I thought I had posted it before but can't find it. No secrets involved, my mom never made this one. I cook by eye, not recipes, but this is based on a white sauce, that ratio is important. In a basic white sauce, 1/4 cup of fat (butter) plus 1/4 cup of flour will thicken two cups of liquid (milk). Let's begin!
1 lb ground beef (or sausage, chicken, turkey, veal, your choice)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter (or a little less, depending on amount of fat in the meat)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
Splash of wine (optional, but recommended)
Soy sauce
Bullion cube or salt
A spice rack full of your favourites (I used onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and parsley.
Brown the meat, then clear a hole in the center of the pan and cook the garlic there for one minute. Push the meat and garlic to one side. Now, either drain the fat and use all the butter, or add enough butter to the fat to get what looks like a quarter cup of fat. Add the flour to the fat and stir it constantly for two or three minutes or else your sauce will taste like uncooked flour (paste!). Right about now you put an onlooker to work making toast. When your roux is cooked, stir it all through the meat and add your onion and cook a few minutes, then add the seasonings and bouillon cube. Cook it a minute to wake the seasonings and put in the wine and soy sauce. Cook one minute to drive off the alcohol and add the milk. Stir frequently until it comes to a boil, it will be thick when it does.