chicken.
Servings\Yield
Yields 1 quart (about 4 cups)
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Per Serving (1/4 cup - Béchamel sauce only) - Calories: 83; Total Fat: 6g (Saturated Fat: 3.5g); Cholesterol: 17mg; Sodium: 25mg; Total Carbohydrates: 5g (Dietary Fiber: 0g, Sugars: 2g); Protein: 2g; Calories from Fat: 54 (65%)
*Nutrition information is provided as a general estimate only. Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients, and is based on available nutrient data. Variations may occur based on ingredient brands and preparation methods.
💬 Uncle Dave says...
Béchamel is a rich, creamy, milk-based white sauce. If you've ever savored the golden, bubbling crust of a gratin or bitten into the crispy, buttery layers of a croque madame, then you've experienced the rich, velvety indulgence of Béchamel. This sauce starts with a roux, a mixture of equal parts butter and flour cooked briefly to eliminate the raw flour taste and prepare it to absorb liquid. Since four of the five mother sauces begin with a roux, you'll want to perfect this technique as it's essential for sauce-making.
🧑‍🍳 The Cook:  Dave Ferguson 🔑 Keywords: sauce, french, mother sauce, roux, basic
🗂️ Categories: 🥣 Sauces & Stocks, 🤯 Tips & Hints
📚 Collections: Uncle Dave's Cookbook, The TFR Cookbook
Béchamel Sauce was added on May 16, 2025 and last updated on June 22, 2025.
*Serving suggestion only. 😂 If a food photo doesn't look like it was taken by a monkey named Frank, it was most likely AI generated and not the result of Frank's minimal culinary or photographic skills. Unless you failed the "I'm not a robot" test, your recipes will probably not look like the ones in the pictures. See Creamy Turkey Veggie Soup to read more about AI images.
📄 A Quick Note About The Recipes At The Ferguson Recipes: We love sharing recipes, but please be aware that most haven't been professionally tested in our kitchen or independantly verified. Your safety is important to us, so always practice safe food handling and cooking techniques. Cook smart and use your best judgment! Eggs: If you make a recipe that uses raw eggs, please consider using pasteurized eggs. Allergens: Food allergens have not been identified in each individual recipe. Please use caution if you have any food allergies. Have questions about a specific recipe? Feel free to reach out to us.
Recently Added!
Poulet à la Crème (Chicken in Cream Sauce)
Few dishes capture French home cooking quite like Poulet à la Crème, a comforting braise of chicken thighs simmered in a silky white wine and cream sauce brightened with fresh tarragon. Browned chicken thighs are gently coated in flour, then bathed in dry white wine and chicken stock before a fina…
Poulet à la Crème (Chicken in Cream Sauce)
Weekly Favorite!
Poulet à la Crème (Chicken in Cream Sauce)
Few dishes capture French home cooking quite like Poulet à la Crème, a comforting braise of chicken thighs simmered in a silky white wine and cream sauce brightened with fresh tarragon. Browned chicken thighs are gently coated in flour, then bathed in dry white wine and chicken stock before a fina…
Poulet à la Crème (Chicken in Cream Sauce)
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When I started The Ferguson Recipes in 2006, my main goal was to create a place where I could collect and present our favorite family recipes in an orderly fashion, without all of the distractions of other recipe sites.

At The Ferguson Recipes you will find recipes, plain and simple, just like the recipe cards you have crammed into that well-worn binder of your family's most beloved recipes.

Many of the recipes included here are Ferguson family favorites passed down through the years. Many more are recipes we have gotten from friends or shamelessly "liberated" from other recipe sites. And a lot of the recipes are from recipe collections which family members have participated in creating, such as "Cooking with Carl, Hugh and your Friends", "Cooking With Cow", "The Sears Sun Cookbook", and more!

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Thanks for visiting The Ferguson Recipes,
Uncle Dave - 8/13/18 (A Palindrome Date) - Updated: 06/29/25

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🏛️ Founded April 13, 2006
©️ 2006 - 2026 fergusonrecipes.com
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📄Recipe Disclaimer: While The Ferguson Recipes strives to present reliable and delicious recipes, please note that most of the recipes on this site have not undergone rigorous testing or independent verification. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you always follow standard food safety guidelines when preparing any dish. Eggs: If you make a recipe that uses raw eggs, please consider using pasteurized eggs. Allergens: Food allergens have not been identified in each individual recipe. Please use caution if you have any food allergies. If you have any questions or concerns about a specific recipe, please feel free to contact us.
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