Béchamel is a creamy, white sauce made with scalded milk plus equal parts butter and flour. A foundational French sauce, béchamel is the starting point for a number of other sauces.

By adding grated cheese, béchamel becomes a mornay. With tomato, it is transformed into an aurore. The Italians use becciamella to hold their lasagne together, and the Greeks use besamel to bind their pastitsio and moussaka. We Americans use it to add gratuitous calories to our macaroni and cheese.

In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child writes that in the days of Louis XIV, béchamel was a "simmering of milk, veal, and seasonings with an enrichment of cream." She was referring to the apparent inventor of the original crème fraîche-laden sauce, Louis de Béchamel (1630-1703), maître d'hôtel for the Sun King.

Recipe: Macaroni And Cheese