Bechamel Sauce Not Tasty & Thick Enough for Lasagne

[irridium]

What can I do to make it nice and creamy tasting? I use roux and hot FF milk gradually poured in and it's usually too bland and thin. How do I get it to the same creamy yumminess that you see in restaurants? I've had to resort to buying a jar of white sauce and added in two tubs of soft cheese and mixed in with cooked tomatoes and leeks to make taste of something.

Also, forgot to add to the white sauce are fresh bay leaf, grated nutmeg and S&P. Where am I going wrong?

Just thicken with the flour or add cheese and keep stirring. Some people add a tiny bit of nutmeg.

Higher fat ratio in the roux? I tend to put quite a lot of mustard in as well and loooads of cheese.

More flour, or cornflour will thicken it. I also fry some garlic while I'm melting the butter. Plenty of salt and pepper, maybe a half teaspoon of colmans mustard powder.

Make thicker bechamel.

Add sea salt, pepper, a pinch of English Mustard (less if you use the powdered version) and some grated nutmeg.

If you've still not added enough flour/fat or too much milk, you could thicken it with a small amount of cornflour slaked with equal amounts of water (1 tbsp should do) and then added and stirred in constantly/quickly until it thickens.

ETA: Do you mean fat free milk? That's your problem right there. Use semiskimmed at the very least, full cream would be far better.

It should thicken if you've added enough flour before you add milk. I don't add cheese to mine but I do grate parmesan and put some fresh mozzarella on top of each layer of white sauce.

What’s hot FF milk? I only use butter, flour and cold milk, and seasoning in the roux, plus cheese. I think it’s fine for it to be bland ish because in the lasagne it mixes with the bolognese and makes it all lovely and creamy?

I read FF as full fat, but if it's fat free that could be the problem!

I do have an issue with making the roux in that sometimes I wonder if I make too much of it (I eyeball the flour to oil) and then I'd have to use up a lot of milk. I have sometimes used Colmans dried mustard in it before as well as wholegrain. I didn't know that you can thicken a white sauce with cornflour slurry.

I have two other queries:

When do you start composing the dish; is it when the bolognese and white sauce are cold or whilst hot?

How do you parboil the lasagne sheets - do you do it one by one or several at time without getting them to stick together? I now use a Ninja 15-in-1 pot so it is quite a large capacity - say 8 portions in a round pot which would need almost a whole box of sheets.

Definitely full fat in my house!

Half double cream, half full fat milk. Lots of butter and enough flour to make it thick - more than you think. Cook it long and slow, stirring all the time - 10 mins at least. Lots of seasoning and about two thirds of a whole fresh nutmeg well grated. No cheese.

Oil? Oh my god no. Butter.

There's your issue.

Am I reading correctly that you have added tomatoes to a béchamel?

Béchamel isn't meant to be highly flavoured; it's meant to add creaminess and richness, and act as a foil to the ragù. It's an ingredient. Some people use ricotta instead of béchamel, which isn't flavoursome in it's own right either.

I make a cheese sauce, so lots and lots of grated Cheddar in it. It’s delicious.

I cheat- and no-one has ever noticed. My lasagnas are famous!

I make it like custard, milk and cornflour, and well seasoned, herbs, salt, pepper. Can't be bothered with the faff of a bechamel.

@toastofthetown Sorry, I got carried away typing; should be mushrooms!

@Ilovemyshed I like to somehow cut corners and not use butter, but then everything else I use is high fat anyway! If it is the lack of butter, I shall have to not be so stingy and buy extra!

Dissolve a tsp of Marigold Boullion powder in the hot milk, not as fatty as loads of cheese but really adds to the flavour!

Yes step away from the oil! Needs butter. There in lies your problem

Are you cooking it out for long enough. It does take a good 5-10 mins of simmering after you have added all your liquid to thicken fully

Butter not oil, and I think it’s nice with the butter browned. To make it thicker it just needs more roux for the amount of milk. Restaurants will also add more salt and cream than you probably do at home! But really the flavour in lasagne is not coming from the bechamel, it’s the cheese and ragu that need enough flavour to carry it.

Make the ragu a day or so before. Good beef or venison mince, . Soften a chopped onion, add mince and fry until browned, deglaze pan with a glass of red wine. Add a good dollop of tomato paste, a beef stock cube, splash of worcester sauce, lots of fresh herbs, a crushed clove of garlic, decent seasoning and good quality plum tomatoes.

Cook long and slow.

Chill and leave for 24 hours.

Build lasagne with the cold ragu, layers of lasagne sheets ( the packet will tell you whether or not to soak) and the bechamel, then finish with a layer of bechamel and a good grating of a decent fresh parmesan.

Bake.

Oil? No. That's the issue. You need decent butter. I can't imagine using oil, is that something you've seen somewhere?

Béchamel will thicken if you just give it a bit longer. Or you could stir in some beurre manié, so butter that's been mashed up with equal parts of flour. Sort of like the roux process in reverse.
But anything, really, just don't put mustard in it.

I do 60g butter, 60g flour and about 560ml of whole milk for the roux. And always layer the lasagne whilst everything is hot. I don't precook the lasagne sheets at all. If you layer it whilst everything is hot and then leave it on the side for at least 30 mins before putting it on the oven it comes out better I think. ( Or you could put it in the fridge after that if you're making it in advance).

I add milk to a saucepan with bay leaves, cloves and onion ends to warm through and then leave to infuse.

Make the roux with the warm milk and add English mustard, and at the end add nutmeg, salt and pepper.