The secret of croquettes: bechamel sauce

The bechamel sauce in croquettes is a critical step for them to be perfect. In fact, it is usually the dough that distinguishes one tasty croquette from another.

It is easy to find restaurants or ready-made croquettes where they serve croquettes with a caked bechamel sauce.

The fundamental trick is to make the bechamel sauce very slowly and stirring continuously, without stopping for a second, so that it is super creamy and smooth.

First quality ingredients must be used: flour, good whole milk and rich butter. Skimmed milk cannot be used and butter cannot be replaced by oils or substitutes. This will completely spoil our bechamel sauce for croquettes.

The best way to make bechamel sauce for croquettes

The basic bechamel sauce has these three ingredients, but in recent years there have been many variations: many people add chopped onion before starting to make the dough. In some very industrial shops, instead of adding a specific ingredient, they use flavoured colourings.

Once the dough is perfect and still warm, the desired ingredient is added very finely chopped, to make ham croquettes, boletus croquettes, blue cheese croquettes, etc.

What a summary we have just given you to show you how to make a good bechamel sauce, but now we are going to see it in detail, as it is important that you pay attention to all the steps.

How to prepare a good bechamel sauce for croquettes?

Bechamel sauce or besamel (that would be the more correct way to call this sauce in Spanish) is a sauce that is quite difficult to prepare, in fact if it is not prepared calmly, it will turn out a bad, caked mixture. It is one of the most widely used condiments in Spanish cuisine and has so many uses that we can prepare a multitude of dishes with it, and the star dish that incorporates this juice is undoubtedly croquettes.

Main ingredients of the bechamel sauce - Exact measurements for making croquettes
The base of a rich bechamel sauce consists of 3 ingredients:

• 1 litre of whole cow's milk
• 100 grams of butter
• 100 grams of flour

In addition to these ingredients, some people choose to add nutmeg, pepper and salt, although the main seasonings are the above. These are used to season the bechamel sauce, but we could really do without the nutmeg and pepper.

There are many people who believe that the bechamel incorporates egg, but the answer is no, the egg is only used for the final breading, and its function is to help the breadcrumbs adhere to the croquette in order to fry the breading.

To get down to business, to make the bechamel sauce, pour the butter into a saucepan (for every 200ml of bechamel sauce we want to make, we need to add a tablespoon of butter) and heat it over a low heat until it melts completely.

Then add the flour (one tablespoon would be for 200ml of bechamel sauce), and with a plastic or metal stirring rod, mix everything together until the flour is completely cooked and does not taste raw, which can completely ruin our bechamel sauce if it is not done properly. Therefore, we must stir for about 2-3 minutes without stopping until we see that the flour takes on a toasted, golden colour.

Next, add the previously heated whole milk so that there are no lumps. The best thing to do is to add the milk little by little, stirring in circular movements for 4-5 minutes until you see that you have a thick mixture.

When it comes to seasoning our bechamel sauce, we must do so just before removing the pan from the heat. Therefore, if you are only going to add salt, this is the moment to do so (the same with nutmeg and/or pepper). It is important to note that if we are going to make croquettes, we may have a problem if we overdo it with the salt, as depending on the main ingredient, they will need a greater or lesser amount of this seasoning.

How will you know if the bechamel sauce has the ideal texture? Very easy, if the stick we have used does not drip, and a trickle comes off, we will have the perfect bechamel sauce.

Finally, pour the mixture into a glass container (preferably) and leave it to cool a little and then put it in the fridge so that the dough is more compact and we can mould it more easily (especially if we are going to make croquettes).

The best tips for making a lump-free bechamel sauce

To be able to prepare a bechamel sauce without lumps, you have to follow these tips:

• Cook the flour: as we have already said, if the flour is not cooked properly, our bechamel sauce will have a very unpleasant raw taste.
• Use hot milk: once you have cooked the roux (the mixture of flour and butter), add the hot milk to make a great bechamel sauce.

Homemade meals with bechamel sauce

Here is a list of all the dishes you could make with a good bechamel sauce:

• Iberian ham croquettes, blue cheese croquettes, porcini (boletus) croquettes, confit leek, datils and carrot croquettes ,cod croquettes or prawn croquettes. In short, good gourmet croquettes.

• Cannelloni or lasagne: serves as a topping for this delicious dish made with sheets of pasta, which usually contain a mixture of meat and vegetables, although you can put whatever you like inside.

• Vegetables: in vegetables, it is also used as a topping for gratin. Typical vegetable dishes include courgettes, aubergines, spinach, cauliflower and even broccoli.

• Volovans: volovans are puff pastries that are usually filled with different products (cod, mushrooms, tuna, etc.), and the bechamel sauce is usually placed on top.

• Stuffed eggs: if you boil the eggs, peel them and cut them in half (emptying the inside to fill them with any ingredient), you can cover them on top with the bechamel sauce.