Béchamel and white sauce are the same base, just with different names
Bechamel is one of the five mother sauces of French cuisine, and the American white sauce is essentially the same three-ingredient preparation.
Béchamel is one of the five mother sauces that form the basis of French cuisine, along with velouté, tomato sauce, hollandaise, and espagnole. In theory, almost any other sauce can be created from any of these bases, and béchamel easily demonstrates this.
It's prepared with a roux of equal parts butter and flour, to which milk is gradually added, whisking until smooth. The longer it cooks, the thicker it becomes, and each recipe calls for a different consistency: thicker for a croque monsieur, thinner for a lasagna. An authentic béchamel sauce contains only milk, butter, and flour, although salt, pepper, or a pinch of nutmeg are often added.
In the United States, béchamel is known as white sauce, for simplicity and perhaps to avoid the French pronunciation, although there is no difference between the two. It should not be confused with other sauces of a similar color, such as Alfredo, Mornay, or garlic sauce: white sauce is essentially a three-ingredient base.
Adding cheese transforms béchamel into a Mornay sauce, traditionally made with Gruyère and Parmesan. With mature cheddar, it elevates macaroni and cheese, and with Monterey Jack and Cotija, it becomes a melted cheese spread.
Alfredo sauce, one of the best-known white sauces, uses heavy cream instead of milk and includes a hard Italian cheese, such as Parmesan. Adding sautéed garlic makes a garlic cream sauce; sautéed mushrooms, a mushroom cream sauce; tomato paste, a tomato cream sauce; and pesto, a pesto cream sauce.
Thus, the most elaborate pasta dish may have started with three basic pantry ingredients.
