CHAPTER V.

=Sauces.= INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. [Illustration: _Bain Marie_, or Water Bath. ] THE difference between good and bad cookery can scarcely be more strikingly shown than in the manner in which sauces are prepared and served. If well made, appropriate to the dishes they accompany, and sent to table with them as hot as possible, they not only give a heightened relish to a dinner, but they prove that both skill and taste have been exerted in its arrangements. When coarsely or carelessly prepared, on the contrary, as they too often are, they greatly discredit the cook, and are anything but acceptable to the eaters. Melted butter, the most common of all—the “_one sauce of England_,” as it is called by foreigners, and which forms in reality the basis of a large number of those which are served in this country—is often so ill prepared, being either oiled or lumpy, or composed principally of flour and water, that it says but little for the state of cookery amongst us. We trust that the receipts in the present chapter are so far clearly given, that if strictly followed they will materially assist the learner in preparing tolerably palatable sauces at the least. The cut at the commencement of the chapter exhibits a vessel called a _bain marie_, in which saucepans are placed when it is necessary to keep their contents hot without allowing them to boil: it is extremely useful when dinners are delayed after they are ready to serve. TO THICKEN SAUCES. When this is done with the yolks of eggs, they should first be well beaten, and then mixed with a spoonful of cold stock should it be at hand, and with one or two of the boiling sauce, which should be stirred very quickly to them, and they must in turn be stirred briskly to the sauce, which may be held over the fire, and well shaken for an instant afterwards, but never placed upon it, nor allowed to boil. To the _roux_ or French thickening (which follows), the gravy or other liquid which is to be mixed with it should be poured boiling and in small quantities, the saucepan being often well shaken round, and the sauce made to boil up after each portion is added. If this precaution be observed, the butter will never float upon the surface, but the whole will be well and smoothly blended: it will otherwise be difficult to clear the sauce from it perfectly. For invalids, or persons who object to butter in their soups or sauces, flour only mixed to a smooth batter, and stirred into the boiling liquid may be substituted for other thickening: arrow-root also used in the same way, will answer even better than flour. FRENCH THICKENING, OR BROWN ROUX. For ordinary purposes this may be made as it is wanted for use; but when it is required for various dishes at the same time or for cookery upon a large scale, it can be prepared at once in sufficient quantity to last for several days, and it will remain good for some time. Dissolve, with a very gentle degree of heat, half a pound of good butter, then draw it from the fire, skim it well, give time for it to settle, pour it gently from the sediment into a very clean frying-pan, and place it over a slow but clear fire. Put into a dredging box about seven ounces of fine dry flour; add it gradually to the butter, shake the pan often as it is thrown in, and keep the thickening constantly stirred until it has acquired a clear light brown colour. It should be very slowly and equally done, or its flavour will be unpleasant. Pour it into a jar, and stir a spoonful or two as it is needed into boiling soup or gravy. When the butter is not clarified it will absorb an additional ounce of flour, the whole of which ought to be fine and dry. This thickening may be made in a well-tinned stewpan even better than in a frying-pan, and if simmered over a coal fire it should be placed high above it, and well guarded from smoke. WHITE ROUX, OR FRENCH THICKENING. Proceed exactly as for the preceding receipt, but dredge in the flour as soon as the butter is in full simmer, and be careful not to allow the thickening to take the slightest colour: this is used for white gravies or sauces. SAUCE TOURNÉE, OR PALE THICKENED GRAVY. Sauce tournée is nothing more than rich pale gravy made with veal or poultry (see _Consommé_, Chapter IV.) and thickened with delicate white _roux_. The French give it a flavouring of mushrooms and green onions, by boiling some of each in it for about half an hour before the sauce is served: it must then be strained, previously to being dished. Either first dissolve an ounce of butter, and then dredge gradually to it three-quarters of an ounce of flour, and proceed as for the preceding receipt; or blend the flour and butter perfectly with a knife before they are thrown into the stewpan, and keep them stirred without ceasing over a clear and gentle fire until they have simmered for some minutes, then place the stewpan high over the fire, and shake it constantly until the _roux_ has lost the raw taste of the flour; next, stir very gradually to it a pint of the gravy, which should be boiling. Set it by the side of the stove for a few minutes, skim it thoroughly, and serve it without delay. Butter, 1 oz.; flour, 3/4 oz.; strong pale gravy, seasoned with mushrooms and green onions, 1 pint. _Obs._ 3.—With the addition of three or four yolks of very fresh eggs, mixed with a seasoning of mace, cayenne, and lemon-juice, this becomes _German sauce_, now much used for fricassees, and other dishes; and minced parsley (boiled) and chili vinegar, each in sufficient quantity to flavour it agreeably, convert it into a good fish sauce. BÉCHAMEL. This is a fine French white sauce, now very much served at good English tables. It may be made in various ways, and more or less expensively; but it should always be thick, smooth, and rich, though delicate in flavour. The most ready mode of preparing it is to take an equal portion of very strong, pale veal gravy, and of good cream (a pint of each for example), and then, by rapid boiling over a very clear fire, to reduce the gravy nearly half; next, to mix with part of the cream a tablespoonful of fine dry flour, to pour it to the remainder, when it boils, and to keep the whole stirred for five minutes or more over a slow fire, for if placed upon a fierce one it would be liable to burn; then to add the gravy, to stir and mix the sauce perfectly, and to simmer it for a few minutes longer. All the flavour should be given by the gravy, in which French cooks boil a handful of mushrooms, a _few_ green onions, and some branches of parsley before it is reduced: but a good _béchamel_ may be made without them, with a strong _consommé_ (see pale veal gravy, page 98) well reduced. Strong pale veal gravy (flavoured with mushrooms or not), 1 pint: reduced half. Rich cream, 1 pint; flour, 1 tablespoonful: 5 minutes. With gravy, 4 or 5 minutes. _Obs._—_Velouté_, which is a rather thinner sauce or gravy, is made by simply well reducing the cream and stock separately, and then mixing them together without any thickening. BÉCHAMEL MAIGRE. (_A cheap White Sauce._) A good _béchamel_ may be made entirely without meat, when economy is an object, or when no gravy is at hand. Put into a stewpan, or a well-tinned and thick saucepan, with from two to three ounces of butter, a carrot, and a couple of small onions, cut in slices, with a handful of nicely-cleaned mushroom buttons, when these last can be easily procured; and when they have stewed slowly for half an hour, or until the butter is nearly dried up, stir in two tablespoonsful of flour, and pour in a pint of new milk, a little at a time, shaking the stewpan well round, that the sauce may be smooth. Boil the _béchamel_ gently for half an hour; add a little salt, and cayenne; strain, and reduce it, if not quite thick, or pour it boiling to the yolks of two fresh eggs. ANOTHER COMMON BÉCHAMEL. Cut half a pound of veal, and a slice of lean ham or smoked beef, into small dice, and stew them in butter, with vegetables, as directed in the foregoing receipt: stir in the same proportion of flour, then add the milk, and let the sauce boil very gently for an hour. It should not be allowed to thicken too much before it is strained. _Obs._—Common _béchamel_, with the addition of a spoonful of made-mustard, is an excellent sauce for boiled mutton. RICH MELTED BUTTER. This is more particularly required in general for lobster sauce, when it is to be served with turbot or brill, and for good oyster sauce. Salmon is itself so rich, that less butter is needed for it than for sauce which is to accompany a drier fish. Mix to a very smooth batter a dessertspoonful of flour, a half-saltspoonful of salt, and half a pint of cold water: put these into a delicately clean saucepan, with from four to six ounces of well-flavoured butter, cut into small bits, and shake the sauce strongly round, almost without cessation, until the ingredients are perfectly blended, and it is on the point of boiling; let it simmer for two or three minutes, and it will be ready for use. The best French cooks recommend its not being allowed to _boil_, as they say it tastes less of flour if served when it is just at the point of simmering. Cold water, 1/2 pint; salt, 1/2 spoonful; flour, 1 dessertspoonful: 3 to 4 minutes. Butter, 4 to 6 oz. MELTED BUTTER. (_A good common Receipt._) Put into a basin a large teaspoonful of flour, and a little salt, then mix with them very gradually and very smoothly a quarter of a pint of cold water; turn these into a small clean saucepan, and shake or stir them constantly over a clear fire until they have boiled a couple of minutes, then add an ounce and a half of butter cut small, keep the sauce stirred until this is entirely dissolved, give the whole a minute’s boil, and serve it quickly. The more usual mode is to put the butter in at first with the flour and water; but for inexperienced or unskilful cooks the safer plan is to follow the present receipt. Water, 1/4 pint; flour, 1 teaspoonful: 2 minutes. Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; 1 minute. _Obs._—To render this a _rich_ sauce, increase or even _double_ the proportion of butter. FRENCH MELTED BUTTER. Pour half a pint of good but not very thick, boiling melted butter to the well-beaten yolks of two or three fresh eggs, and stir them briskly as it is added; put the sauce again into the saucepan, and shake it high over the fire for an instant, but do not allow it to boil or it will curdle. Add a little lemon-juice or vinegar, and serve it immediately. NORFOLK SAUCE, OR RICH MELTED BUTTER WITHOUT FLOUR. Put three tablespoonsful of water into a small saucepan, and when it boils add four ounces of fresh butter; as soon as this is quite dissolved, take the saucepan from the fire, and shake it round until the sauce looks thick and smooth. It must not be allowed to boil after the butter is added. Water, 3 tablespoonsful; butter, 4 oz. WHITE MELTED BUTTER. Thicken half a pint of new milk with rather less flour than is directed for the common melted butter, or with a little arrow-root, and stir into it by degrees after it has boiled, a couple of ounces of fresh butter cut small; do not cease to stir the sauce until this is entirely dissolved, or it may become oiled, and float upon the top Thin cream, substituted for the milk, and flavoured with a few strips of lemon-rind cut extremely thin, some salt, and a small quantity of pounded mace, if mixed with rather less flour, and the same proportion of butter, will make an excellent sauce to serve with fowls or other dishes, when no gravy is at hand to make white sauce in the usual way. BURNT OR BROWNED BUTTER. Melt in a frying-pan three ounces of fresh butter, and keep it stirred slowly over a gentle fire until it is of a dark brown colour; then pour to it a couple of tablespoonsful of good _hot_ vinegar, and season it with black pepper and a little salt. In France this is a favourite sauce with boiled skate, which is served with plenty of crisped parsley, in addition, strewed over it. It is also often poured over poached eggs there: it is called _beurre noir_. Butter, 3 oz.; vinegar, 2 tablespoonsful; pepper; salt. CLARIFIED BUTTER. Put the butter into a very clean and well-tinned saucepan or enamelled stewpan, and melt it gently over a clear fire; when it just begins to simmer, skim it thoroughly, draw it from the fire, and let it stand a few minutes that the buttermilk may sink to the bottom; then pour it clear of the sediment through a muslin strainer or a fine hair-sieve; put it into jars, and store them in a cool place. Butter thus prepared will answer for all the ordinary purposes of cookery, and remain good for a great length of time. In France, large quantities are melted down in autumn for winter use. The clarified butter ordered for the various receipts in this volume, is merely dissolved with a gentle degree of heat in a small saucepan, skimmed, and poured out for use, leaving the thick sediment behind. VERY GOOD EGG SAUCE. Boil four fresh eggs for quite fifteen minutes, then lay them into plenty of fresh water, and let them remain until they are perfectly cold. Break the shells by rolling them on a table, take them off, separate the whites from the yolks, and divide all of the latter into quarter-inch dice; mince two of the whites tolerably small, mix them lightly, and stir them into the third of a pint of rich melted butter or of white sauce: serve the whole as hot as possible. Eggs, 4: boiled 15 minutes, left till cold. The yolks of all, whites of 2; third of pint of good melted butter or white sauce. Salt as needed. SAUCE OF TURKEYS’ EGGS. (_Excellent._) The eggs of the turkey make a sauce much superior to those of the common fowl. They should be gently boiled in plenty of water for twenty minutes. The yolks of three, and the whites of one and a half, will make a very rich sauce if prepared by the directions of the foregoing receipt. The eggs of the guinea fowl also may be converted into a similar sauce with ten minutes’ boiling. Their delicate size will render it necessary to increase the number taken for it. COMMON EGG SAUCE. Boil a couple of eggs hard, and when quite cold cut the whites and yolks separately; mix them well, put them into a very hot tureen, and pour boiling to them a quarter of a pint of melted butter, stir, and serve the sauce immediately. Whole eggs, 2; melted butter, 1/4 pint. EGG SAUCE FOR CALF’S HEAD. This is a provincial sauce, served sometimes with fish, and with calf’s head likewise. Thicken to the proper consistence with flour and butter some good pale veal gravy, throw into it when it boils from one to two large teaspoonsful of minced parsley, add a slight squeeze of lemon-juice, a little cayenne, and then the eggs. Veal gravy, 1/2 pint; flour, 1-1/2 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; minced parsley, 1 dessertspoonful; lemon-juice, 1 teaspoonful; little cayenne; eggs, 3 to 4. ENGLISH WHITE SAUCE. Boil softly in half a pint of well-flavoured pale veal gravy a few very thin strips of fresh lemon-rind, for just sufficient time to give their flavour to it; stir in a thickening of arrow-root, or of flour and butter, add salt if needed, and mix with the gravy a quarter of a pint of boiling cream. For the best kind of white sauce, see béchamel, page 107. Good pale veal gravy, 1/2 pint; third of 1 lemon-rind: 15 to 20 minutes. Freshly pounded mace, third of saltspoonful; butter, 1 to 2 oz.; flour, 1 teaspoonful (or arrow-root an equal quantity); cream, 1/4 pint. VERY COMMON WHITE SAUCE. The neck and the feet of a fowl, nicely cleaned, and stewed down in half a pint of water, until it is reduced to less than a quarter of a pint, with a thin strip or two of lemon-rind, a small blade of mace, a small branch or two of parsley, a little salt, and half a dozen corns of pepper, then strained, thickened, and flavoured by the preceding receipt, and mixed with something more than half the quantity of cream, will answer for this sauce extremely well; and if it be added, when made, to the liver of the chicken, previously boiled for six minutes in the gravy, then bruised to a smooth paste, and passed through a sieve, an excellent liver sauce. A little strained lemon-juice is generally added to it when it is ready to serve: it should be stirred very briskly in. DUTCH SAUCE. Put into a small saucepan the yolks of three fresh eggs, the juice of a large lemon, three ounces of butter, a little salt and nutmeg, and a wineglassful of water. Hold the saucepan over a clear fire, and keep the sauce stirred until it _nearly_ boils: a little cayenne may be added. The safest way of making all sauces that will curdle by being allowed to boil, is to put them into a jar, and to set the jar over the fire in a saucepan of boiling water, and then to stir the ingredients constantly until the sauce is thickened sufficiently to serve. Yolks of eggs, 3; juice, 1 lemon; butter, 3 oz.; little salt and nutmeg; water, 1 wineglassful; cayenne at pleasure. _Obs._—A small cupful of veal gravy, mixed with plenty of blanched and chopped parsley, may be used instead of water for this sauce, when it is to be served with boiled veal, or with calf’s head. FRICASSEE SAUCE. Stir briskly, but by degrees, to the well-beaten yolks of two large or of three small fresh eggs, half a pint of common English white sauce; put it again into the saucepan, give it a shake over the fire, but be extremely careful not to allow it to boil, and just before it is served stir in a dessertspoonful of strained lemon-juice. When meat or chickens are fricasseed, they should be lifted from the saucepan with a slice, drained on it from the sauce, and laid into a very hot dish before the eggs are added, and when these are just set, the sauce should be poured on them. BREAD SAUCE. Pour quite boiling, on half a pint of the finest bread-crumbs, an equal measure of new milk; cover them closely with a plate, and let the sauce remain for twenty or thirty minutes; put it then into a delicately clean saucepan, with a small saltspoonful of salt, half as much pounded mace, a little cayenne, and about an ounce of fresh butter; keep it stirred constantly over a clear fire for a few minutes, then mix with it a couple of spoonsful of good cream, give it a boil, and serve it immediately. When cream is not to be had, an additional spoonful or two of milk must be used. The bread used for sauce should be _stale_, and lightly grated down into extremely small crumbs, or the preparation will look rough when sent to table. Not only the crust, but all heavy-looking or imperfectly baked portions of it, should be entirely pared off, and it should be pressed against the grater only so much as will reduce it easily into crumbs. When stale bread cannot be procured, the new should be sliced thin, or broken up small, and beaten quite smooth with a fork after it has been soaked. As some will absorb more liquid than others, the cook must increase a little the above proportion should it be needed. Equal parts of milk and of thin cream make an excellent bread sauce: more butter can be used to enrich it when it is liked. Bread-crumbs and new milk, each 1/2 pint (or any other measure); soaked 20 to 30 minutes, or more. Salt, small saltspoonful; mace, half as much; little cayenne; butter, 1 oz.; boiled 4 to 5 minutes. 2 to 4 spoonsful of good cream (or milk): 1 minute. Or: bread-crumbs, 1/2 pint; milk and cream, each 1/4 pint; and from 2 to 4 spoonsful of either in addition. _Obs._—Very pale, strong veal gravy is sometimes poured on the bread-crumbs, instead of milk; and these, after being soaked, are boiled extremely dry, and then brought to the proper consistence with rich cream. The gravy may be highly flavoured with mushrooms when this is done. BREAD SAUCE WITH ONION. Put into a very clean saucepan nearly half a pint of fine bread-crumbs, and the white part of a large _mild_ onion cut into quarters; pour to these three-quarters of a pint of new milk, and boil them very gently, keeping them often stirred until the onion is perfectly tender, which will be in from forty minutes to an hour. Press the whole through a hair-sieve, which should be as clean as possible; reduce the sauce by quick boiling should it be too thin; add a seasoning of salt and grated nutmeg, an ounce of butter, and four spoonsful of cream; and when it is of a proper thickness, dish, and send it quickly to table. Bread-crumbs, nearly 1/2 pint; white part of 1 large mild onion; new milk, 3/4 pint: 40 to 60 minutes. Seasoning of salt and grated nutmeg; butter, 1 oz.; cream, 4 tablespoonsful: to be boiled till of a proper consistence. _Obs._—This is an excellent sauce for those who like a _subdued_ flavour of onion in it; but as many persons object to any, the cook should ascertain whether it be liked before she follows this receipt. COMMON LOBSTER SAUCE. Add to half a pint of good melted butter a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, a small half-saltspoonful of freshly pounded mace, and less than a quarter one of cayenne. If a couple of spoonsful of cream should be at hand, stir them to the sauce when it boils; then put in the flesh of the tail and claws of a small lobster cut into dice (or any other form) of equal size. Keep the saucepan by the side of the fire until the fish is quite heated through, but do not let the sauce boil again: serve it very hot. A small quantity can be made on occasion with the remains of a lobster which has been served at table. Melted butter, 1/2 pint; essence of anchovies, 1 tablespoonful; pounded mace, small 1/2 saltspoonful; less than 1/4 one of cayenne; cream (if added), 2 tablespoonsful; flesh of small lobster. GOOD LOBSTER SAUCE. Select for this a perfectly fresh hen lobster; split the tail carefully, and take out the inside coral; pound half of it in a mortar very smoothly with less than an ounce of butter, rub it through a hair-sieve, and put it aside. Cut the firm flesh of the fish into dice of not less than half an inch in size; and when these are ready, make as much _good_ melted butter as will supply the quantity of sauce required for table, and if to be served with a turbot or other large fish to a numerous company, let it be plentifully provided. Season it slightly with essence of anchovies, and well with cayenne, mace, and salt; add to it a few spoonsful of rich cream, and then mix a small portion of it very gradually with the pounded coral; when this is sufficiently liquefied pour it into the sauce, and stir the whole well together; put in immediately the flesh of the fish, and heat the sauce thoroughly by the side of the fire without allowing it to boil, for if it should do so its fine colour would be destroyed. The whole of the coral may be used for the sauce when no portion of it is required for other purposes. CRAB SAUCE. The flesh of a fresh well-conditioned crab of moderate size is more tender and delicate than that of a lobster, and may be converted into an excellent fish sauce. Divide it into small flakes, and add it to some good melted butter, which has been flavoured as for either of the sauces above. A portion of the cream contained in the fish may first be smoothly mingled with the sauce. GOOD OYSTER SAUCE. At the moment they are wanted for use, open three dozen of fine plump native oysters; save carefully and strain their liquor, rinse them separately in it, put them into a very clean saucepan, strain the liquor again, and pour it to them; heat them slowly, and keep them from one to two minutes at the simmering point, without allowing them to _boil_, as that will render them hard. Lift them out and beard them neatly; add to the liquor three ounces of butter smoothly mixed with a large dessertspoonful of flour; stir these without ceasing until they boil, and are perfectly mixed; then add to them gradually a quarter of a pint, or rather more, of new milk, or of thin cream (or equal parts of both), and continue the stirring until the sauce boils again; add a little salt, should it be needed, and a small quantity of cayenne in the finest powder; put in the oysters, and keep the saucepan by the side of the fire until the whole is thoroughly hot and begins to simmer, then turn the sauce into a well-heated tureen, and send it immediately to table. Small plump oysters, 3 dozen; butter, 3 oz.; flour, 1 large dessertspoonful; the oyster liquor; milk or cream, full 1/4 pint; little salt and cayenne. COMMON OYSTER SAUCE. Prepare and plump two dozen of oysters as directed in the receipt above; add their strained liquor to a quarter of a pint of _thick_ melted butter made with milk, or with half milk and half water; stir the whole until it boils, put in the oysters, and when they are quite heated through send the sauce to table without delay. Some persons like a little cayenne and essence of anchovies added to it when it is served with fish; others prefer the unmixed flavour of the oysters. Oysters, 2 dozens; their liquor; melted butter, 1/4 pint. (Little cayenne and 1 dessertspoonful of essence of anchovies when liked.) SHRIMP SAUCE. The fish for this sauce should be very fresh. Shell quickly one pint of shrimps and mix them with half a pint of melted butter, to which a few drops of essence of anchovies and a little mace and cayenne have been added. As soon as the shrimps are heated through, dish, and serve the sauce, which ought not to boil after they are put in. Many persons add a few spoonsful of rich cream to all shell-fish sauces. Shrimps, 1 pint; melted butter, 1/2 pint; essence of anchovies, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; cayenne, very little. ANCHOVY SAUCE. To half a pint of good melted butter add three dessertspoonsful of essence of anchovies, a quarter of a teaspoonful of mace, and a rather high seasoning of cayenne; or pound the flesh of two or three fine mellow anchovies very smooth, mix it with the boiling butter, simmer these for a minute or two, strain the sauce if needful, add the spices, give it a boil, and serve it. Melted butter, 1/2 pint; essence of anchovies, 3 dessertspoonsful; mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; cayenne, to taste. Or, 3 large anchovies finely pounded, and the same proportions of butter and spice. CREAM SAUCE FOR FISH. Knead very smoothly together with a strong-bladed knife, a _large_ teaspoonful of flour with three ounces of good butter; stir them in a very clean saucepan or stewpan over a gentle fire until the butter is dissolved, then throw in a little salt and some cayenne, give the whole one minute’s simmer, and add, very gradually, half a pint of good cream; keep the sauce constantly stirred until it boils, then mix with it a dessertspoonful of essence of anchovies, and half as much chili vinegar or lemon-juice. The addition of shelled shrimps or lobsters cut in dice, will convert this at once into a most excellent sauce of either. Pounded mace may be added to it with the cayenne; and it may be thinned with a few spoonsful of milk should it be too thick. Omit the essence of anchovies, and mix with it some parsley boiled very green and minced, and it becomes a good sauce for poultry. Butter, 3 oz.; flour, 1 _large_ teaspoonful: 2 to 3 minutes. Cream, 1/2 pint; essence of anchovies, 1 large dessertspoonful (more if liked); chili vinegar or lemon-juice, 1 teaspoonful; salt, 1/4 saltspoonful. SHARP MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL SAUCE. (_English Receipt._) For a rich sauce of this kind, mix a dessertspoonful of flour with four ounces of good butter, but with from two to three ounces only for common occasions; knead them together until they resemble a smooth paste, then proceed exactly as for the sauce above, but substitute good pale veal gravy, or strong, pure-flavoured veal broth, or shin of beef stock (which if well made has little colour), for the cream; and when these have boiled for two or three minutes, stir in a tablespoonful of common vinegar and one of chili vinegar, with as much cayenne as will flavour the sauce well, and some salt, should it be needed; throw in from two to three dessertspoonsful of finely-minced parsley, give the whole a boil, and it will be ready to serve. A tablespoonful of mushroom catsup or of Harvey’s sauce may be added with the vinegar when the colour of the sauce is immaterial. It may be served with boiled calf’s head, or with boiled eels with good effect; and various kinds of cold meat and fish may be re-warmed for table in it, as we have directed in another part of this volume. With a little more flour, and a flavouring of essence of anchovies, it will make, without the parsley, an excellent sauce for these last, when they are first dressed. Butter, 2 to 4 oz.; flour, 1 dessertspoonful; pale veal gravy or strong broth, or shin of beef stock, 1/2 pint; cayenne; salt, if needed; common vinegar, 1 tablespoonful; chili vinegar, 1 tablespoonful. (Catsup or Harvey’s sauce, according to circumstances.) FRENCH MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL,[55] OR STEWARD’S SAUCE. Footnote 55: The Maître d’Hôtel is, properly, the _House Steward_. Add to half a pint of rich, pale veal gravy, well thickened with the white _roux_ of page 108, a good seasoning of pepper, salt, minced parsley, and lemon-juice; or make the thickening with a small tablespoonful of flour, and a couple of ounces of butter; keep these stirred constantly over a very gentle fire from ten to fifteen minutes, then pour the gravy to them boiling, in small portions, mixing the whole well as it is added, and letting it boil up between each, for unless this be done the butter will be likely to float upon the surface. Simmer the sauce for a few minutes, and skim it well, then add salt should it be needed, a tolerable seasoning of pepper or of cayenne in fine powder, from two to three teaspoonsful of minced parsley, and the strained juice of a small lemon. For some dishes, this sauce is thickened with the yolks of eggs, about four to the pint. The French work into their sauces generally a small bit of fresh butter just before they are taken from the fire, to give them mellowness: this is done usually for the _Maître d’Hôtel Sauce_. MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL SAUCE MAIGRE,[56] OR WITHOUT GRAVY. Footnote 56: Maigre, made without meat. Substitute half a pint of good melted butter for the gravy, and add to it the same seasonings as above. A double quantity of these sauces will be needed when they are required to cover a large fish; in that case they should be thick enough to adhere to it well. Melted butter, 1/2 pint; seasoning of salt and pepper, or cayenne; minced parsley, 2 to 3 teaspoonsful; juice, 1 small lemon. For COLD MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL SAUCE, see Chapter VI. THE LADY’S SAUCE. (_For Fish._) Pound to a very smooth paste the inside coral of a lobster with a small slice of butter, and some cayenne; rub it through a hair-sieve, gather it together, and mix it very smoothly with from half to three-quarters of a pint of _sauce tournée_ or of cream fish-sauce, previously well seasoned with cayenne and salt, and moderately with pounded mace; bring it to the _point_ of boiling only; stir in quickly, but gradually, a tablespoonful of strained lemon-juice, and serve it very hot. When neither cream nor gravy is at hand, substitute _rich_ melted butter mixed with a dessertspoonful or two of essence of anchovies, and well seasoned. The fine colour of the coral will be destroyed by boiling. This sauce, which the French call _Sauce à l’Aurore_, may be served with brill, boiled soles, gray mullet, and some few other kinds of fish: it is quickly made when the lobster butter of Chapter VI. is in the house. Coral of lobster, pounded; cream sauce, or _sauce tournée_ (thickened pale veal gravy), 1/2 to 3/4 pint; lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful; salt, cayenne, and mace, as needed. Or: _rich_ melted butter, instead of other sauce; essence of anchovies, 2 dessertspoonsful; other seasoning, as above. _Obs._—The proportion of spices here must, of course, depend on the flavouring which the gravy or sauce may already have received. GENEVESE SAUCE, OR SAUCE GÉNÉVOISE. Cut into dice three ounces of the lean of a well-flavoured ham, and put them with half a small carrot, four cloves, a blade of mace, two or three very small sprigs of lemon thyme and of parsley, and rather more than an ounce of butter, into a stewpan; just simmer them from three-quarters of an hour to a whole hour, then stir in a teaspoonful of flour; continue the slow stewing for about five minutes, and pour in by degrees a pint of good boiling veal gravy, and let the sauce again simmer softly for nearly an hour. Strain it off, heat it in a clean saucepan, and when it boils, stir in a wineglassful and a half of good sherry or Madeira, two tablespoonsful of lemon-juice, some cayenne, a little salt if needed, and a small tablespoonful of flour very smoothly mixed with two ounces of butter. Give the whole a boil after the thickening is added, pour a portion of the sauce over the fish (it is served principally with salmon and trout), and send the remainder very hot to table in a tureen. Lean of ham, 3 oz.; 1/2 small carrot; 4 to 6 cloves; mace, 1 large blade; thyme and parsley, 3 or 4 _small_ sprigs of each; butter, 1 to 1-1/2 oz.: 50 to 60 minutes. Veal gravy, 1 pint: 3/4 to 1 hour. Sherry or Madeira, 1-1/2 glassful; lemon-juice, 2 tablespoonsful; seasoning of cayenne and salt; flour, 1 tablespoonful; butter, 2 oz.: 1 minute. _Obs._—A teaspoonful or more of essence of anchovies is usually added to the sauce, though it is scarcely required. SAUCE ROBERT. Cut four or five large onions into small dice, and brown them in a stewpan, with three ounces of butter and a dessertspoonful of flour. When of a deep yellow brown, pour to them half a pint of beef or of veal gravy, and let them simmer for fifteen minutes; skim the sauce, add a seasoning of salt and pepper, and at the moment of serving, mix a dessertspoonful of made mustard with it. Large onions, 4 or 5; butter, 3 oz.; flour, dessertspoonful; 10 to 15 minutes. Gravy, 1/2 pint: 15 minutes. Mustard, dessertspoonful. SAUCE PIQUANTE. Brown lightly in an ounce and a half of butter a tablespoonful of minced eschalots or three of onions; add a teaspoonful of flour when they are partially done; pour to them half a pint of gravy or of _good_ broth, and when it boils add three chilies, a bay-leaf, and a very small bunch of thyme. Let these simmer for twenty minutes; take out the thyme and bay-leaf, add a high seasoning of black pepper, and half a wineglassful of the best vinegar. A quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne may be substituted for the chilies. Eschalots, 1 tablespoonful, or three of onions; flour, 1 teaspoonful; butter, 1-1/2 oz.: 10 to 15 minutes. Gravy or broth, 1/2 pint; chilies, 3; bay-leaf; thyme, small bunch: 20 minutes. Pepper, plenty; vinegar, 1/2 wineglassful. EXCELLENT HORSERADISH SAUCE. (_To serve hot or cold with roast beef._) Wash and wipe a stick of _young_ horseradish, scrape off the outer skin, grate it as small as possible on a fine grater, then with two ounces (or a couple of large tablespoonsful) of it mix a small teaspoonful of salt and four tablespoonsful of good cream; stir in briskly, and by degrees, three dessertspoonsful of vinegar, one of which should be chili vinegar when the horseradish is mild. To heat the sauce, put it into a small and delicately clean saucepan, hold it over, but do not place it _upon_ the fire, and stir it without intermission until it is near the point of simmering; but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle instantly. Horseradish pulp, 2 oz. (or 2 _large_ tablespoonsful); salt, 1 teaspoonful; good cream, 4 tablespoonsful; vinegar, 3 dessertspoonsful (of which one should be chili when the root is mild). _Obs._—Common English salad-mixture is often added to the grated horseradish when the sauce is to be served cold. HOT HORSERADISH SAUCE. (_To serve with boiled or stewed meat or fish._) Mix three ounces of young tender grated horseradish with half a pint of good brown gravy, and let it stand by the side of the fire until it is on the point of boiling; add salt if required, a teaspoonful of made mustard, and a dessertspoonful of garlic or of eschalot vinegar; or the same quantity of chili vinegar, or twice as much common vinegar. Some cooks stew the horseradish in vinegar for ten minutes, and, after having drained it from this, mix it with nearly half a pint of thick melted butter. Horseradish, grated, 3 oz.; brown gravy, 1/2 pint; made mustard, 1 teaspoonful; eschalot or garlic vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful (or chili vinegar, the same quantity, or common vinegar twice as much). CHRISTOPHER NORTH’S OWN SAUCE FOR MANY MEATS. Throw into a small basin a heaped saltspoonful of _good_ cayenne pepper, in very fine powder, and half the quantity of salt;[57] add a small dessertspoonful of well-refined, pounded, and sifted sugar; mix these thoroughly; then pour in a tablespoonful of the strained juice of a fresh lemon, two of Harvey’s sauce, a teaspoonful of the very best mushroom catsup (or of cavice), and a small wineglassful of port wine. Heat the sauce by placing the basin in a saucepan of boiling water, or turn it into a jar, and place this in the water. Serve it directly it is ready with geese or ducks, tame or wild; roast pork, venison, fawn, a grilled blade-bone, or any other broil. A slight flavour of garlic or eschalot vinegar may be given to it at pleasure. Some persons eat it with fish. It is good cold; and, if bottled directly it is made, may be stored for several days. It is the better for being mixed some hours before it is served. _The proportion of cayenne may be doubled when a very pungent sauce is desired._ Footnote 57: _Characteristically, the salt_ of this sauce ought, perhaps, to prevail more strongly over the _sugar_, but it will be found for most tastes sufficiently _piquant_ as it is. _Good_ cayenne pepper in fine powder, 1 _heaped_ saltspoonful; salt, half as much; pounded sugar, 1 small dessertspoonful; strained lemon-juice, 1 tablespoonful; Harvey’s sauce, 2 tablespoonsful; best mushroom catsup (or cavice), 1 teaspoonful; port wine, 3 tablespoonsful, or small wineglassful. (Little eschalot, or garlic vinegar at pleasure.) _Obs._—This sauce is exceedingly good mixed with the brown gravy of a hash or stew, or with that which is served with game or other dishes. GOOSEBERRY SAUCE FOR MACKEREL. Cut the stalks and tops from half to a whole pint of quite young gooseberries, wash them well, just cover them with cold water, and boil them very gently indeed, until they are tender; drain and mix them with a small quantity of melted butter, made with rather less flour than usual. Some eaters prefer the mashed gooseberries without any addition; others like that of a little ginger. The best way of making this sauce is to turn the gooseberries into a hair-sieve to drain, then to press them through it with a wooden spoon, and to stir them in a clean stewpan or saucepan over the fire with from half to a whole teaspoonful of sugar, just to soften their extreme acidity, and a bit of fresh butter about the size of a walnut. When the fruit is not passed through the sieve it is an improvement to seed it. COMMON SORREL SAUCE. Strip from the stalks and the large fibres, from one to a couple of quarts of freshly-gathered sorrel; wash it very clean, and put it into a well-tinned stewpan or saucepan (or into an enamelled one, which would be far better), without any water; add to it a small slice of good butter, some pepper and salt, and stew it gently, keeping it well stirred until it is exceedingly tender, that it may not burn; then drain it on a sieve, or press the liquid well from it; chop it as fine as possible, and boil it again for a few minutes with a spoonful or two of gravy, or the same quantity of cream or milk, mixed with a half-teaspoonful of flour, or with only a fresh slice of good butter. The beaten yolk of an egg or two stirred in just as the sorrel is taken from the fire will soften the sauce greatly, and a saltspoonful of pounded sugar will also be an improvement. ASPARAGUS SAUCE, FOR LAMB CUTLETS. Green cut the tender points of some young asparagus into half-inch lengths, or into the size of peas only; wash them well, then drain and throw them into plenty of boiling salt and water. When they are quite tender, which may be in from ten to fifteen minutes, turn them into a hot strainer and drain the water thoroughly from them; put them, at the instant of serving, into half a pint of thickened veal gravy (see _sauce tournée_, page 106), mixed with the yolks of a couple of eggs, and well seasoned with salt and cayenne, or white pepper, or into an equal quantity of good melted butter: add to this last a squeeze of lemon-juice. The asparagus will become yellow if reboiled, or if left long in the sauce before it is served. Asparagus points, 1/2 pint: boiled 10 to 15 minutes, longer if not quite tender. Thickened veal gravy, 1/2 pint; yolks of eggs, 2. Or: good melted butter, 1/2 pint; lemon-juice, small dessertspoonful, seasoning of salt and white pepper. CAPER SAUCE. Stir into the third of a pint of good melted butter from three to four dessertspoonsful of capers; add a little of the vinegar, and dish the sauce as soon as it boils. Keep it stirred after the berries are added: part of them may be minced and a little chill vinegar substituted for their own. Pickled nasturtiums make a very good sauce, and their flavour is sometimes preferred to that of the capers. For a large joint, increase the quantity of butter to half a pint. Melted butter, third of pint; capers, 3 to 4 dessertspoonsful. BROWN CAPER SAUCE. Thicken half a pint of good veal or beef gravy as directed for _sauce tournée_, and add to it two tablespoonsful of capers, and a dessertspoonful of the pickle liquor, or of chili vinegar, with some cayenne if the former be used, and a proper seasoning of salt. Thickened veal, or beef gravy, 1/2 pint; capers, 2 tablespoonsful; caper liquor or chili vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful. CAPER SAUCE FOR FISH. To nearly half a pint of very rich melted butter add six spoonsful of _strong_ veal gravy or jelly, a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, and some chili vinegar or cayenne, and from two to three tablespoonsful of capers. When there is no gravy at hand substitute a half wineglassful of mushroom catsup, or of Harvey’s sauce; though these deepen the colour more than is desirable. COMMON CUCUMBER SAUCE. Pare, slice, dust slightly with pepper and with flour, two or three young cucumbers, and fry them a fine brown in a little butter, or dissolve an ounce and a half in a small stewpan or iron saucepan, and shake them in it over a brisk fire from twelve to fifteen minutes; pour to them by degrees nearly half a pint of strong beef broth, or of brown gravy; add salt, and more pepper if required; stew the whole for five minutes, and send the sauce very hot to table. A minced onion may be browned with the cucumbers when it is liked, and a spoonful of vinegar added to them before they are served. Cucumbers, 2 or 3; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; broth or gravy, nearly 1/2 pint; salt, pepper. ANOTHER COMMON SAUCE OF CUCUMBERS. Cucumbers which have the fewest seeds are best for this sauce. Pare and slice _two_ or _three_, should they be small, and put them into a saucepan, in which two ounces, or rather more, of butter have been dissolved, and are beginning to boil; place them high over the fire, that they may stew as softly as possible, without taking colour, for three-quarters of an hour, or longer should they require it; add to them a good seasoning of white pepper and some salt, when they are half done; and just before they are served stir to them half a teaspoonful of flour, mixed with a morsel of butter; strew in some minced parsley, give it a boil, and finish with a spoonful of good vinegar. WHITE CUCUMBER SAUCE. Quarter some young quickly-grown cucumbers, without many seeds in them; empty them of these, and take off the rinds. Cut them into inch lengths, and boil them from fifteen to eighteen minutes in salt and water; press the water from them with the back of a spoon, and work them through a sieve; mix them with a few spoonsful of _béchamel_, or thick white sauce; do not let them _boil_ again, but serve them very hot. A sauce of better flavour is made by boiling the cucumbers in veal gravy well seasoned, and stirring in the beaten yolks of two or three eggs, and a little chili vinegar or lemon-juice, at the instant of serving. Another also of cucumbers sliced, and stewed in butter, but without being at all browned, and then boiled in pale veal gravy, which must be thickened with rich cream, is excellent. A _morsel_ of sugar improves this sauce. Cucumbers, 3: 15 to 18 minutes. White sauce, 1/4 pint. WHITE MUSHROOM SAUCE. Cut off the stems closely from half a pint of small button mushrooms; clean them with a little salt and a bit of flannel, and throw them into cold water, slightly salted, as they are done; drain them well, or dry them in a soft cloth, and throw them into half a pint of boiling _béchamel_ (see page 108), or of white sauce made with very fresh milk, or thin cream, thickened with a tablespoonful of flour and two ounces of butter. Simmer the mushrooms from ten to twenty minutes, or until they are quite tender, and dish the sauce, which should be properly seasoned with salt, mace, and cayenne. Mushrooms, 1/2 pint; white sauce, 1/2 pint; seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne: 10 minutes. ANOTHER MUSHROOM SAUCE. Prepare from half to a whole pint of very small mushroom-buttons with great nicety, and throw them into an equal quantity of _sauce tournée_; when they are tender add a few spoonsful of rich cream, give the whole a boil, and serve it. Either of these sauces may be sent to table with boiled poultry, breast of veal, or veal cutlets: the _sauce tournée_ should be thickened rather more than usual when it is to be used in this receipt. Mushrooms and _sauce tournée_ each, 1/2 to whole pint: stewed till tender. Cream, 4 to 8 tablespoonsful. BROWN MUSHROOM SAUCE. Very small flaps, peeled and freed entirely from the fur, will answer for this sauce. Leave them whole or quarter them, and stew them tender in some rich brown gravy; give a full seasoning of mace and cayenne, add thickening and salt if needed, and a tablespoonful of good mushroom catsup. COMMON TOMATA SAUCE. Tomatas are so juicy when ripe that they require little or no liquid to reduce them to a proper consistence for sauce; and they vary so exceedingly in size and quality that it is difficult to give precise directions for the exact quantity which in their unripe state is needed for them. Take off the stalks, halve the tomatas, and gently squeeze out the seeds and watery pulp; then stew them softly with a few spoonsful of gravy or of strong broth until they are quite melted. Press the whole through a hair-sieve, and heat it afresh with a little additional gravy should it be too thick, and some cayenne, and salt. Serve it very hot. Fine ripe tomatas, 6 or 8; gravy or strong broth, 4 tablespoonsful: 1/2 to 3/4 hour, or longer if needed. Salt and cayenne sufficient to season the sauce, and two or three spoonsful more of gravy if required. _Obs._—For a large tureen of this sauce, increase the proportions; and should it be at first too liquid, reduce it by quick boiling. When neither gravy nor broth is at hand, the tomatas may be stewed perfectly tender, but very gently, in a couple of ounces of butter, with some cayenne and salt only, or with the addition of a very little finely minced onion; then rubbed through a sieve, and heated, and served without any addition, or with only that of a teaspoonful of chili vinegar; or, when the colour is not a principal consideration, with a few spoonsful of rich cream, smoothly mixed with a little flour to prevent its curdling. The sauce must be stirred without ceasing should the last be added, and boiled for four or five minutes. A FINER TOMATA SAUCE. Stew very gently a dozen fine red tomatas, prepared as for the preceding receipt, with two or three sliced eschalots, four or five chilies or a capsicum or two (or in lieu of either, with a quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper), a few small dice of lean ham, and half a cupful of rich gravy. Stir these often, and when the tomatas are reduced quite to a smooth pulp, rub them through a sieve; put them into a clean saucepan, with a few spoonsful more of rich gravy, or _Espagnole_, add salt if needed, boil the sauce stirring it well for ten minutes, and serve it very hot. When the gravy is exceedingly good and highly flavoured, the ham may be omitted: a dozen small mushrooms nicely cleaned may also be sliced and stewed with the tomatas, instead of the eschalots, when their flavour is preferred, or they may be added with them. The exact proportion of liquid used is immaterial, for should the sauce be too thin it may be reduced by rapid boiling, and diluted with more gravy if too thick. BOILED APPLE SAUCE. Apples of a fine cooking sort require but a very small portion of liquid to boil down well and smoothly for sauce, if placed over a gentle fire in a close-shutting saucepan, and simmered as softly as possible until they are well broken; and their flavour is injured by the common mode of adding so much to them, that the greater part must be drained off again before they are sent to table. Pare the fruit quickly, quarter it, and be careful entirely to remove the cores; put one tablespoonful of water into a saucepan before the apples are thrown in, and proceed, as we have directed, to simmer them until they are nearly ready to serve: finish the sauce by the receipt which follows. Apples, 1/2 lb.; water, 1 tablespoonful; stewed very softly: 30 to 60 minutes. _Obs._—These proportions are sufficient only for a small tureen of the sauce, and should be doubled for a large one. For this, and all other preparations, apples will be whiter if just dipped into fresh water the instant before they are put into the stewpan. They should be quickly lifted from it, and will stew down easily to sauce with only the moisture which hangs about them. They should be watched and often gently stirred, that they may be equally done. BAKED APPLE SAUCE. (_Good._) Put a tablespoonful of water into a quart basin, and fill it with good boiling apples, pared, quartered, and _carefully_ cored: put a plate over, and set them into a moderate oven for about an hour, or until they are reduced quite to a pulp; beat them smooth with a clean wooden spoon, adding to them a little sugar and a morsel of fresh butter, when these are liked, though they will scarcely be required. The sauce made thus is far superior to that which is boiled. When no other oven is at hand, a Dutch or an American one would probably answer for it; but we cannot assert this on our own experience. Good boiling apples, 1 quart: baked 1 hour (more or less according to the quality of the fruit, and temperature of the oven); sugar, 1 oz.; butter, 1/2 oz. BROWN APPLE SAUCE. Stew gently down to a thick and perfectly smooth marmalade, a pound of pearmains, or of any other well-flavoured boiling apples, in about the third of a pint of rich brown gravy: season the sauce rather highly with black pepper or cayenne, and serve it very hot. Curry sauce will make an excellent substitute for the gravy when a very piquant accompaniment is wanted for pork or other rich meat. Apples pared and cored, 1 lb.; good brown gravy, third of pint 3/4 to 1-1/4 hour. Pepper or cayenne as needed. WHITE ONION SAUCE. Strip the skin from some large white onions, and after having taken off the tops and roots cut them in two, throw them into cold water as they are done, cover them plentifully with more water, and boil them very tender; lift them out, drain, and then press the water thoroughly from them; chop them small, rub them through a sieve or strainer, put them into a little rich melted butter mixed with a spoonful or two of cream or milk, and a seasoning of salt, give the sauce a boil, and serve it very hot. Portugal onions are superior to any others, both for this and for most other purposes of cookery. For the finest kind of onion sauce, see _Soubise_, page 126, which follows. BROWN ONION SAUCE. Cut off both ends of the onions, and slice them into a saucepan in which two ounces of butter have been dissolved; keep them stewing gently over a clear fire until they are lightly coloured; then pour to them half a pint of brown gravy, and when they have boiled until they are perfectly tender, work the sauce altogether through a strainer, season it with a little cayenne, and serve it very hot. ANOTHER BROWN ONION SAUCE. Mince the onions, stew them in butter until they are well coloured, stir in a dessertspoonful of flour, shake the stewpan over the fire for three or four minutes, pour in only as much broth or gravy as will leave the sauce tolerably thick, season, and serve it. SOUBISE. (_English Receipt._) Skin, slice, and mince quickly two pounds’ weight of the white part only of some fine mild onions, and stew them in from two to three ounces of good butter over a very gentle fire until they are reduced to a pulp, then pour to them three-quarters of a pint of rich veal gravy; add a seasoning of salt and cayenne, if needed; skim off the fat entirely, press the sauce through a sieve, heat it in a clean stewpan, mix it with a quarter of a pint of rich boiling cream, and serve it directly. Onions, 2 lbs.; butter, 2 to 3 oz.: 30 minutes to 1 hour. Veal gravy, 3/4 pint; salt, cayenne: 5 minutes. Cream, 1/4 pint. SOUBISE. (_French Receipt._) Peel some fine white onions, and trim away all tough and discoloured parts; mince them small, and throw them into plenty of boiling water; when they have boiled quickly for five minutes drain them well in a sieve, then stew them very softly indeed in an ounce or two of fresh butter until they are dry and perfectly tender; stir to them as much _béchamel_ as will bring them to the consistence of very thick pea-soup, pass the whole through a strainer, pressing the onion strongly that none may remain behind, and heat the sauce afresh, without allowing it to boil. A small half-teaspoonful of pounded sugar is sometimes added to this _soubise_. White part of onions, 2 lbs.: blanched 5 minutes. Butter, 2 oz.: 30 to 50 minutes. Béchamel, 3/4 to 1 pint, or more. _Obs._—These sauces are served more frequently with lamb or mutton cutlets than with any other dishes; but they would probably find many approvers if sent to table with roast mutton, or boiled veal. Half the quantity given above will be sufficient for a moderate-sized dish. MILD RAGOUT OF GARLIC, OR, L’AIL À LA BORDELAISE. Divide some fine cloves of garlic, strip off the skin, and when all are ready throw them into plenty of boiling water slightly salted; in five minutes drain this from them, and pour in as much more, which should also be quite boiling; continue to change it every five or six minutes until the garlic is quite tender: throw in a moderate proportion of salt the last time to give it the proper flavour. Drain it thoroughly, and serve it in the dish with roast mutton, or put it into good brown gravy or white sauce for table. By changing very frequently the water in which it is boiled, the root will be deprived of its naturally pungent flavour and smell, and rendered extremely mild: when it is not wished to be quite so much so, change the water every ten minutes only. Garlic, 1 pint: 15 to 25 minutes, or more. Water to be changed every 5 or 6 minutes; or every 10 minutes when not wished so _very_ mild. Gravy or sauce, 1 pint. MILD ESCHALOT SAUCE. Prepare and boil from half to a whole pint of eschalots by the preceding receipt; unless very large, they will be tender in about fifteen minutes, sometimes in less, in which case the water must be poured from them shortly after it has been changed for the second time. When grown in a suitable soil, and cultivated with care, the eschalots are sometimes treble the size that they are under other circumstances; and this difference must be allowed for in boiling them. Drain them _well_, and mix them with white sauce or gravy, or with good melted butter, and serve them very hot. A FINE SAUCE, OR PURÉE OF VEGETABLE MARROW. Pare one or two half-grown marrows and cut out all the seeds; take a pound of the vegetable, and slice it, with one ounce of mild onion, into a pint of strong veal broth or of pale gravy; stew them very softly for nearly or quite an hour; add salt and cayenne, or white pepper, when they are nearly done; press the whole through a fine and delicately clean hair-sieve; heat it afresh, and stir to it when it boils about the third of a pint of rich cream. Serve it with boiled chickens, stewed or boiled veal, lamb cutlets, or any other delicate meat. When to be served as a purée, an additional half-pound of the vegetable must be used; and it should be dished with small fried sippets round it. For a _maigre_ dish, stew the marrow and onion quite tender in butter, and dilute them with half boiling water and half cream. Vegetable marrow, 1 lb.; mild onion, 1 oz.; strong broth or pale gravy, 1 pint: nearly or quite 1 hour. Pepper or cayenne, and salt as needed; good cream, from 1/4 to 3/4 of pint. For purée, 1/2 lb. more of marrow. EXCELLENT TURNIP, OR ARTICHOKE SAUCE FOR BOILED MEAT. Pare, slice, and boil quite tender, some finely-grained mild turnips, press the water from them thoroughly, and pass them through a sieve. Dissolve a slice of butter in a clean saucepan, and stir to it a large teaspoonful of flour, or mix them smoothly together before they are put in, and shake the saucepan round until they boil: pour to them very gradually nearly a pint of thin cream (or of good milk mixed with a portion of cream), add the turnips with a half-teaspoonful or more of salt, and when the whole is well mixed and very hot, pour it over boiled mutton, veal, lamb, or poultry. There should be sufficient of the sauce to cover the meat entirely;[58] and when properly made it improves greatly the appearance of a joint. A little cayenne tied in a muslin may be boiled in the milk before it is mixed with the turnips. Jerusalem artichokes make a more delicate sauce of this kind even than turnips; the weight of both vegetables must be taken after they are pared. Footnote 58: The objection to _masking_ a joint with this or any other sauce is, that it speedily becomes cold when spread over its surface: a portion of it at least should be served very hot in a tureen. Pared turnips or artichokes, 1 lb.; fresh butter, 1-1/2 oz.; flour, 1 large teaspoonful (twice as much if all milk be used); salt, 1/2 teaspoonful or more; cream, or cream and milk mixed, from 3/4 to 1 pint. OLIVE SAUCE. Remove the stones from some fine French or Italian olives by paring the fruit close to them, round and round in the form of a corkscrew: they will then resume their original shape when done. Weigh six ounces thus prepared, throw them into boiling water, let them blanch for five minutes; then drain, and throw them into cold water, and leave them in it from half an hour to an hour, proportioning the time to their saltness; drain them well, and stew them gently from fifteen to twenty-five minutes in a pint of very rich brown gravy or _Espagnole_ (see Chapter IV.); add the juice of half a lemon, and serve the sauce very hot. Half this quantity will be sufficient for a small party. Olives, stoned, 6 oz.; rich gravy, 1 pint: 15 to 25 minutes. Juice, 1/2 lemon. _Obs._—In France this sauce is served very commonly with ducks, and sometimes with beef-steaks, and with stewed fowl. CELERY SAUCE. Slice the white part of from three to five heads of young tender celery; peel it if not very young, and boil it in salt and water for twenty minutes. If for white sauce put the celery, after it has been well drained, into half a pint of veal broth or gravy, and let it stew until it is quite soft; then add an ounce and a half of butter, mixed with a dessertspoonful of flour, and a quarter of a pint of thick cream or the yolks of three eggs. The French, after boiling the celery, which they cut very small, for about twenty minutes, drain and _chop_ it; then put it with a slice of butter into a stewpan, and season it with pepper, salt, and nutmeg; they keep these stirred over the fire for two or three minutes, and then dredge in a dessertspoonful of flour: when this has lost its raw taste, they pour in a sufficient quantity of white gravy to moisten the celery, and to allow for twenty minutes’ longer boiling. A very good common celery sauce is made by simply stewing the celery cut into inch-lengths in butter, until it begins to be tender; and then adding a spoonful of flour, which must be allowed to brown a little, and half a pint of _good_ broth or beef gravy, with a seasoning of pepper or cayenne. Celery, 3 to 5 heads: 20 minutes. Veal broth, or gravy, 1/2 pint; 20 to 40 minutes. Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; flour, 1 dessertspoonful; cream, 1/4 pint, or three yolks of eggs. WHITE CHESTNUT SAUCE. Strip the outer rind from six ounces of sound sweet chestnuts, then throw them into boiling water, and let them simmer for two or three minutes, when the second skin will easily peel off. Add to them three quarters of a pint of good cold veal gravy, and a few strips of lemon rind, and let them stew gently for an hour and a quarter. Press them, with the gravy, through a hair-sieve reversed and placed over a deep dish or pan, as they are much more easily rubbed through thus than in the usual way: a wooden spoon should be used in preference to any other for the process. Add a little cayenne and mace, some salt if needed, and about six tablespoonsful of rich cream. Keep the sauce stirred until it boils, and serve it immediately. Chestnuts without their rinds, 6 oz.; veal gravy, 1 pint; rind of 1/2 lemon: 1-1/4 hour. Salt; spice; cream, 6 tablespoonsful. _Obs._—This sauce may be served with turkey, with fowls, or with stewed veal cutlets. BROWN CHESTNUT SAUCE. Substitute rich brown gravy for the veal stock, omit the lemon-rind and cream, heighten the seasonings, and mix the chestnuts with a few spoonsful of _Espagnole_ or highly flavoured gravy, after they have been passed through the sieve. PARSLEY-GREEN, FOR COLOURING SAUCES. Gather a quantity of young parsley, strip it from the stalks, wash it very clean, shake it as dry as possible in a cloth, pound it in a mortar, press all the juice closely from it through a hair-sieve reversed, and put it into a clean jar; set it into a pan of boiling water, and in about three minutes, if _gently_ simmered, the juice will be poached sufficiently; lay it then upon a clean sieve to drain, and it will be ready for use. Spinach-green, for which particular directions will be found at the commencement of Chapter XXIV., is prepared in the same manner. The juice of various herbs pounded together may be pressed from them through a sieve and added to cold sauces. TO CRISP PARSLEY. Wash some branches of young parsley well, drain them from the water, and swing them in a clean cloth until they are quite dry; place them on a sheet of writing paper in a Dutch oven, before a brisk fire, and keep them frequently turned until they are quite crisp. They will become so in from six to eight minutes. FRIED PARSLEY. When the parsley has been prepared as for crisping, and is _quite_ dry, throw it into plenty of lard or butter, which is on the point of boiling; take it up with a skimmer the instant it is crisp, and drain it on a cloth spread upon a sieve reversed, and placed before the fire. MILD MUSTARD. Mustard for instant use should be mixed with milk, to which a spoonful or two of very thin cream may be added. MUSTARD THE COMMON WAY. The great art of mixing mustard is to have it perfectly smooth, and of a proper consistency. The liquid with which it is moistened should be added to it in small quantities, and the mustard should be well rubbed, and beaten with a spoon. Mix half a teaspoonful of salt with two ounces of the flour of mustard, and stir to them by degrees sufficient boiling water to reduce it to the appearance of a thick batter: do not put it into the mustard-glass until it is cold. Some persons like a half-teaspoonful of sugar in the finest powder mixed with it. It ought to be sufficiently diluted always to drop easily from the spoon; and to bring it to this state more than a quarter of a pint, and less than _half_ a pint of liquid will be needed for four ounces of the best Durham mustard. For Tartar mustard see Chapter VII. FRENCH BATTER. (_For frying vegetables, and for apple, peach, or orange fritters._) Cut a couple of ounces of good butter into small bits, pour on it less than a quarter of a pint of boiling water, and when it is dissolved add three quarters of a pint of cold water, so that the whole shall not be quite milk warm; mix it then by degrees and very smoothly with twelve ounces of fine dry flour and a _small_ pinch of salt if the batter be for fruit fritters, but with more if for meat or vegetables. Just before it is used, stir into it the whites of two eggs beaten to a solid froth; but previously to this, add a little water should it appear too thick, as some flour requires more liquid than other to bring it to the proper consistence; this is an exceedingly light crisp batter, excellent for the purposes for which it is named. Butter, 2 oz.; water, from 3/4 to nearly 1 pint; little salt; flour, 3/4 lb.; whites of 2 eggs, beaten to snow. TO PREPARE BREAD FOR FRYING FISH. Cut thick slices from the middle of a loaf of light stale bread, pare the crust entirely from them, and dry them gradually in a cool oven until they are crisp quite through; let them become cold, then roll or beat them into fine crumbs, and keep them in a dry place for use. To strew over hams or cheeks of bacon, the bread should be left all night in the oven, which should be sufficiently heated to brown, as well as to harden it: it ought indeed to be entirely converted into equally-coloured crust. It may be sifted through a dredging-box on to the hams after it has been reduced almost to powder. BROWNED FLOUR FOR THICKENING SOUPS AND GRAVIES. Spread it on a tin or dish and colour it, without burning, in a gentle oven or before the fire in a Dutch or American oven: turn it often, or the edges will be too much browned before the middle is enough so. This, blended with butter, makes a convenient thickening for soups or gravies of which it is desirable to deepen the colour; and it requires less time and attention than the French _roux_ of page 10. FRIED BREAD-CRUMBS. Grate lightly into very fine crumbs four ounces of stale bread, and _shake_ them through a cullender;[59] without rubbing or touching them with the hands. Dissolve two ounces of fresh butter in a frying-pan, throw in the crumbs, and stir them constantly over a moderate fire, until they are all of a clear golden colour; lift them out with a skimmer, spread them on a soft cloth, or upon white blotting paper, laid upon a sieve reversed, and dry them before the fire. They may be more delicately prepared by browning them in a gentle oven without the addition of butter. Footnote 59: This is not necessary when they are lightly and finely grated of uniform size. Bread, 4 oz.; butter, 2 oz. FRIED BREAD FOR GARNISHING. Cut the crumb of a stale loaf in slices a quarter of an inch thick; form them into diamonds or half diamonds, or shape them with a paste-cutter in any another way; fry them in fresh butter, some of a very pale brown and others a deeper colour; dry them well, and place them alternately round the dish that is to be garnished. They may be made to adhere to the edge of the dish when they are required for _ornament_ only, by means of a little flour and white of egg brushed over the side which is placed on it: this must be allowed to dry before they are served. For SWEET-PUDDING SAUCES, see Chapter XX. ------------------------------------------------------------------------