A creamy white sauce made from butter, flour, and milk, used in cooking and as a base for many other sauces.
Named after the Marquis de Béchamel, a 17th-century French financier and court official who was credited with inventing or popularizing this sauce; it entered English from French cuisine.
Béchamel was named after a wealthy French nobleman who probably never actually made it himself—it's one of those foods named after famous people who had nothing to do with creating it, like Caesar salad.
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