Cooking is, for me, technique-driven. Yes, you can read a recipe but, in essence, most recipes are based on some form of technique. What this means is that if you master the technique, recipes will become pre-made-art for you. If you master the art of cooking (i.e. technique) you will see every meal as a blank canvas that you can decorate it in any way form you see fit. You can take traditional recipes and transform them into your own dish. I love to take authentic traditional dishes and transform them. It is not that you make them better, but you put your own spin on things.

In this week's post, I introduce you to such a dish or dishes that I make for myself. It starts out as a béchamel sauce, that gets turned into a mornay sauce, and is subsequently used on toasted cheese and fried potato and bread. These dishes are driven by technique rather than recipes. If you master the techniques, you will be able to use the acquired technique in a variety of other dishes.

In any case, let me start with how to make a Béchamel Sauce, which you can easily transform into a Mornay Sauce. I will then show you how I make a toasted cheese with the mornay sauce and also some fried potatoes and bread with the mornay sauce.

Béchamel Sauce

Making these sauces are 100% technique and skill and 0% recipe. What I mean by this is that you can use any ingredients for these sauces. The world is your canvas. (However, if you want to make the traditional and authentic versions of these sauces, you will need specific ingredients.) Essentially you need an oil or fat source, flour, and a liquid. You can use rendered bacon fat with bread flour and beef stock to make an awesome béchamel style sauce. What I usually do is to brown the butter for that nutty extra flavour and then I brown the flour also. I use milk and sometimes I add some extra flavorings like pepper and chili flakes. Again, the world is your inspiration. Don't let tradition and authentic recipes impinge on your creativity. (I show a series of photographs below of how I make the sauce.)

(Brown the butter for some extra flavor.)

(Adding the flour will lump up the oil/butter. This is normal.)

(Add the milk and whisk until a thick paste forms.)

(Adding the milk in small portions will help you get a smoother sauce.)

(After all the milk is added cook until it thickens. This depends on how thick you want the sauce. At this stage, you have the basic Béchamel sauce.)

(Add any additional flavorings. I felt like smoked paprika and it was awesome!)

Mornay Sauce

By adding any kind of cheese, you can make a Mornay sauce. You can be creative, blue cheese and aged cheddar, mozzarella and gouda; again the world is your inspiration.

(When the heat is turned off, add the cheese. The residual heat will melt the cheese.)

(You can make the sauce thinner, I like a thick white cheesy sauce.)

Making Toasted Cheese with Mornay Sauce

This is a very heavy and "naughty" toasted cheese. I only make this when I feel I cannot stop the cravings. This is not a healthy snack! I use three slices of homemade sourdough bread. I toast the insides of the bread with mayonnaise, and then I spread leftover cold Mornay sauce over it like butter. I add cheese on the insides and outsides of the bread. The photographs will speak for themselves. Please enjoy them!

Fried Bread and Potatoes in Mornay Sauce

This is a dish I make more often, even though it is also not that healthy. I fry some small bread pieces into crispy croutons and I shallow fry some potatoes in coconut oil until golden and also crispy. I slather these fried pieces of bread and potato in the mornay sauce. At first, this combination might strike you as odd. But replacing the bacon with extra crispy fried bread makes the world's difference. I prefer a crispy fried piece of bread over a crispy piece of bacon in this recipe, but any fried meat will work great. Again, please look at the images for how I make this dish. I really hope you make this and that this post helps your creativity!