Leftover white sauce freezes well, which is useful for feeding small children.

I always put a spoonful of English mustard in mine. Makes it nice and yellow, and very flavoursome.

I think the easiest way is a combination of Nigella's measurements (no need for scales) and Delia's method. So put 300ml milk, 1 tbsp butter & 1.5 tbsp plain flour in a pan over a medium heat. Whisk steadily until it boils and thickens then keep over a medium heat for a few minutes to cook the floury taste out. Season with salt, pepper, cheese, parsley etc etc....

Works everytime. You can scale up too and freeze for future lasagne etc.

Rose Elliot whisks her white sauces in the blender. So even professionals get lumps sometimes.

i do it the delia way but can't do a white sauce - i can do a bechemel sauce <<proud>> actually you just whisk in an egg. is that a good idea?

Any recipe you like as below fellow MNers, use a big multipronged balloon whisk at the end and voila! No lumps! And I'm normally such a rubbish cook.

put your cold milk and cornflour and cheese, (mix it around a bit but not alot) in a jug and chuck in the microwave for 1 min, take out and stir with a fork, put back in for another minute, take out and stir and put back for 1 more minute - result = lovely lump free tasty sauce.

Try it!

You need a balloon whisk for lumps.

I second a balloon whisk. Sometimes I don't even bother stirring and just whhisk at the end

Another little trick is to add the juice of half a lemon to the sauce - it gives it a little sharpness that can make it a bit zingier/less bland (even if you've used a mature cheddar it can benefit from this)