CAREME’S ORIGINAL BECHAMEL
Learn to make the orginal béchamel sauce and it as a farmhouse-style chicken fricassée. 
The béchamel most of us know is milk thickened with a roux. The one Antonin Carême wrote about in L’Art de la Cuisine Française au Dix-Neuvième Siècle is a different sauce altogether. It is a velouté enriched with cream and reduced, a little at a time, until it shines like a mirror. Carême even credits the idea to the Marquis de Béchamel, who gave the sauce his name. I use the quicker method of Laguipière, Carême’s mentor, and finish the sauce as a farmhouse-style chicken fricassée. It takes time, but every stage teaches you how a classical French sauce is built.
INGREDIENTS
For the Stock
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) chicken wings
200 g (7 oz) pork or veal
Cold water, enough to barely cover
1 bouquet garni (bay leaf, thyme sprig and parsley stalks)
1 tbsp each roughly chopped onion, leek and carrot
Pinch of salt
For the Fricassée Garnish
150 g (5¼ oz) small button mushrooms
Water, enough to barely cover
20 g (¾ oz) unsalted butter
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 spring carrots (Dutch carrots)
For the Béchamel
40 g (1½ oz) unsalted butter
Up to 100 g (3½ oz) raw, unsmoked ham, diced
1 tbsp each parsley stalks, sliced mushrooms, leek, carrot and celery
30 g (1 oz) plain flour
600 ml (2½ cups) stock, warm
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
200 ml (generous ¾ cup) double cream
For the Fricassée
2 chicken breasts, cut into medium dice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Generous knob of unsalted butter
100 ml (scant ½ cup) stock
Small handful of fresh chervil, chopped
Boiled white rice, ideally cooked in stock, to serve
MISE EN PLACE
You will need a stockpot, two medium saucepans, a small saucepan, a fine-mesh sieve lined with muslin and a large sauté pan.
Chop the chicken wings into two or three pieces and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear. Drain. Cut the pork or veal into medium cubes.
Peel and slice the spring carrots, and quarter the button mushrooms for the garnish. Roughly chop the remaining vegetables and prepare the aromatics for the stock and the béchamel. Keep each set separate, along with its meat.
METHOD
Place the chicken wings and pork in the stockpot and barely cover with cold water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and skim off all the foam. Add the bouquet garni, vegetables and salt, then simmer uncovered for at least 45 minutes. You want a light, clear stock with as little colour as possible.
Meanwhile, put the mushrooms in a small saucepan with the water, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes. This is cooking à blanc, and the lemon keeps the mushrooms white. Leave them in their liquid.
Cook the carrots in salted boiling water for about 6 minutes, refresh in cold water and drain.
Ladle the stock through the lined sieve a little at a time to keep it clear. Leave to cool until lukewarm.
For the old-style béchamel, start by making the velouté. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the ham and aromatics, lower the heat and sweat gently for 5 minutes without colour. Stir in the flour and cook on the lowest heat for 1 to 2 minutes to make a white roux. Remove from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes.
Add 200 ml (generous ¾ cup) of the warm stock and whisk over gentle heat until smooth. Gradually add the rest of the 600 ml (2½ cups). The sauce will be thin, which is what you want. Bring to a gentle boil, then simmer on low for 15 minutes or more, until the velouté has reduced to about 300 ml (1¼ cups).
Pass the velouté through a sieve, pressing on the aromatics to extract their flavour. Return it to the clean pan and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Over medium heat, add the cream about 50 ml (3½ tbsp) at a time. Stir constantly and let it reduce for a couple of minutes, then repeat until all the cream is used. Do not rush this part. It is the most important. The finished béchamel should coat the back of a spoon and have a mirror-like finish.
Once the béchamel is done, you can use it as you would any white sauce. Here, I am using it to make a quick fricassée.
To make the fricassée, melt the butter in the sauté pan over medium heat, then lower the heat and cook the chicken gently for 5 to 10 minutes. You only want to stiffen the flesh, or raidir, with barely any colour.
Dilute the béchamel with the 100 ml (scant ½ cup) of stock. Pour it over the chicken with the mushrooms and 45 ml (3 tbsp) of their cooking liquid, and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the carrots and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the sauce coats the spoon again. If the sauce is still too thin, keep reducing it over low heat. Adjust the seasoning, stir in the chervil and serve with the rice.
Tip
Strip the meat from the stock and mix it with any leftover béchamel. Once it has set a little, it makes a good pie filling.