White sauce—or bechamel, if you use its French name—is one of the five mother sauces taught in culinary schools. Its simplicity makes it a blank canvas for creativity; once you’ve mastered it, you can ...

Pop quiz: What’s the color of barbecue sauce? For most folks, the answer would be a rich, glossy sienna — the kind popularized in multitudes of American backyards, tailgating parties and smoky ...

One of the first and most valuable things I learned to cook was a basic white sauce. A simple mixture of butter, flour and milk creates a rich, velvety base you can turn into just about anything you ...