On 1/10/2022 at 10:23 PM, AlaMoi said:btw, one of the biggest food fights is: how much does one cup of flour weigh?
"... the whole thing ..."
yup. that's called experience.
starting with 2T or 3T or 4T fat . . . requires knowing how that amount works out for the intended dish.
Isn’t that combined the information that the OP asked: what is from your experience a solid ratio for Bechamel ?
Let’s look at it from a practical view: the flour to milk (or combined liquids, but then we are not in Bechamel territory anymore) ratio determines the thickness of the resulting sauce. You do this in metric and you will get consistent results (the hydration levels of different AP flours do not matter much). The fat amount is required to make a roux is secondary; a 1:1 ratio by weight gives a semi-fluid roux that I can work with easily. If you use ratio by volume you’ll end up with more fat, which will not impact the thickening if you keep the flour to milk ratio constant. It’ll make making the roux a bit easier and the resulting sauce more creamy. The latter is similar to the effect of using full fat milk (~3%) vs. reduced fat (~1%).
I am fully with both @Dave the Cook and @AlaMoi: when preparing a target amount of Bechamel you need to know the basic ratio to begin with - either by experience or by recipe, and work from there. That’s what from my point of view what @Bernie had in mind.
My “golden ratio” for a Bechamel of medium thickness is 50g butter, 50 g butter and 1 L of milk. @Dave the Cook used 65 g flour, 113 g butter and 0,71 L milk. What does your experience tell you, @AlaMoi, to complete the OPs request (imperial measures ok 😉) ?
