Hi, I've always been a big lover of tomato based sauces. The majority of meals are coated by cooked in or smothered by marinara, tomato sauce, ketchup blended or bbq sauce.

Finding out though, that the excess may be the cause / irritant of my recent heartburn makes me want to branch out and try something new.

Can you recommend a good white sauce recipe?

Well, depends on what you want. Don't know how you feel about it but most white sauces are based on flour, butter and cream, high in fat, cholestrol and very heavy. But, you can google them, there's tons.

Melt butter, about 2 tablespoons, in a pan over low to medium heat. Once melted, slowly spinkle Wondra flour in until it forms a paste,then stir constantly until it is slightly brown. Whisk in milk or cream, about a cup to two cups total. Do this slowly and only use the amount you wish to obtain the desired thickness of the sauce. Do not walk away from this sauce EVER!!!!

Once the sauce is ready, you can add anything to it. Cheese, herbs, scallions, chives, veggies, pasta, etc. Sky is the limit.

This is the classic white sauce taught to me by my mother at age 12. It has never failed me.

Parm Alfredo Sauce (bare with me, I don't follow an exact recipe)

One can of evaporated milk
Add a good amount of margarine/butter
A little milk (just a dash)
Approx 4 tablespoons of flour
A lot of parm cheese

Pour on top of some linguine or alfredo noodles and add favorites.
I usually just to a chicken and brocolli alfredo.

Béchamel Sauce

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 small onion studded with 2 Or 3 cloves, optional
3 whole bay leaves
dash dried leaf thyme, crumbled
salt and white pepper to taste
nutmeg, to taste

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. When butter starts to foam, add the flour all at once, mixing well with a wooden spoon.
Cook over low heat 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly to incorporate flour.
Remove pan from heat and let stand, 10 to 15 minutes. this is called a roux.

Meanwhile, slice the onion in half lengthwise. Using only half the onion, pierce a whole clove through a bay leaf and then attach it to one side of the onion. Repeat with the two remaining cloves and bay leaves, attaching them around the edges of the onion, this is a studded onion.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, scald milk (heating it until just below boiling).
Return saucepan with roux to low heat. Add all of the scalded milk at once (to avoid the formation of lumps).
Simmer, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add studded onion, bay leaf and thyme.
Cook, over low heat, 15 to 20 minutes, stirring until smooth and thickened. Strain sauce through fine-mesh strainer. Add salt, white pepper and nutmeg to taste. Makes about 2 cups.

enjoy

add a tablespoon or two of sugar to your tomato sauce that will cut the acid

Thanks!
since i asked i tried all your suggestions including yours CB - sofar sogood.
i cant get the Parm Alfredo Sauce milk to flour mix right though!

Since you mentioned bbq sauce in your first paragraph and you are talking about white sauces, maybe I can help you out.

White bbq sauce was invented by Big Bob Gibson in Decatur, Alabama. I grew up eating at Big Bob Gibson's Bar-B-Q, there in Decatur. I remember Big Bob himself up behind the counter at the old fashioned cash register, talking to the customers. I remember he had a large glass bowl of bubble gun beside that cash register, and he would give me a piece of bubble gum every time I went up there with my dad to pay our bill.

Big Bob was called Big Bob because he was a big man. He was married to a Woodall. Since she was married to Big Bob, she was called Big Mama. Big Mama was responsible for many of the recipes that became staples of the restuarant.

Big Bob worked for the L&N Railroad and had become famous for his backyard barbeques. It soon became obvious to Big Bob, that his destiny was in bbq, not the railroad. In 1925, Big Bob set out to open a bbq restaurant in Decatur. He turned to his wife's brother, Sam Woodall to help.

My cousins on my moma's side are Woodalls. Back in the day, the Woodall family was the other big name in bbq in north Alabama. It would take a real north Alabama oldtimer to remember Woodall's BBQ. Woodall's BBQ burned down one night, and was never rebuilt by the family. Gibson's however, is still a thriving, family run business today.

Chris Lilly married into the Gibson family. He is one of the prominent members of the restaurant and the Big Bob Gibson Competition Barbeque Team. They have won ten bbq world championships, six championships at Memphis in May. They have won the American Royal in Kansas City and they have won the Jack Daniels International bbq championship in Tennessee. They have won championships from Washington State to Jamaica and just about everywhere in between. In other words, Chris and the gang know how to cook some "Q". Chris wrote a book, Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book, Recipes and Secrets from a Legendary Barbeque Joint, that was recently published.

When it comes to bbq sauces, I have my own personal favorites that depend on what I am putting it on. For pulled pork, I prefer an eastern North Carolina style vinegar based sauce, which is what Bob Gibson's uses on their pulled pork. For beef or baby back ribs or spareribs, I prefer a sweet and tangy, tomato based sauce. I make my own lemon, brown sugar, tomato based barbeque sauce for these foods.

As far as white bbq sauce, I prefer it on chicken as do many other people, especially those in north Alabama. As I remember it, Big Bob invented a mayonnaise based bbq sauce for a friend of his that was either allergic to tomato based sauces or had trouble digesting them. I have a few different recipes for white barbeque sauce, but they are all decendents of the original white barbeque sauce that Big Bob invented. I have one that differs slightly from this, that I got from my cousin, that came down through the Woodall family. For this recipe, I simply copied and pasted an excerpt from Chris Lilly's new book.


From Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book: White Sauce

"People raised in Decatur, Alabama, know that barbecue sauce is supposed to be white. For more than eighty years, Big Bob Gibson’s has been dunking its golden-brown birds, fifty at a time, into a vat of this tangy, peppery white sauce. The steaming, glistening chickens are then cut to order for our customers.

For years and years the restaurant’s early-morning cooks closely guarded the white sauce recipe, which was made each day before the day shift arrived. However, even without doing the math, I can tell you that hundreds of cooks have passed through the pitrooms of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, so I don’t think you can describe this recipe as "closely guarded" anymore.

I do know that Big Bob’s techniques and recipes, including his white sauce, have influenced the flavors of regional barbecue in Alabama. The great thing about passing secrets is that every time they are shared they change slightly. There is now a large number of "authentic" versions of Big Bob’s original secret recipe and cooking method—all different from one another. This is one of my favorite examples.


Ingredients

2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
(Makes 4 cups)

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and blend well. Use as a marinade, baste, or dipping sauce. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks."