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Collection of Old British Recipes for Sauces & Gravies

This is a collection of old, long-forgotten British sauce & gravy recipes – many from the Victorian era – that are still great for today’s home cook! These recipes use everyday ingredients, and if you can’t source an ingredient, you can substitute it with something similar.

These recipes are perfect for tasty, budget-friendly, homely cooking, and at the same time, we can bring British food history alive in our own kitchens!

Table of Contents

Victorian British Sauce Recipes from New Vegetarian Dishes by Mrs Bowdich [1892]

Sauce à la bonne femme.

  • 2 tomatoes.
  • 1 green apple.
  • 1 leek.
  • 2 ounces butter.
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
  • ½ pint lentil or haricot bean stock.
  • ½ teaspoon mixed herbs.
  • Salt and pepper to taste.

Dissolve the butter in a small stewpan, then place in the vegetables sliced, and fry for twenty minutes, but do not allow to burn; add stock, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and simmer for half an hour. Strain before using. May be thickened if required.

Note.—This is a very suitable sauce for pouring over fried beans, lentils, potatoes, etc.

Sauce à la petite cuisinière.

  • 1 pint haricot beans.
  • 1 quart water.
  • 1 teaspoon salt.
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice.
  • ½ ounce brown flour.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • 1 sprig parsley.

Boil the beans and parsley for two hours, add salt, strain, thicken with the flour and butter well mixed, stir until it boils, add lemon juice.

Apple Sauce.

  • 12 apples.
  • 12 lumps of sugar.
  • 1 pint water.
  • 1 ounce fresh butter.
  • 3 or 4 cloves, according to taste.

Peel, core, and slice the apples; dissolve the sugar in the water, using an enamelled stewpan; place in the apples and cloves. Simmer gently until the apples are quite tender. Rub through a hair sieve with a wooden spoon, return to the stewpan, stir in the butter, and continue stirring until thoroughly incorporated, when it is ready for serving.

Asparagus Sauce.

  • 20 heads of asparagus.
  • ½ pint white sauce.
  • Pepper and salt to taste.
  • Spinach colouring.

Cut away the white portion of the asparagus, and tie the green into a bundle; boil in salted water for about thirty minutes or until tender, but not broken; then lift out, and place on a board and cut off the tips, rub the remainder through a hair sieve into the white sauce; then stir in the tips, also a few drops of spinach colouring, and it is ready for use.

Note.—When rubbing the asparagus through the sieve, it will be found that it adheres to the outer side, whence it must be removed with a spoon.

Béchamel Sauce.

  • 1 shalot or small onion.
  • 3 sprigs of parsley.
  • 24 peppercorns.
  • 1 pint milk.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • 1 ounce flour.
  • 1 bay leaf.
  • 1 teaspoon sweet herbs.
  • A very little mace.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 2 yolks of eggs.

Simmer the seasonings in the milk for three-quarters of an hour, strain, add the butter and flour, which have been previously mixed, stir until the sauce thickens, add the beaten yolks of eggs, and it is ready for use. Care must be taken not to allow the sauce to boil after the eggs have been added.

Curry Sauce.

  • ½ pint soaked lentils.
  • 1 shalot or small onion.
  • 1 small turnip.
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder.
  • 1 small carrot.
  • 1 pint water.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 1 ounce each flour and butter.

Slice the vegetables and boil them with the lentils for one hour, add salt and strain; mix the flour, butter, and curry powder well on a plate, place in an enamelled saucepan, pour in the liquor, and stir until it boils.

Note.—This sauce is suitable for curried eggs, savoury rice balls, etc.

Curry Sauce. Another way.

  • 1 large onion.
  • 2 ounces of butter.
  • ½ ounce of flour.
  • ½ pint water.
  • 2 teaspoons of curry powder.
  • Salt to taste.

Slice and fry the onion in butter until nicely brown, then stir in the flour and curry powder, and mix all well together; add water and salt, and boil for ten or fifteen minutes, stirring very frequently. Strain before serving.

Curry Sauce à Brazil.

  • 2 ounces Brazil nuts.
  • 2 ounces butter.
  • ½ ounce brown flour.
  • 3 ounces tomatoes.
  • 1 teaspoon salt.
  • 4 teaspoons curry powder.
  • ½ pint brown stock.
  • 3 onions sliced.

Shell the nuts and pound them in a mortar. Fry the onions in one and a half ounces of butter until slightly brown; add the nuts, salt, curry powder, stock, and tomatoes sliced; simmer for one hour. Strain and thicken with half an ounce each of butter and brown flour mixed.

German Sauce.

  • ½ pint sauce Tournée [see recipe below].
  • The yolks of 2 eggs.

Strain the yolks and add them to the sauce; stir carefully over a moderate heat until it simmers, but on no account must it boil or the eggs will curdle. When it thickens (about one minute) it is done. This is a very rich sauce.

Sauce Tournée.

  • 1 pint white stock.
  • A large sprig of parsley.
  • 6 button mushrooms chopped.
  • 1 large onion.

Simmer altogether for half an hour, then strain very carefully. If desired very rich, a dessertspoonful of cream may be placed in the tureen and the sauce poured over gradually, stirring all the time.

Vegetable Sauce.

  • 1 carrot.
  • 1 onion.
  • 1 turnip.
  • A little celery.
  • 1 ounce flour.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • 1½ pints water.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • { 1 dozen peppercorns.
  •  1 inch stick of cinnamon.
  •  1 teaspoon mixed herbs.

Prepare the vegetables, cut them up in small pieces, place in a saucepan with the water, salt and flavourings, simmer for one hour; strain, replace in the saucepan, which should have been rinsed, and thicken with flour and butter, or if a little cold boiled rice is handy it may be substituted for the flour, and should be added with one ounce of butter to the sauce five minutes before it is strained. A teaspoonful of lemon juice added the last thing will give additional piquancy to the sauce.

Note.—This quantity will make about three-quarters of a pint of sauce.

White Sauce.

  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ½ ounce flour.
  • ¼ pint each milk and water.
  • A pinch of salt.

Mix the flour and butter well together on a plate with a knife, place this paste in a small enamelled saucepan, add salt and milk, and stir over the fire until it is perfectly smooth and has boiled for one minute. It is then ready for use.

Rich White Sauce.

  • 1½ ounces butter.
  • ½ ounce flour.
  • Yolk of one egg.
  • ¼ pint each milk and water.
  • A pinch of salt.

Prepare sauce same as White Sauce , and stand the saucepan on one side for ten minutes, then drop into it the yolk of an egg, and stir over a gentle heat for a few minutes, but on no account allow it to boil again, or the sauce will curdle.

Haricot Bean Sauce.

  • 1 pint soaked haricot beans.
  • 1½ pints water.
  • 1 onion.
  • ½ ounce each flour and butter.
  • ¾ teaspoon salt.
  • ½ teaspoon mixed herbs.
  • 1 inch cinnamon.
  • 1 dozen peppercorns.

Boil altogether for two hours (excepting salt, which must be added later), the seasonings being tied up in a little piece of muslin so as to be easily removed; strain and thicken with the paste of flour and butter, stirring over the fire until it boils.

Lentil Sauce.

  • ½ pint soaked lentils.
  • ½ pint water.
  • ½ pint tomato juice.
  • 1 onion.
  • 1 teaspoon salt.
  • 24 peppercorns.
  • A pinch of mixed herbs.
  • ½ ounce flour.
  • ½ ounce butter.

Simmer the lentils with the peppercorns, herbs, and onion sliced, for about twenty minutes; add the tomato juice and salt; simmer for another twenty minutes. Strain, and thicken with the flour and butter.

Lentil Sauce. [another way]

  • 1 pint soaked lentils.
  • 1½ pints water.
  • 1 small onion.
  • ½ ounce flour.
  • ¾ ounce butter.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 1 dozen peppercorns.
  • 1 small blade of mace.

Place the lentils in a stewpan with the water and the onion (cut in four), peppercorns, and mace, tied 92up in a small piece of muslin. Boil three-quarters of an hour, remove the flavourings, add salt, and simmer for another quarter of an hour. Strain, rinse the stewpan, pour back the sauce, and thicken with the butter and flour.

Note.—The lentils should not be thrown away, but are just ready for converting into sausages, etc.

Lentil Sauce. [another way]

  • 1½ pints water.
  • ½ pint soaked lentils.
  • 3 carrots.
  • 1 turnip.
  • 3 onions.
  • 2 tomatoes.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ½ ounce flour.

Slice the vegetables, and boil with the lentils for two hours. Strain and thicken with the flour and butter.

Mint Sauce.

  • 4 tablespoons of chopped mint.
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar (or a little less).
  • 1 gill vinegar. [125 millilitres or half a cup]

Wash and pick over the mint, which must be quite fresh, and chop it rather fine; then place in a mortar, add the sugar, and pound well together until thoroughly incorporated; stir in the vinegar, and pour into the sauce-boat or jar.

Note.—A covered receptacle should be used, and the sauce is improved by being made some hours before required.

Parsley Sauce.

  • 1 tablespoon of parsley after chopping.
  • ½ pint white sauce.

Take a handful of parsley; and after washing it tie in a bunch and throw into boiling salted water for two or three minutes, then well drain and chop very fine. Have ready the sauce, stir in the parsley, and pour into a hot tureen.

Sauce Piquante.

  • 1 ounce butter.
  • 1 ounce flour.
  • 1 gill water.
  • Pepper and salt to taste.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, and when dissolved shake in the flour, stirring all the time until the paste is quite smooth; add a little salt and pepper, and then pour in gradually the water and vinegar; stir well until the sauce has boiled for a few minutes. It will then be quite ready.

Sauce Royale.

  • 1 turnip.
  • 1 carrot.
  • 1 onion.
  • 1 tomato.
  • ½ ounce flour.
  • 2 ounces butter.
  • 1 pint water.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.

Prepare the vegetables, slice them, and fry in an ounce of butter for five minutes; add water and salt, and simmer gently for one and a half hours. Strain and thicken with one ounce of butter and the flour.

Salad Sauce.

  • ½ pint soaked haricot beans.
  • 1 onion.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar.
  • 1 strip lemon peel.
  • A tiny piece of mace.
  • 1 pint water.
  • ½ dozen peppercorns.

Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, then place in it the haricot beans, onion sliced, mace, lemon peel, peppercorns and water. Boil two hours, rub through a sieve and allow to cool; then strain again to remove scum, add vinegar, and pour over salad.

Salad Sauce. [another way]

  • 1 small onion.
  • 8 slices of beetroot.
  • 2 tablespoons of vinegar.
  • ½ pint haricot bean stock.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ½ teaspoon Worcester sauce.
  • ¼ teaspoon mustard.
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
  • 2 teaspoons browned flour.
  • Pepper and salt to taste.

Dissolve the butter in a small stewpan, place in the onion sliced and fry ten minutes; then add stock and beetroot, and simmer for twenty minutes; add the mustard, sauce, lemon juice, and flour, and simmer five minutes, stirring all the time; rub through a sieve, and when cold stir in the vinegar.

This quantity is only sufficient for a small salad.

Salad Sauce. [another way]

  • 1 pint tomato juice.
  • 1 carrot.
  • 1 turnip.
  • 1 onion.
  • A very small piece each of mace and cinnamon.
  • 2 tablespoons cooked haricot beans.
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar.
  • 1 teaspoon salt.
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper.
  • 1 ounce butter.

Slice the vegetables and fry in the butter for ten minutes; then place in a stewpan with the tomato juice (tinned will answer the purpose), mace, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Boil for half an hour, then place in the beans and simmer for twenty minutes; rub through a sieve, and when cold stir in the vinegar. It is then ready for use.

Salad Sauce. [another way]

  • The yolks of two eggs.
  • 1 gill of milk.
  • ½ gill of vinegar.
  • A large pinch of salt.
  • The same of pepper.

Drop the yolks into a small enamelled stewpan, add the pepper and salt, and stir well with a wooden spoon; pour in the milk, which should be just at boiling point, then stir briskly over a gentle heat for about ten minutes, or until the sauce thickens, but it must on no account be allowed to boil, or it will curdle. When sufficiently thick, remove from the fire, stir in the vinegar, and stand on one side to get thoroughly cold. It is then ready for use.

Sauce Superbe.

  • 1 large turnip.
  • 1 large carrot.
  • 1 large onion.
  • 1 large tomato.
  • 1 small stick of celery.
  • 1 teaspoon salt.
  • 2 tablespoons pearl barley.
  • 2 ounces butter.
  • 1½ pints water.
  • { 12 peppercorns.
  •  2 cloves.
  •  A very little each of mace and cinnamon, tied in muslin.

Slice the vegetables, except the tomato, and fry in the butter until a nice brown; place in a stewpan together with the water, barley, salt and flavourings, and boil three-quarters of an hour. Add tomato sliced, simmer half an hour, stirring frequently, and strain. If required for masking, thicken with one ounce each of brown flour and butter.

Note.—The vegetables and barley may be served as a stew, or used in various ways

Tomato Sauce.

  • 1 pound tomatoes.
  • 1 carrot.
  • 1 turnip.
  • 1 onion.
  • A few peppercorns.
  • ¼ pint water.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 2 ounces butter.
  • 1 ounce flour.

Scald and peel the tomatoes, and slice them (or half a pint of tinned tomato juice may be used); also slice the carrot, turnip and onion, and fry altogether in one and a half ounces of butter for ten minutes. Add water, peppercorns and salt, and stew gently for half an hour. Strain into a small enamelled saucepan, put in the flour and half an ounce of butter mixed together, and stir over a moderate heat until it boils.

Tomato Sauce. Another way.

  • ½ pint tomato juice.
  • 1 small onion.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • 6 peppercorns.
  • 1 ounce flour.
  • 1 ounce butter.

Slice the onion, and boil it in the tomato juice with the peppercorns and salt for one hour; strain. Mix the flour and butter on a plate with a knife; when thoroughly incorporated, place in the tomato juice and stir until it boils.

Tomato and Haricot Bean Sauce.

  • 1 pint soaked haricot beans.
  • 1 onion.
  • Tomato liquor.
  • The seeds of vegetable marrow, if handy, or any odd pieces of vegetable.
  • 1 ounce flour.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • 1½ pints water.
  • ¾ teaspoon salt.

Boil altogether for about two hours; strain, rubbing the beans through a sieve with a wooden spoon. Add to this an equal quantity of cooked tomato liquor, which is already seasoned with butter, pepper and salt. Thicken with the paste of flour and butter, stirring over the fire until it boils. Be sure that the sauce is sufficiently seasoned before sending to table.

Tomato Sauce Piquante.

  • 1½ pounds tomatoes.
  • 3 middling-sized apples.
  • 2 small onions.
  • ½ gill vinegar.
  • 1 gill water.
  • Pepper and salt to taste.

Slice the tomatoes, onions, and apples into a small stewpan, add water and vinegar and a little pepper and salt, simmer gently until tender, rub through a hair sieve, re-warm and serve.

Note.—Should the liquor boil away too soon, a little more water may be added as required.

Sauce Tournée.

  • 1 pint white stock.
  • A large sprig of parsley.
  • 6 button mushrooms chopped.
  • 1 large onion.

Simmer altogether for half an hour, then strain very carefully. If desired very rich, a dessertspoonful of cream may be placed in the tureen and the sauce poured over gradually, stirring all the time.

MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]

Sauces. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

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 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.

SUPERIOR MINT-SAUCE.

(To serve with lamb.)

The mint for this sauce should be fresh and young, for when old it is tough and indigestible. Strip the leaves from the stems, wash them with great nicety, and drain them on a sieve, or dry them in a cloth; chop them very fine, put them into a sauce-tureen, and to three heaped tablespoonsful of the mint add two of pounded sugar; let them remain a short time well mixed together, then pour to them gradually six tablespoonsful of good vinegar. The sauce thus made is excellent, and far more wholesome than when a larger proportion of vinegar and a smaller one of sugar is used for it; but, after the first trial, the proportions can easily be adapted to the taste of the eaters.

COMMON MINT-SAUCE.

Two tablespoonsful of mint, one large tablespoonful of pale brown sugar, well mixed together, and a quarter of a pint of vinegar, stirred until the sugar is entirely dissolved.

STRAINED MINT SAUCE.

Persons with whom the mint in substance disagrees can have the flavour of the herb without it, by mixing the ingredients of either of the preceding receipts, and straining the sauce after it has stood for two or three hours; the mint should be well pressed when this is done. The flavour will be the more readily extracted if the mint and sugar are well mixed, and left for a time before the vinegar is added.

FINE HORSERADISH SAUCE.

(To serve with cold, roast, stewed, or boiled beef.)

The root for this excellent sauce should be young and tender, and grated down on a very fine bright grater, quite to a pulp, after it has been washed, wiped, and scraped free from the outer skin. We have given the proportions for it in the preceding chapter, but repeat them here.

Horseradish, 2 heaped tablespoonsful; salt, 1 moderate teaspoonful; rich cream, 4 tablespoonsful; good vinegar, 3 dessertspoonsful (of which one may be chili vinegar when the root is mild.) When the other ingredients are smoothly mingled, the vinegar must be stirred briskly to them in very small portions. A few drops of garlic or shalot vinegar can be added to them when it is liked.

COLD DUTCH OR AMERICAN SAUCE, FOR SALADS OF DRESSED VEGETABLES, SALT FISH, OR HARD EGGS.

Put into a saucepan three ounces of good butter very smoothly blended with a quite small teaspoonful of flour, and add to them a large wineglassful of cold water, half as much sharp vinegar (or very fresh, strained, lemon-juice) a saltspoonful of salt, and half as much cayenne in fine powder.

Keep these shaken briskly round, or stirred over a clear fire, until they form a smooth sauce and boil rapidly; then stir them very quickly to the beaten yolks of four fresh eggs, which will immediately give the sauce the consistence of custard; pour it hot over the salad, and place it on ice, or in a very cool larder until it is quite cold: if properly made, it will be very thick and smooth, and slightly set, as if it contained a small portion of isinglass.

A dessertspoonful of parsley,—or of tarragon,—can be mingled with it at pleasure, or any flavour given to it with store-sauces which is liked. It converts flakes of salt-fish, sliced potatoes (new or old), and hard eggs, into excellent salads.

ENGLISH SAUCE FOR SALAD, COLD MEAT, OR COLD FISH.

The first essential for a smooth, well-made English salad dressing is to have the yolks of the eggs used for it sufficiently hard to be reduced easily to a perfect paste. They should be boiled at least fifteen minutes, and should have become quite cold before they are taken from the shells; they should also be well covered with water when they are cooked, or some parts of them will be tough, and will spoil the appearance of the sauce by rendering it lumpy, unless they be worked through a sieve, a process which is always better avoided if possible.

To a couple of yolks broken up and mashed to a paste with the back of a wooden spoon, add a small saltspoonful of salt, a large one of pounded sugar, a few grains of fine cayenne, and a teaspoonful of cold water; mix these well, and stir to them by degrees a quarter of a pint of sweet cream; throw in next, stirring the sauce briskly, a tablespoonful of strong chili vinegar, and add as much common or French vinegar as will acidulate the mixture agreeably.

A tablespoonful of either will be sufficient for many tastes, but it is easy to increase the proportion when more is liked. Six tablespoonsful of olive oil, of the purest quality, may be substituted for the cream: it should be added in very small portions to the other ingredients, and stirred briskly as each is added until the sauce resembles custard. When this is used, the water should be omitted. The piquancy of this preparation—which is very delicate, made by the directions just given—may be heightened by the addition of a little eschalot vinegar, Harvey’s sauce, essence of anchovies, French mustard, or tarragon vinegar; or by bruising with the eggs a morsel of garlic, half the size of a hazel-nut: it should always, however, be rendered as appropriate as may be to the dish with which it is to be served.

Obs. 1.—As we have before had occasion to remark, garlic, when very sparingly and judiciously used, imparts a remarkably fine savour to a sauce or gravy, and neither a strong nor a coarse one, as it does when used in larger quantities. The veriest morsel (or, as the French call it, a mere soupçon) of the root, is sufficient to give this agreeable piquancy, but unless the proportion be extremely small, the effect will be quite different. The Italians dress their salads upon a round of delicately toasted bread, which is rubbed with garlic, saturated with oil, and sprinkled with cayenne, before it is laid into the bowl: they also eat the bread thus prepared, but with less of oil, and untoasted often, before their meals, as a digester.

Obs. 2.—French vinegar is so infinitely superior to English in strength, purity, and flavour, that we cannot forbear to recommend it in preference for the use of the table. We have for a long time past been supplied with some of most excellent quality (labelled Vinaigre de Bordeaux) imported by the Messrs. Kent & Sons, of Upton-on-Severn, who supply it largely, we believe, both to wholesale and retail venders in town and country.

SAUCE MAYONNAISE.

(For salads, cold meat, poultry, fish, or vegetables.)

This is a very fine sauce when all the ingredients used for it are good; but it will prove an uneatable compound to a delicate taste unless it be made with oil of the purest quality.

Put into a large basin the yolks only of two very fresh eggs, carefully freed from specks, with a little salt and cayenne; stir these well together, then add about a teaspoonful of the purest salad oil, and work the mixture round with a wooden spoon until it appears like cream. Pour in by slow degrees nearly half a pint of oil, continuing 136at each interval to work the sauce as at first until it resumes the smoothness of cream, and not a particle of the oil remains visible; then add a couple of tablespoonsful of plain French or of tarragon vinegar, and one of cold water to whiten the sauce.

A bit of clear veal jelly the size of an egg will improve it greatly. The reader who may have a prejudice against the unboiled eggs which enter into the composition of the Mayonnaise, will find that the most fastidious taste would not detect their being raw, if the sauce be well made; and persons who dislike oil may partake of it in this form, without being aware of its presence, provided always that it be perfectly fresh, and pure in flavour, for otherwise it will be easily perceptible.

Yolks of fresh unboiled eggs, 2; salt, 1/2 saltspoonful, or rather more; cayenne; oil, full third of pint; French or tarragon vinegar, 2 tablespoonsful; cold water, 1 tablespoonful; meat jelly (if at hand), size of an egg.

RED OR GREEN MAYONNAISE SAUCE.

Colour may be given either to the preceding or to the following Sauce Mayonnaise by mingling with it some hard lobster-coral reduced to powder by rubbing it through a very fine hair-sieve: the red hue of this is one of the most brilliant and beautiful that can be seen, but the sauce for which it is used can only be appropriately served with fish or fish-salads.

Spinach-green will impart a fine tint to any preparation, but its flavour is objectionable: that of parsley-green is more agreeable. Directions for both of these are contained in the previous chapter.

REMOULADE.

This differs little from an ordinary English salad-dressing. Pound very smoothly indeed the yolks of two or three hard-boiled eggs with a teaspoonful of mustard, half as much salt, and some cayenne, or white pepper. Mix gradually with them, working the whole well together, two or three tablespoonsful of oil and two of vinegar. Should the sauce be curdled, pour it by degrees to the yolk of a raw egg, stirring it well round as directed for the Mayonnaise. A spoonful of tarragon, cucumber, or eschalot-vinegar, may be added with very good effect; and to give it increased relish, a teaspoonful of cavice, or a little of Harvey’s sauce, and a dessertspoonful of chili vinegar may be thrown into it. This last is an excellent addition to all cold sauces, or salad-dressings.

Hard yolks of 2 or of 3 eggs; mustard, 1 teaspoonful (more when liked); salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; pepper or cayenne; oil, 3 tablespoonsful; vinegar, 2. If curdled, yolk of 1 raw egg. Good additions: tarragon or eschalot, or cucumber-vinegar, 1 tablespoonful; chili vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful; cavice or Harvey’s sauce at pleasure.

Obs.—A dessertspoonful of eschalots, or a morsel of garlic, very finely minced, are sometimes pounded with the yolks of eggs for this sauce.

OXFORD BRAWN SAUCE.

Mingle thoroughly a tablespoonful of brown sugar with a teaspoonful of made mustard, a third as much of salt, some pepper, from three to four tablespoonsful of very fine salad-oil, and two of strong vinegar; or apportion the same ingredients otherwise to the taste.

ANCHOVY BUTTER.

(Excellent.)

Scrape the skin quite clear from a dozen fine mellow anchovies, free the flesh entirely from the bones, and pound it as smooth as possible in a mortar; rub it through the back of a hair-sieve with a wooden spoon; wipe out the mortar, and put back the anchovies with three quarters of a pound of very fresh butter, a small half-saltspoonful of cayenne, and more than twice as much of finely grated nutmeg, and freshly pounded mace; and beat them together until they are thoroughly blended. If to serve cold at table, mould the butter in small shapes, and turn it out. A little rose pink (which is sold at the chemists’) is sometimes used to give it a fine colour, but it must be sparingly used, or it will impart an unpleasant flavour, and we cannot much recommend its use: it should be well pounded, and very equally mixed with it. For kitchen use, press the butter down into jars or pattypans, and keep it in a cool place.

Fine anchovies, 12; butter, 3/4 lb.; cayenne, small 1/2 saltspoonful; nutmeg and mace, each more than twice as much; rose pink (if used), 1/2 teaspoonful.

This proportion differs from potted anchovies only in the larger proportion of butter mixed with the fish, and the milder seasoning of spice. It will assist to form an elegant dish if made into pats, and stamped with a tasteful impression, then placed alternately with pats of lobster-butter, and decorated with light foliage. It is generally eaten with much relish when carefully compounded, and makes excellent sandwiches. To convert it into a good fish sauce, mix two or three ounces of it with a teaspoonful of flour and a few spoonsful of cold water, or of pale veal stock, and keep them constantly stirred until they boil. The butter should not be moulded directly it is taken from the mortar, as it is then very soft from the beating. It should be placed until it is firm in a very cool place or over ice, when it can be done conveniently.

LOBSTER BUTTER.

Pound to the smoothest possible paste the coral of one or two fresh hen lobsters, mix with it about an equal proportion of fresh firm butter, and a moderate seasoning of mace and cayenne, with a little salt if needed. Let the whole be thoroughly blended, and set it aside in a cool larder, or place it over ice until it is sufficiently firm to be made into pats. Serve it garnished with curled parsley, or with any light foliage which will contrast well with its brilliant colour. The coral may be rubbed through a fine sieve before it is put into the mortar, and will then require but little pounding.

An excellent preparation is produced by mingling equal proportions of lobster and of anchovy butter in the mortar, or one-third of the anchovy with two of lobster: to this some of the white flesh of the latter can be added to give another variety.

TRUFFLED BUTTER (AND TRUFFLES POTTED IN BUTTER.)

(For the breakfast or luncheon table.)

Cut up a pound of sweet fresh butter, and dissolve it gently over a clear fire; take off the scum which will gather thickly upon it, and when it has simmered for three or four minutes, draw it from the fire, and let it stand until all the buttermilk has subsided; pour it softly from this upon six ounces of ready-pared sound French truffles, cut into small, but rather thick, slices, and laid into a delicately clean enamelled saucepan; add a full seasoning of freshly pounded mace and fine cayenne, a small saltspoonful of salt, and half a not large nutmeg. When the butter has become quite cold, proceed to heat the truffles slowly, shaking the saucepan often briskly round, and stew them as gently as possible for twenty minutes, or longer should they not then be very tender. If allowed to heat, and to boil quickly, they will become hard, and the preparation, as regards the truffles, will be a comparative failure.

Lift them with a spoon into quite dry earthen or china pans, and pour the butter on them; or add to them sufficient of it only to cover them well and to exclude the air, and pot the remainder of the butter apart: it will be finely flavoured, and may be eaten by delicate persons to whom the truffle itself would be injurious. It may also be used in compounding savoury sauces, and for moistening small croustades before they are fried or baked. The truffles themselves will remain good for months when thus prepared, if kept free from damp; and in flavour they will be found excellent. The parings taken from them will also impart a very agreeable savour to the butter, and will serve extremely well for it for immediate use. They will also be valuable as additions to gravies or to soups.

We should observe, that the juice which will have exuded from the truffles in the stewing will cause the preparation to become mouldy, or otherwise injure it, if it be put into the pans either with them or with the butter. The truffles must be well drained from it when they are taken from the saucepan, and the butter must remain undisturbed for a few minutes, when it can be poured clear from the juice, which will have subsided to the bottom of the pan. We have given here the result of our first experiment, which we found on further trial to answer perfectly.

TARTAR SAUCE.

(Sauce à la Tartare).

Add to the preceding remoulade, or to any other sauce of the same nature, a teaspoonful or more of made mustard, one of finely-minced shalots, one of parsley or tarragon, and one of capers or of pickled gherkins, with a rather high seasoning of cayenne, and some salt if needed. The tartar-mustard of the previous chapter, or good French mustard, is to be preferred to English for this sauce, which is usually made very pungent, and for which any ingredients can be used to the taste which will serve to render it so. Tarragon vinegar, minced tarragon and eschalots, and plenty of oil, are used for it in France, in conjunction with the yolks of one or two eggs, and chopped capers, or gherkins, to which olives are sometimes added.

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.

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.

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.

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 (such as a pale veal gravy] 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.

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.

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 toboil, 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 hotvinegar, 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.

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.

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 115whole 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.

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.

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.

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.

120Good 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.

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.

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, 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, which follows.

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.

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.

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.

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; 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, 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.



Mushrooms, Eschalots, and Tomatas.

Store Sauces – OBSERVATIONS.

A well selected stock of these will always prove a convenient resource in simple cookery for giving colour and flavour to soups, gravies, and made dishes; but unless the consumption be considerable, they should not be over-abundantly provided, as few of them are improved by age, and many are altogether spoiled by long keeping, especially if they be not perfectly secured from the air by sound corking, or if stored where there is the slightest degree of damp.

To prevent loss, they should be examined at short intervals, and at the first appearance of mould or fermentation, such as will bear the process should be reboiled, and put, when again quite cold, into clean bottles; a precaution often especially needful for mushroom catsup when it has been made in a wet season, or when it has not been very carefully prepared.

This, with essence of anchovies, walnut catsup, Harvey’s sauce, cavice, lemon-pickle, chili, cucumber, and eschalot vinegar, will be all that is commonly needed for family use; but there is at the present day an extensive choice of these stores on sale, some of which are excellent.

CHETNEY SAUCE. (Bengal Receipt).

Garlic.

Stone four ounces of good raisins, and chop them small, with half a pound of crabs, sour apples, unripe bullaces,[66] or of any other hard acid fruit. Take four ounces of coarse brown sugar, two of powdered ginger, and the same quantity of salt and cayenne pepper; grind these ingredients separately in a mortar, as fine as possible; then pound the fruits well, and mix the spices with them, one by one; beat them together until they are perfectly blended, and add gradually as much vinegar as will make the sauce of the consistence of thick cream. Put it into bottles with an ounce of garlic, divided into cloves, and cork it tightly.

66.  Hard acid fruit in a crude state is, we think, an ingredient not much to be recommended; and it is always better to deviate a little from “an approved receipt” than to endanger health by the use of ingredients of a questionable character. Gooseberries or tomatas, after being subjected to a moderate degree of heat, might be eaten with far less hazard.

Stoned raisins, 4 oz.; crabs, or other acid fruit, 1/2 lb.; coarse sugar, 4 oz.; powdered ginger, 2 oz.; salt, 2 oz.; cayenne pepper, 2 oz.; garlic, 1 oz.; vinegar, enough to dilute it properly.

Obs.—This favourite oriental sauce is compounded in a great variety of ways; but some kind of acid fruit is essential to it. The mango is used in India; here gooseberries, while still hard and green, are sometimes used for it; and ripe red chilies and tomatas are mixed with the other ingredients. The sauce keeps better if it be exposed to a gentle degree of heat for a week or two, either by the side of the fire, or in a full southern aspect in the sun: the heat of a very slow oven, in which it might be left for a night, would probably have a still better effect. In this case it must be put into a jar or bottles, and well secured from the air. Half a pound of gooseberries, or of these and tamarinds from the shell, and green apples mixed, and the same weight of salt, stoned raisins, brown sugar, powdered ginger, chilies, and garlic, with a pint and a half of vinegar, and the juice of three large lemons, will make another genuine Bengal chetney.

FINE MUSHROOM CATSUP.

One of the very best and most useful of store sauces is good home-made mushroom catsup, which, if really well prepared, imparts an agreeable flavour to any soup or sauce with which it is mingled, and at the same time heightens the colour without imparting the “bitter sweetness” which the burnt sugar used as “browning” in clumsy cookery so often does. The catsup ought, in fact, to be rather the pure essence of mushrooms, made with so much salt and spice only as are required to preserve it for a year or longer, than the compound of mushroom-juice, anchovies, shalots, allspice, and other condiments of which it is commonly composed, especially for sale.

Directions to be observed in making and for keeping the catsup.—Let the mushrooms be collected when the weather is dry, for if gathered during, or immediately after rain, the catsup made with them will not keep well.

Cut off the stalk-ends to which the earth adheres, before the mushrooms are broken up, and throw them aside, as they should never be used for the catsup. Reject also such of the flaps as are worm-eaten or decayed. Those which are too stale for use may be detected by the smell, which is very offensive.

When the mushroom first opens, the underside is of a fine pale salmon colour; this changes soon to a sort of ashy-brown, which deepens almost to black as the mushroom passes from its maturity to a state of decay. As it yields a greater abundance of juice when it is fully ripe, it is usually taken in that state for these sauces; but catsup of fine and delicate flavour, though somewhat pale in colour, can be made even of mushroom-buttons if they be sliced up small and turned often in the liquid which will be speedily drawn from them by the application of salt; a rather smaller proportion of which should be mingled with them than is directed for the following receipt.

Every thing used in preparing the catsup should be delicately clean and very dry. The bottles in which it is stored, after being dried in the usual way, should be laid into a cool oven for an hour or two before they are filled, to ensure their being free from the slightest degree of moisture, but they must be quite cold before the catsup is poured into them. If the corks be sealed so as to exclude the air effectually, or if well-cleansed bits of bladder first dried, and then rendered flexible with a little spirit of any kind (spirits of wine is convenient for such purposes), be tied closely over them, and the bottles can be kept in a cool place free from damp, the catsup will remain good for a long time.

MUSHROOM CATSUP.

Receipt:—Break up small into a deep earthen pan, two gallons of large ripe mushroom-flaps, and strew amongst them three quarters of a pound of salt, reserving the larger portion of it for the top. Let them remain two days, and stir them gently with a wooden spoon often during the time; then turn them into a large stewpan or enamelled saucepan, heat them slowly, and simmer them for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Strain the liquor closely from them without pressure; strain and measure it; put it into a very clean stewpan, and boil it quickly until it is reduced nearly half. For every quart allow half an ounce of black peppercorns and a drachm of mace; or, instead of the pepper, a quarter of a teaspoonful (ten grains) of goodcayenne; pour the catsup into a clean jug or jar, lay a folded cloth over it, and keep it in a cool place until the following day; pour it gently from the sediment, put into small bottles, cork them well, and rosin them down. A teaspoonful of salad oil may be poured into each bottle before it is corked, the better to exclude the air from the catsup.

Mushrooms, 2 gallons; salt, 3/4 lb.; to macerate three or four days. To each quart of liquor, 1/2 oz. black pepper, or quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne; and 1 drachm of mace: to be reduced nearly half.

Obs. 1.—Catsup made thus will not be too salt, nor will the flavour of the mushrooms be overpowered by that of the spices; of which a larger quantity, and a greater variety, can be used at will.

We can, however, answer for the excellence of the present receipt from long experience of it. When the catsup is boiled down quite early in the day, it may be bottled the same night: it is necessary only, that it should perfectly cold before this is done.

Obs. 2.—When the mushrooms are crushed, or mashed, as some authors direct, the liquor will necessarily be very thick; it is better to proceed as above, and then to boil the liquor which may afterwards be extracted from the mushrooms by pressure, with the sediment of the catsup, and sufficient cloves, pepper, allspice, and ginger, to flavour it highly: this second catsup will be found very useful to mix with common thickened sauces, hashes, and stews.

MUSHROOM CATSUP. (Another Receipt.)

Break a peck of large mushrooms into a deep earthenpan; strew three quarters of a pound of salt amongst them, and set them into a very cool oven for one night, with a fold of cloth or paper over them. The following day strain off the liquor, measure, and boil it for fifteen minutes; then, for each quart, add an ounce of black pepper, a quarter of an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of ginger, and two large blades of mace, and let it boil fast for twenty minutes longer. When thoroughly cold, put it into bottles, cork them well, and dip the necks into melted bottle-cement, or seal them so as to secure the catsup from the air.

Mushrooms, 1 peck; salt, 3/4 lb. Liquor to boil, 15 minutes. To each quart, 1/2 oz. black pepper; 1/4 oz. allspice; 1/2 oz. ginger; 2 blades mace: 20 minutes.

DOUBLE MUSHROOM CATSUP.

On a gallon of fresh mushrooms strew three ounces of salt, and pour to them a quart of ready-made catsup (that which is a year old will do if it be perfectly good); keep these stirred occasionally for four days, then drain the liquor very dry from the mushrooms, and boil it for fifteen minutes with an ounce of whole black pepper, a drachm of mace, an ounce of ginger, and three or four grains only of cayenne.

Mushrooms, 1 gallon; salt, 3 oz.; mushroom catsup, 1 quart; peppercorns, 1 oz.; mace, 1 drachm; ginger, 1 oz.; cayenne, 3 to 4 grains: 15 minutes.

COMPOUND, OR COOK’S CATSUP.

Take a pint and a half of mushroom catsup when it is first made, and ready boiled (the double is best for the purpose), simmer in it for five minutes an ounce of small eschalots nicely peeled; add to these half a pint of walnut catsup, and a wineglassful of cayenne vinegar, or of chili vinegar; give the whole one boil, pour it out, and when cold, bottle it with the eschalots in it.

Mushroom catsup, 1-1/2 pint; eschalots, 1 oz.; walnut catsup or pickle, 1/2 pint; cayenne or chili vinegar, 1 wineglassful.

ANOTHER GOOD RECEIPT FOR WALNUT CATSUP.

Beat a hundred green walnuts in a large marble mortar until they are thoroughly bruised and broken, and then put them into a stone jar, with half a pound of eschalots, cut in slices, one head of garlic, half a pound of salt, and two quarts of vinegar; let them stand for ten days, and stir them night and morning.

Strain off the liquor, and boil it for half an hour with the addition of two ounces of anchovies, two of whole pepper, half an ounce of cloves, and two drachms of mace; skim it well, strain it off, and when it is quite cold pour it gently from the sediment (which may be reserved for flavouring common sauces) into small dry bottles, secure it from air by sound corking, and store it in a dry place.

Walnuts, 100; eschalots, 1/2 lb.; garlic, 1 head, salt, 1/2 lb.; vinegar, 2 quarts: 10 days. Anchovies, 2 oz.; black pepper, 2 oz.; mace, 1/4 oz.; cloves, 1/2 oz.: 1/2 hour.

LEMON PICKLE OR CATSUP.

Either divide six small lemons into quarters, remove all the pips that are in sight, and strew three ounces of salt upon them, and keep them turned in it for a week, or, merely make deep incisions in them, and proceed as directed for pickled lemons. When they have stood in a warm place for eight days, put into a stone jar two ounces and a half of finely-scraped horseradish, and two ounces of eschalots, or one and a half of garlic; to these add the lemons with all their liquor, and pour on them a pint and a half of boiling vinegar in which half an ounce of bruised ginger, a quarter of an ounce of whole white pepper, and two blades of mace have been simmered for two or three minutes. The pickle will be fit for use in two or three months, but may stand four or five before it is strained off.

Small lemons, 6; salt, 3 oz.: 8 days. Horseradish, 2-1/2 oz.; eschalots, 2 oz., or garlic 1-1/2 oz.; vinegar, 1-1/2 pint; ginger, 1/2 oz.; whole white pepper, 1/4 oz.; mace, 2 blades: 3 to 6 months.

Obs.—These highly-flavoured compounds are still much in favour with a certain class of housekeepers; but they belong exclusively to English cookery: they are altogether opposed to the practice of the French cuisine, as well as to that of other foreign countries.

PONTAC CATSUP FOR FISH.

On one pint of ripe elderberries stripped from the stalks, pour three quarters of a pint of boiling vinegar, and let it stand in a cool oven all night; the next day strain off the liquid without pressure, and boil it for five minutes with a half-teaspoonful of salt, a small race of ginger, a blade of mace, forty corns of pepper, twelve cloves and four eschalots. Bottle it with the spice when it is quite cold.

BOTTLED TOMATAS, OR TOMATA CATSUP.

Cut half a peck of ripe tomatas into quarters; lay them on dishes and sprinkle over them half a pound of salt. The next day drain the juice from them through a hair-sieve into a stewpan, and boil it for half an hour with three dozens of small capsicums and half a pound of eschalots; then add the tomatas, which should be ready pulped through a strainer. Boil the whole for thirty minutes longer; have some clean wide-necked bottles, kept warm by the fire, fill them with the catsup while it is quite hot; cork, and dip the necks into melted bottle-resin or cement.

Tomatas, 1/2 peck; salt, 1/2 lb.; capsicums, 3 doz.; eschalots, 1/2 lb.: 1/2 hour. After pulp is added, 1/2 hour.

Obs.—This receipt has been kindly contributed by a person who makes by it every year large quantities of the catsup, which is considered excellent: for sauce it must be mixed with gravy or melted butter. We have not ourselves been able to make trial of it.

EPICUREAN SAUCE.

Mix well, by shaking them in a bottle, a wineglassful of Indian soy, half a pint of chili vinegar, half a pint of walnut catsup, and a pint and a half of the best mushroom catsup. These proportions make an excellent sauce, either to mix with melted butter, and to serve with fish, or to add to different kinds of gravy; but they can be varied, or added to, at pleasure.

Indian soy, 1 wineglassful; chili vinegar, 1/2 pint; walnut catsup, 1/2 pint; mushroom catsup, 1-1/2 pint.

TARTAR MUSTARD.

Rub four ounces of the best Durham mustard very smooth with a full teaspoonful of salt, and wet it by degrees with strong horseradish vinegar, a dessertspoonful of cayenne, or of chili vinegar, and one or two of tarragon vinegar when its flavour is not disliked. A quarter of a pint of vinegar poured boiling upon an ounce of scraped horseradish, and left for one night, closely covered, will be ready to use for this mustard, but it will be better for standing two or three days.

Durham mustard, 4 oz.; salt, large teaspoonful; cayenne, or chili vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful; horseradish vinegar, third of pint.

Obs.—This is an exceedingly pungent compound, but has many approvers.

ANOTHER TARTAR MUSTARD.

Mix the salt and mustard smoothly, with equal parts of horseradish vinegar, and of chili vinegar. Mustard made by these receipts will keep long, if put into jars or bottles and closely corked. Cucumber, eschalot, or any other of the flavoured vinegars for which we have given receipts, may in turn be used for it, and mushroom, gherkin, or India pickle-liquor, likewise.

WALNUT CATSUP.

The vinegar in which walnuts have been pickled, when they have remained in it a year, will generally answer all the purposes for which this catsup is required, particularly if it be drained from them and boiled for a few minutes, with a little additional spice, and a few eschalots; but where the vinegar is objected to, it may be made either by boiling the expressed juice of young walnuts for an hour, with six ounces of fine anchovies, four ounces of eschalots, half an ounce of black pepper, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, and a drachm of mace, to every quart; or as follows:—

Pound in a mortar a hundred young walnuts, strewing amongst them as they are done half a pound of salt; then pour to them a quart of strong vinegar, and let them stand until they have become quite black, keeping them stirred three or four times a day; next add a quart of strong old beer, and boil the whole together for ten minutes; strain it, and let it remain until the next day; then pour it off clear from the sediment, add to it half a pound of anchovies, one large head of garlic bruised, half an ounce of nutmegs bruised, the same quantity of cloves and black pepper, and two drachms of mace: boil these together for half an hour, and the following day bottle and cork the catsup well. It will keep for a dozen years. Many persons add to it, before it is boiled, a bottle of port wine; and others recommend a large bunch of sweet herbs to be put in with the spice.

1st Recipe. Expressed juice of walnuts, 1 quart; anchovies, 6 oz.; eschalots, 4 oz.; black pepper, 1/2 oz.; cloves, 1/4 oz.; mace, 1 drachm: 1 hour.

2nd. Walnuts, 100; salt, 1/2 lb.; vinegar, 1 quart; to stand till 150black. Strong beer, 1 quart; anchovies, 1/2 lb.; 1 head garlic; nutmegs, 1/2 oz.; cloves, 1/2 oz.; black pepper, 1/2 oz.; mace, 2 drachms: 1/2 hour.

GRAVIES – INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Gravy Kettle.

Gravies are not often required either in great variety, or in abundant quantities, when only a moderate table is kept, and a clever cook will manage to supply, at a trifling cost, all that is generally needed for plain family dinners; while an unskilful or extravagant one will render them sources of unbounded expense.[53] But however small the proportions in which they are made, their quality should be particularly attended to, and they should be well adapted in flavour to the dishes they are to accompany.

For some, a high degree of savour is desirable, but for fricassees, and other preparations of delicate white meats, this should be avoided, and a soft, smooth sauce of refined flavour should be used in preference to any of more piquant relish.

53.  We know of an instance of a cook who stewed down two or three pounds of beef to make gravy for a single brace of partridges; and who complained of the meanness of her employers (who were by no means affluent) because this was objected to.

Instead of frying the ingredients for brown gravies, which is usually done in common English kitchens, French cooks pour to them at first a small quantity of liquid, which is reduced by rapid boiling to what is technically called glaze; particular directions for which will be found in the next receipt to this. When the glaze has acquired the proper colour, boiling broth should be added in small portions, and well shaken round the stewpan to detach it entirely; the meat may then be stewed gently for three or four hours with a few mushrooms, should they be at hand, a bunch of parsley, and some green onions, or with a Portugal onion instead.

A thick slice or two of an unboiled ham, is an almost indispensable addition to rich soup or gravy, and to supply it in the most economical manner, a large, highly cured one, or more, not over 95fatted, should be kept for the purpose, and cut as required. The bones of undressed meat will supply almost, or quite as good gravy-stock as the meat itself, if well boiled down, particularly those of the loin, or neck of veal; and as the flesh of these may be dressed in many ways advantageously without them, the whole joint may be turned to excellent account by so dividing it.

The necks of poultry, with the feet properly skinned, a few herbs, a morsel or two of ham or of lean bacon, and such slight flavourings beside as the spice-box can supply, with a few drops of good mushroom catsup, will of themselves, if well managed, produce sufficient gravy to serve with the birds from which they are taken; and if not wanted for the purpose, they should always be stewed down, or thrown into the stock pot, for which the shank bones of legs of mutton, and all trimmings of meats should likewise be reserved. Excellent broth for the sick or for the needy, may also be made of them at little cost, when they are not required for other uses.

To deepen the colour of gravies, the thick mushroom pressings, or a little soy (when its flavour is admissible), or cavice, or Harvey’s sauce, may be added to it; and for some dishes, a glass of claret, or of port wine.

Vermicelli, or rasped cocoa-nut, lightly, and very gently browned in a small quantity of butter, will both thicken and enrich them, if about an ounce of either to the pint of gravy be stewed gently in it, from half an hour to an hour, and then strained out.

All the ingredients indicated [see information for soups below], for giving consistency to soups, will answer equally for gravies, which should not, however, be too much thickened, particularly with the unwholesome mixture of flour and butter, so commonly used for the purpose.

Arrow-root or rice-flour, or common flour gradually browned in a slow oven, are much better suited to a delicate stomach. No particle of fat should ever be perceptible upon them when they are sent to table; and when it cannot be removed by skimming, they should be allowed to become sufficiently cold for it to congeal, and be taken off at once without trouble. It may be cleared from such as have not been thickened by passing them through a closely woven cloth, which has previously been laid into, and well wrung from, some cold water.

TO THICKEN SOUPS. [Info provided for above information]

Except for white soups, to which arrow-root is, we think, more appropriate, we prefer, to all other ingredients generally used for this purpose, the finest and freshest rice-flour, which, after being passed through a lawn sieve, should be thoroughly blended with the salt, pounded spices, catsup, or wine, required to finish the flavouring of the soup. Sufficient liquid should be added to it very gradually to render it of the consistence of batter, and it should also be perfectly smooth; to keep it so, it should be moistened sparingly at first, and beaten with the back of a spoon until every lump has disappeared. The soup should boil quickly when the thickening is stirred into it, and be simmered for ten minutes afterwards. From an ounce and a half to two ounces of rice-flour will thicken sufficiently a quart of soup.

Instead of this, arrow-root or the condiment known by the name of tous les mois, which greatly resembles it, or potato flour, or the French thickening called roux, may be used in the following proportions:—Two and a half ounces of either of the first three, to four pints and a half of soup; to be mixed gradually with a little cold stock or water, stirred into the boiling soup, and simmered for a minute.

Six ounces of flour with seven of butter, made into a roux, or merely mixed together with a large knife, will be required to thicken a tureen of soup; as much as half a pound is sometimes used; these must be added by degrees, and carefully stirred round in the soup until smoothly blended with it, or they will remain in lumps. We would, however, recommend any other thickening rather than this unwholesome mixture.

All the ingredients used for soups should be fresh, and of good quality, particularly Italian pastes of every kind (macaroni, vermicelli, &c.), as they contract, by long keeping, a peculiarly unpleasant, musty flavour.

Onions, freed from the outer skin, dried gradually to a deep brown, in a slow oven, and flattened like Norfolk biffins, will keep for almost any length of time, and are extremely useful for heightening the colour and flavour of broths and gravies.[14]

14.  The fourth part of one these dried onions (des ognons brûlés), of moderate size, is sufficient for a tureen of soup. They are sold very commonly in France, and may be procured in London at many good foreign warehouses.

JEWISH SMOKED BEEF. (Extremely useful for giving flavour to soup and gravy.)

This beef, of which we have more fully spoken in Chapter XXXIV, imparts a remarkably fine flavour to soup or gravy; but great care must be taken in using it to cut quite away all the external parts which have been discoloured in the drying: the whole of the surface, indeed, should be rather thickly pared off, or it will give a smoky taste to the gravy. An ounce or two of the lean thus cleared from the outsides and from all skin and fat, and divided first into thick slices, and then into small squares, will flavour a pint or more of stock of any kind: it may be added to the meat in making Liebeg gravy when it is first put into the stewpan.

TO HEIGHTEN THE COLOUR AND THE FLAVOUR OF GRAVIES.

This is best done by the directions given for making Espagnole. An ounce or two of the lean of unboiled ham, cut into dice and coloured slowly in a small stewpan, or smoothly-tinned iron saucepan, with less than an ounce of butter, a blade of mace, two or three cloves, a bay-leaf, a few small sprigs of savoury herbs, and an eschalot or two, or about a teaspoonful of minced onion, and a little young parsley root, when it can be had, will convert common shin of beef stock, or even strong broth, into an excellent gravy, if it be gradually added to them after they have stewed slowly for quite half an hour, and then boiled with them for twenty minutes or more.

The liquid should not be mixed with the other ingredients until the side of the stewpan is coloured of a reddish brown; and should any thickening be required, a teaspoonful of flour should be stirred in well, and simmered for three or four minutes before the stock is added; the pan should be strongly shaken round afterwards, to detach the browning from it, and this must be done often while the ham is stewing.

Obs.—The cook who is not acquainted with this mode of preparing or enriching gravies, will do well to make herself acquainted with it; as it presents no difficulties, and is exceedingly convenient and advantageous when they are wanted in small quantities, very highly flavoured and well coloured.

An unboiled ham, kept in cut, will be found, as we have already said, a great economy for this, and other purposes, saving much of the expense commonly incurred for gravy-meats. As eschalots, when sparingly used, impart a much finer savour than onions, though they are not commonly so much used in England, we would recommend that a small store of them should always be kept.

BARON LIEBEG’s BEEF GRAVY. (Most excellent for hashes, minces, and other dishes made of cold meat.)

For particulars of this most useful receipt, for extracting all its juices from fresh meat of every kind in the best manner, the cook is referred to the first part of the chapter on soups. The preparation, for which minute directions are given there, if poured on a few bits of lean ham lightly browned, with the other ingredients indicated above, will be converted into gravy of fine flavour and superior quality.

With no addition, beyond that of a little thickening and spice, it will serve admirably for dressing cold meat, in all the usual forms of hashes, minces, blanquettes, &c., &c., and convert it into dishes as nourishing as those of meat freshly cooked, and it may be economically made in small quantities with any trimmings of undressed beef, mutton, or veal, mixed together, which are free from fat, and not sinewy: flavour may be given to it at once by chopping up with them the lean part only of a slice or two of ham, or of highly-cured beef.

SHIN OF BEEF STOCK FOR GRAVIES.

There is no better foundation for strong gravies than shin of beef stewed down to a jelly (which it easily becomes), with the addition only of some spice, a bunch of savoury herbs, and a moderate proportion of salt; this, if kept in a cool larder, boiled softly for two or three minutes every second or third day, and each time put into a clean, well-scalded pan, will remain good for many days, and may easily be converted into excellent soup or gravy.

Let the bone be broken in one or two places, take out the marrow, which, if not wanted for immediate use, should be clarified, and stored for future occasions; put a pint and a half of cold water to the pound of beef, and stew it very gently indeed for six or seven hours, or even longer should the meat not then be quite in fragments. The bones of calf’s feet which have been boiled down for jelly, the liquor in which the head has been cooked, and any remains of ham quite freed from the smoky parts, from rust, and fat, will be serviceable additions to this stock. A couple of pounds of the neck of beef may be added to six of the shin with very good effect; but for white soup or sauces this is better avoided.

Shin of beef, 6 lbs.; water, 9 pints; salt, 1 oz.; large bunch of savoury herbs; peppercorns, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 2 blades.

RICH PALE VEAL GRAVY, OR CONSOMMÉ.

The French, who have always at hand their stock-pot of good bouillon (beef soup or broth), make great use of it in preparing their gravies. It is added instead of water to the fresh meat, and when this, in somewhat larger proportions, is boiled down in it, with the addition only of a bunch of parsley, a few green onions, and a moderate seasoning of salt, a strong and very pure-flavoured pale gravy is produced. When the best joints of fowls, or of partridges have been taken for fricassees or cutlets, the remainder may be stewed with a pound or two of veal into a consommé, which then takes the name of chicken or of game gravy. For a large dinner it is always desirable to have in readiness such stock as can easily and quickly be converted into white and other sauces.

To make this, arrange a slice or two of lean ham in a stewpan or saucepan with three pounds of the neck of veal once or twice divided (unless the thick fleshy part of the knuckle can be had), and pour to them three full pints of strong beef or veal broth; or, if this cannot conveniently be done, increase the proportion of meat or diminish that of the liquid, substituting water for the broth; throw in some salt after the boiling has commenced, and the gravy has been well skimmed, with one mild onion, a bunch of savoury herbs, a little celery, a carrot, a blade of mace, and a half-saltspoonful of peppercorns; stew those very gently for four hours; then, should the meat be quite in fragments, strain off the gravy, and let it become sufficiently cold to allow the fat to be entirely cleared from it.

A handful of nicely prepared mushroom-buttons will much improve its flavour; and the bones of boiled calf’s feet, or the fresh ones of fowls, will be found excellent additions to it. A better method of making it, when time and trouble are not regarded, is to heat the meat, which ought to be free of bones, quite through, with from a quarter to half a pint of broth only, and when on probing it with the point of a knife no blood issues from it, and it has been turned and equally done, to moisten it with the remainder of the broth, which should be boiling.

Lean of ham, 6 to 8 oz.; neck or knuckle of veal, 3 lbs.; strong broth, 3 pints (or veal, 4 lbs., and water, 3 pints); salt; bunch of savoury herbs; mild onion, 1; carrot, 1 large or 2 small; celery 1/2 small head; mace, 1 large blade; peppercorns, 1/2 saltspoonful; 4 hours or more. Or: ham, 1/2 lb.; veal, 4 lbs.; broth, third of a pint; nearly 1 hour. Additional broth, 3 pints: 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours.

RICH DEEP-COLOURED VEAL GRAVY.

Lay into a large thick stewpan or saucepan, from half to three quarters of a pound of undressed ham, freed entirely from fat, and from the smoked edges, and sliced half an inch thick; on this place about four pounds of lean veal, cut from the best part of the knuckle or from the neck (part of the fillet, which in France is often used for it instead, not being generally purchasable here, the butchers seldom dividing the joint); pour to them about half a pint of good broth,[54] and place the pan over a brisk fire until it is well reduced; then thrust a knife into the meat, and continue the stewing more gently until a glaze is formed.

The latter part of the process must be very slow; the stewpan must be frequently shaken, and the gravy closely watched that it may not burn: when it is of a fine deep amber colour, pour in sufficient boiling broth to cover the meat, add a bunch of parsley, and a few mushrooms and green onions. A blade or two of mace, a few white peppercorns, and a head of celery, would, we think, be very admissible additions to this gravy, but it is extremely good without. Half the quantity can be made, but it will then be rather more troublesome to manage.

54.  When there is no provision of this in the house, the quantity may be made with a small proportion of beef, and the trimmings of the veal.

Undressed ham, 8 to 12 oz.; lean veal, 4 lbs.; broth, 1/2 pint; 1 to 8 to 12 oz.; lean veal, 4 lbs.; broth, 1/2 pint; 1 to 2 hours. Broth, 3 to 4 pints: bunch of parsley and green onions, or 1 Portugal onion; mushrooms, 1/4 to 1/2 pint: 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

GOOD BEEF OR VEAL GRAVY. (ENGLISH RECEIPT.)

Flour and fry lightly in a bit of good butter a couple of pounds of either beef or veal; drain the meat well from the fat, and lay it into a small thick stewpan or iron saucepan; pour to it a quart of boiling water; add, after it has been well skimmed and salted, a large mild onion sliced, very delicately fried, and laid on a sieve to drain, a carrot also sliced, a small bunch of thyme and parsley, a blade of mace, and a few peppercorns; stew these gently for three hours or more, pass the gravy through a sieve into a clean pan, and when it is quite cold clear it entirely from fat, heat as much as is wanted for table, and if not sufficiently thick stir into it from half to a whole teaspoonful of arrow-root mixed with a little mushroom catsup.

Beef or veal, 2 lbs.; water, 2 pints; fried onion, 1 large; carrot, 1; small bunch of herbs; salt, 1 small teaspoonful or more; mace, 1 blade; peppercorns, 20: 3 to 3-1/2 hours.2 hours. Broth, 3 to 4 pints: bunch of parsley and green onions, or 1 Portugal onion; mushrooms, 1/4 to 1/2 pint: 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

A RICH ENGLISH BROWN GRAVY.

Brown lightly and carefully from four to six ounces of lean ham, thickly sliced and cut into large dice; lift these out, and put them into the pan in which the gravy is to be made; next, fry lightly also, a couple of pounds of neck of beef dredged moderately with flour, and slightly with pepper; put this, when it is done, over the ham; and then brown gently and add to them two or three eschalots, or a Portugal onion; should neither of these be at hand, one not large common onion must be used instead.

Pour over these ingredients a quart of boiling water, or of weak but well-flavoured broth; bring the whole slowly to a boil, clear off the scum with great care, throw in a saltspoonful of salt, four cloves, a blade of mace, twenty corns of pepper, a bunch of savoury herbs, a carrot, and a few slices of celery: these last two may be fried or not as is most convenient. Boil the gravy very softly until it is reduced to little more than a pint; strain, and set it by until the fat can be taken from it.

Heat it anew, add more salt if needed and a little mushroom catsup, cayenne-vinegar, or whatever flavouring it may require for the dish with which it is to be served; it will seldom require any thickening. A dozen small mushrooms prepared as for pickling, or two or three morels, previously well washed and soaked, may be added to it at first with advantage. Half this quantity of gravy will be sufficient for a single tureen, and the economist can diminish a little the proportion of meat when it is thought too much.

PLAIN GRAVY FOR VENISON.

Trim away the fat from some cutlets, and lay them into a stewpan; set them over a clear fire, and let them brown a little in their own gravy; then add a pint of boiling water to each pound of meat. Take off the scum, throw in a little salt, and boil the gravy until reduced one half. Some cooks broil the cutlets lightly, boil the gravy one hour, and reduce it after it is strained.

A RICH GRAVY FOR VENISON.

There are few eaters to whom this would be acceptable, the generality of them preferring infinitely the flavour of the venison itself to any which the richest gravy made of other meats can afford; but when the flavour of a well-made Espagnole is likely to be relished, prepare it by the receipt of the following page, substituting plain strong mutton stock for the veal gravy.

SWEET SAUCE, OR GRAVY FOR VENISON.

Add to a quarter-pint of common venison gravy a couple of glasses of port wine or claret, and half an ounce of sugar in lumps. Christopher North’s sauce, mixed with three times its measure of gravy, would be an excellent substitute for this.

ESPAGNOLE (SPANISH SAUCE). A highly-flavoured Gravy.

Dissolve a couple of ounces of good butter in a thick stewpan or saucepan, throw in from four to six sliced eschalots, four ounces of the lean of an undressed ham, three ounces of carrot, cut in small dice, one bay leaf, two or three branches of parsley, and one or two of thyme, but these last must be small; three cloves, a blade of mace, and a dozen corns of pepper; add part of a root of parsley, if it be at hand, and keep the whole stirred or shaken over a moderate fire for twenty minutes, then add by degrees one pint of very strong veal stock or gravy, and stew the whole gently from thirty to forty minutes; strain it, skim off the fat, and it will be ready to serve.

Butter, 2 oz.; eschalots, 4 to 6; lean of undressed ham, 4 oz.; carrots, 3 oz.; bay leaf, 1; little thyme and parsley, in branches; cloves, 3; mace, 1 blade; peppercorns, 12; little parsley root: fried gently, 20 minutes. Strong veal stock, or gravy, 1 pint: stewed very softly, 30 to 40 minutes.

ESPAGNOLE, WITH WINE.

Take the same proportions of ingredients as for the preceding Espagnole, with the addition, if they should be at hand, of a dozen small mushrooms prepared as for stewing; when these have fried gently in the stewpan until it appears of a reddish colour all round, stir in a tablespoonful of flour, and when it is lightly browned, add 101in small portions, letting each one boil up before the next is poured in, and shaking the pan well round, three quarters of a pint of hot and good veal gravy, and nearly half a pint of Madeira or sherry. When the sauce has boiled gently for half an hour, add to it a small quantity of cayenne and some salt, if this last be needed; then strain it, skim off the fat entirely should any appear upon the surface, and serve it very hot.

A smaller proportion of wine added a few minutes before the sauce is ready for table, would perhaps better suit with English taste, as with longer boiling its flavour passes off almost entirely. Either of these Espagnoles, poured over the well bruised remains of pheasants, partridges, or moor fowl, and boiled with them for an hour, will become most admirable game gravy, and would generally be considered a superlative addition to other roast birds of their kind, as well as to the hash or salmi.

Ingredients as in preceding receipt, with mushrooms 12 to 18; Madeira, or good sherry, 1/4 to 1/2 pint.

GRAVY IN HASTE.

Chop fine a few bits of lean meat, a small onion, a few slices of carrot and turnip, and a little thyme and parsley; put these with half an ounce of butter into a thick saucepan, and keep them stirred until they are slightly browned; add a little spice, and water in the proportion of a pint to a pound of meat; clear the gravy from scum, let it boil half an hour, then strain it for use.

Meat, 1 lb.; 1 small onion; little carrot, turnip, thyme, and parsley; butter, 1/2 oz.; cloves, 6; corns of pepper, 12; water, 1 pint: 1/2 hour.

CHEAP GRAVY FOR A ROAST FOWL.

When there is neither broth nor gravy to be had, nor meat of which either can be made, boil the neck of the fowl after having cut it small, in half a pint of water, with any slight seasonings of spice or herbs, or with a little salt and pepper only; it should stew very softly for an hour or more, or the quantity will be too much reduced. When the bird is just ready for table, take the gravy from the dripping-pan, and drain off the fat from it as closely as possible; strain the liquor from the neck to it, mixing them smoothly, pass the gravy again through the strainer, heat it, add salt and pepper or cayenne, if needed, and serve it extremely hot. When this is done, the fowl should be basted with good butter only, and well floured when it is first laid to the fire. Many cooks always mix the gravy from the pan when game is roasted, with that which they send to table with it, as they think that it enriches the flavour; but to many persons it is peculiarly distasteful.

Neck of fowl; water, 1/2 pint; pepper, salt (little vegetable and spice at choice): stewed gently, 1 hour; strained, stirred to the gravy of the roast, well cleared from fat.

ANOTHER CHEAP GRAVY FOR A FOWL.

A little good broth added to half a dozen dice of lean ham, lightly browned in a morsel of butter, with half a dozen corns of pepper and a small branch or two of parsley, and stewed for half an hour, will make excellent gravy of a common kind. When there is no broth, the neck of the chicken must be stewed down to supply its place.

GRAVY OR SAUCE FOR A GOOSE.

Mince, and brown in a small saucepan, with a slice of butter, two ounces of mild onion,. When it begins to brown, stir to it a teaspoonful of flour, and in five or six minutes afterwards, pour in by degrees the third of a pint of good brown gravy; let this simmer fifteen minutes; strain it, bring it again to the point of boiling, and add to it a teaspoonful of made mustard mixed well with a glass of port wine. Season it with cayenne and pepper and salt, if this last be needed. Do not let the sauce boil after the wine is added, but serve it veryhot.

Onions, 2 oz.; butter, 1-1/2 oz.: 10 to 15 minutes. Flour, 1 teaspoonful: 5 to 6 minutes. Gravy, 1/3 pint: 15 minutes. Mustard, 1 teaspoonful; port wine, 1 glassful; cayenne pepper; salt. See also Christopher North’s own sauce.

ORANGE GRAVY FOR WILD FOWL.

Boil for about ten minutes, in half a pint of rich and highly-flavoured brown gravy, or Espagnole, half the rind of a Seville orange, pared as thin as possible, and a small strip of lemon-rind, with a bit of sugar the size of a hazel-nut. Strain it off, add to it a quarter pint of port or claret, the juice of half a lemon, and a tablespoonful of Seville orange-juice: season it with cayenne, and serve it as hot as possible.

Gravy, 1/2 pint; 1/2 the rind of a Seville orange; lemon-peel, 1 small strip; sugar, size of hazel-nut: 10 minutes. Juice of 1/2 a lemon; Seville orange-juice, 1 tablespoonful; cayenne. See also Christopher North’s own sauce.

MEAT JELLIES FOR PIES AND SAUCES.

A very firm meat jelly is easily made by stewing slowly down equal parts of shin of beef, and knuckle or neck of veal, with a pint of cold water to each pound of meat; but to give it flavour, some thick slices of lean unboiled ham should be added to it, two or three carrots, some spice, a bunch of parsley, one mild onion, or more, and a moderate quantity of salt; or part of the meat may be omitted, and a calf’s head, or the scalp of one, very advantageously substituted for it, though the flavouring must then be heightened, because, though very gelatinous, these are in themselves exceedingly insipid to the taste.

If rapidly boiled, the jelly will not be clear, and it will be difficult to render it so without clarifying it with the whites of eggs, which it ought never to require; if very gently stewed, on the contrary, it will only need to be passed through a fine sieve, or cloth. The fat must be carefully removed, after it is quite cold. The shin of beef recommended for this and other receipts, should be from the middle of the leg of young heifer beef, not of that which is large and coarse.

Middle of small shin of beef, 3 lbs.; knuckle or neck of veal, 3 lbs.; lean of ham, 1/2 lb.; water, 3 quarts; carrots, 2 large, or 3 small; bunch of parsley; 1 mild onion, stuck with 8 cloves; 2 small bay-leaves; 1 large blade of mace; small saltspoonful of peppercorns; salt, 3/4 oz. (more if needed): 5 to 6 hours’ very gentle stewing.

Obs.—A finer jelly may be made by using a larger proportion of veal than of beef, and by adding clear beef or veal broth to it instead of water, in a small proportion at first, as directed in the receipt for consommé, and by pouring in the remainder when the meat is heated through. The necks of poultry, any inferior joints of them omitted from a fricassee or other dish, or an old fowl, will further improve it much; an eschalot or two may at choice be boiled down in it, instead of the onion, but the flavour should be scarcely perceptible.

A CHEAPER MEAT JELLY.

One calf’s foot, a pound and a half or two pounds of neck of veal or beef, a small onion, a carrot, a bunch of parsley, a little spice, a bit or two of quite lean ham, dressed or undressed, and five half pints of water, boiled very slowly for five or six hours will give a strong, though not a highly-flavoured jelly.

More ham, any bones of unboiled meat, poultry, or game will, in this respect, improve it; and the liquor in which fowls or veal have been boiled for table should, when at hand, be used for it instead of water. These jellies keep much better and longer when no vegetables are stewed down in them.

Victorian Sauce Recipes from HIGH-CLASS COOKERY MADE EASY. [Economical Cookery] By Mrs. Hart. [1880]

HORSE-RADISH SAUCE FOR ROAST BEEF.

Grate one stick of horse-radish; put it on to boil with one glass of cream, one glass of milk, pepper and salt, and stew for ten minutes. Serve in a boat with roast beef.

CAPER SAUCE FOR BOILED MUTTON.

Take one breakfast-cupful of the liquor the mutton has been boiled in. Wet with cold water one spoonful of flour, and stir into the boiling liquor, one spoonful of capers and a few drops of the vinegar. Pour over the mutton or serve in a boat.

ONION SAUCE FOR ROAST SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

Peel and slice two onions and stew till tender. Strain them, place half-an-ounce of butter in a sauce-pan, add one half-ounce of flour, pepper and salt, and one cup of milk. Stir over the fire till it boils; add the onions, and serve in a boat.

APPLE SAUCE FOR ROAST PORK.

Take a nice soft cooking apple, cut into slices, and place in a stew-pan with a glass of water and a piece of butter the size of a marble. Cover and stew till tender; pass through a pointed strainer; sweeten; heat in pan, and serve hot.

BREAD SAUCE FOR ROAST CHICKEN.

Peel one small onion, and put it into a sauce-pan, with a tea-cupful of milk. Grate one slice of bread and put it into the milk; let it boil; add a little cream, half-an-ounce of fresh butter, pepper and salt, and serve with roast chicken.

PARSLEY SAUCE FOR BOILED CHICKENS.

Chop some fresh leaves of parsley very fine, place two ounces of butter in a stew-pan with two ounces of flour, and melt. Add one cup of liquor from boilings of chicken; add one cup of milk; stir in the parsley; dry the ashet with the chickens on it, and pour the sauce over the chicken. Garnish chickens with rolls of bacon.

MINT SAUCE FOR ROAST LAMB.

One glass of vinegar, half-a-glass of water, one ounce of brown sugar, chop fine one half-spoonful of fresh mint, and serve in a boat.

ENTRÉE SAUCE À LA TARTE.

Place half-an-ounce of butter in a sauce-pan with half an onion minced fine, six drops of Worcestershire sauce, six drops of Harvey, a few drops of chili vinegar, a breakfast-cupful of good brown sauce, stirred into the sauce-pan, and boil all together for a few minutes.

Victorian Sauce Recipes from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]

Brown Gravy for Fowl. [chicken]

Chop up an onion, and fry it with a sprig of thyme and a bit of butter, and when it is brown, add a good tea-spoonful of moist sugar and a drop of water, and boil all together on the fire until the water is reduced, and the sugar begins to bake of a dark brown colour. It must then be stirred on the fire for three minutes longer; after which moisten it with half-a-pint of water, add a little pepper and salt; boil all together for five minutes, and strain the gravy over the fowl, etc.

Bread Sauce for a Roast Fowl.

Chop a small onion or shalot fine, and boil it in a pint of milk for five minutes; then add about ten ounces of crumb of bread, a bit of butter, pepper and salt to season; stir the whole on the fire for ten minutes, and eat this bread sauce with roast fowl or turkey.

Egg Sauce for Roast Fowls, etc.

Boil two or three eggs for about eight minutes; remove the shells, cut up each egg into about ten pieces of equal size, and put them into some butter-sauce made as follows:—viz., Knead two ounces of flour with one ounce and-a-half of butter; add half-a-pint of water, pepper and salt to season, and stir the sauce on the fire until it begins to boil; then mix in the pieces of chopped hard-boiled eggs.

Parsley Sauce.

Chop a handful of parsley and mix it in a stewpan with two ounces of butter, two ounces of flour, pepper and salt; moisten with half a pint of water and a table-spoonful of vinegar. Stir the parsley-sauce on the fire till it boils, and then pour it over the fish, drained free from water, on its dish.

Anchovy Sauce.

Mix two ounces of butter with two ounces of flour, in a saucepan. Add a spoonful of essence of anchovy, and half a pint of water. Stir the sauce on the fire till it boils.

Sweet Pudding Sauce.

Ingredients, two ounces of common flour, ditto of butter, ditto of sugar, chopped lemon-peel, half a gill of any kind of spirits, and half a pint of water. First mix the flour, butter, and sugar in a small saucepan by kneading the ingredients well together with a wooden spoon, then add the water, spirits, and lemon-peel; stir the sauce on the fire till it comes to a boil, and then pour it all over the pudding.

THE LADY’S OWN COOKERY BOOK, AND NEW DINNER-TABLE DIRECTORY; [1844]

Cullis, to thicken Sauces.

Take carrot, turnip, onion; put them in the bottom of a stewpan; slice some veal and ham, and lay over your carrot, with thyme, parsley, and seasoning; put this over a fire gently; when it sticks to the bottom, pour in some good stock, put in the crumb of some French rolls, boil them up together, strain it through a sieve, and rub the bread through; this will thicken any brown sauce.

Fish cullis must be as above, only with fish instead of meat.

Brown Cullis.

Take two pounds of veal and half a pound of ham, with two or three onions; put a little bit of butter in the bottom of your stewpan, and lay in it the veal and ham cut small, with the onions in slices, a little of the spices of different sorts, and a small piece of bay leaf. Let it stew gently over the stove until it comes to a fine colour; then fill it up with broth, but, if you have no broth, with water; then make some smooth flour and water, and put it to it, until you find it thick enough: let it boil gently half an hour; skim the grease from it, and strain it.

Another.

Put a piece of butter in a stewpan; set it over a fire with some flour to it; keep it stirring till it is of a good colour; then put some gravy to it; this cullis will thicken any sauce.

Cullis à la Reine, or Queen’s Stock.

Cut some veal into thin slices; beat them, and lay them in a stewpan, with some slices of ham; cut a couple of onions small, and put them in; cut to pieces half a dozen mushrooms and add them to the rest, with a bunch of parsley; and set them on a very gentle stove fire to stew. When they are quite done, and the liquor is rich and high tasted, take out all the meat, and put in some grated bread; boil up once, stirring them thoroughly.

Turkey Cullis.

Roast a large turkey till it is brown; cut it in pieces; put it into a marble mortar, with some ham, parsley, chives, mushrooms, a handful of each, and a crust of bread; beat them up into a paste. Take it out, and put it into a deep stewpan, with a pint of veal broth; stir it all well together; cover it, and set it over the stove; turn it constantly, adding more veal broth. When thoroughly dissolved, pass it through a hair sieve, and keep it for use. It will give any sauce a fine flavour; but cullises are generally used for the sorts of meat of which they are made. Some of the above, for instance, would make an excellent sauce for a turkey, added to any other gravy; then put them over a slow fire to stew gently. Take the flesh of a fine fowl, already roasted, from the bones; beat it in a marble mortar; add this to the cullis in the stewpan. Stir it well together, but take great care that it does not boil; pound three dozen of sweet almonds blanched to a thin paste, in a marble mortar, with a little boiled milk; add it to the cullis, and, when the whole is dissolved, it is fit for use. This is good for all white sauces and white soups.

Cullis of Veal, or any other Meat.

Put some small pieces of veal into a stewpan, with the like quantity of ham, about a pound to a quarter of a pint of water. Stew gently with onions and different herbs, till all the juice of the meat is extracted; then boil it quicker, till it begins to stick to the dish. Take the meat and vegetables out of the pan; add a little butter and flour to the gravy; boil it till it becomes of a good colour; then add, if you like, some good broth; put the meat in again to simmer for two hours; skim it well; strain through a sieve, and keep it for use.

Anchovy Sauce.

Take one or two anchovies; scale, split, and put them into a saucepan, with a little water, or good broth, a spoonful of vinegar, and a small round onion. When the anchovy is quite dissolved, strain off the liquor, and put into your melted butter to your taste.

Bacchanalian Sauce.

Take a spoonful of sweet oil, a gill of good broth, and a pint of white wine vinegar, adding two glasses of strong white wine: boil them together till half is consumed; then put in some shalot, garden cresses, tarragon, chervil, parsley, and scallions, all shred very fine, with some large pepper. Let the whole boil up, and serve it. A little cullis added will improve it. [see top recipe]

Bechamel, or White Sauce. No. 1.

Take half a quarter of a pound of butter, three pounds of veal, cut into small slices, a quarter of a pound of ham, some trimmings of mushrooms, truffles, and morels, two white onions, a bunch of parsley, and thyme, put the whole into a stewpan, and set it on the fire till the meat is made firm; then put in three spoonfuls of flour, moistened with boiling hot thin cream. Keep this sauce rather thin, so that while you reduce it the ingredients may have time to be stewed thoroughly. Season with a little salt and cayenne pepper, and strain it through a sieve. This is excellent for pouring over roast veal instead of butter, and is a good sauce for hashed veal, for any white meat, and for all sorts of vegetables.

Bechamel. No. 2.

Two pounds of lean veal, cut in square pieces, half an inch thick; half a pound of lean ham. Melt in your stewpan two ounces of butter; simmer it until nearly ready to catch the stewpan, which must be avoided: add three table-spoonfuls of flour. When well mixed, add three pints of broth, or water, pouring in a little at a time that the thickening may be smooth. Stir till it boils; set it on the corner of the hob to boil gently for two hours. Season with an onion, twelve peppercorns, a few mushrooms, a faggot of parsley, a sprig of thyme, and a bay-leaf. Let the sauce be reduced to a quart; skim off the fat; and strain through a tamis.

Bechamel. No. 3.

Proceed much in the same way as for the brown sauce, (see Cullis recipe above) only it is not to be drawn down brown, but filled up and thickened with flour and water, some good cream added to it, and then strained.

Sauce for Beef Bouilli.

Four hard eggs well mixed up with half a table-spoonful of made mustard, eight capers, and one table spoonful of Reading sauce.

Sauce for boiled Beef à la Russe.

Scrape a large stick of horseradish, tie it up in a cloth, and boil it with the beef; when boiled a little, put it into some melted butter; boil it some time, and send it up in the butter. Some persons like to have it sent up in vinegar.

Bread Sauce. No. 1.

Put into half a pint of water a good sized piece of bread-crumb, not new, with an onion, a blade of mace, a few peppercorns, in a bit of cloth; boil them a few minutes; take out the onion and spice, mash the bread smooth, add a little salt and a piece of butter.

Bread Sauce. No. 2.

Take a French roll, or white bread crumb; set it on the fire, with some good broth or gravy, a small bag of peppercorns, and a small onion; add a little good cream, and a little pepper and salt; you may rub it through a sieve or not.

Bread Sauce. No. 3.

Take the crumb of a French roll; put it into a saucepan, with two large onions, some white peppercorns, and about a pint of water. Let it boil over a slow fire till the onions are very tender; then drain off the water; rub the bread and onions through a hair sieve; put the pulp into a stewpan, with a bit of butter, a little salt, and a gill of cream; and keep it stirring till it boils.

Bread Sauce. No. 4.

Put bread crumbs into a stewpan with as much milk as will soak them; moisten with broth; add an onion and a few peppercorns. Let it boil or simmer till it becomes stiff: then add two table-spoonfuls of cream, melted butter, or good broth. Take out the onion and peppercorns when ready to serve.

Bread Sauce for Pig.

To the sauce made as directed in No. 1 add a few currants picked and washed, and boil them in it.

Browning for made dishes.

Beat four ounces of loaf sugar very fine: put it into an iron frying-pan, with an ounce of butter; set it over a clear fire, mixing it well all the time: when it begins to be frothy, the sugar is dissolving; hold it high over the fire. When the but[186]ter and sugar is of a deep brown, pour in a little white wine; stir it well; add a little more wine, stirring it all the time. Put in the rind of a lemon, a little salt, three spoonfuls of mushroom ketchup, half an ounce of whole allspice, four shalots peeled; boil them slowly eight minutes, then pour into a basin, cover it close, and let it stand till next day. Skim and bottle it. A pint of white wine is the proper quantity for these ingredients.

Another.

Take some brown sugar, put a little water to it, set it on the fire, and let it boil till it nearly comes to burning, but it must not quite burn, as it would then be bitter: put some water to it, and when cold strain it off, and put it in a bottle. When you want to give a higher colour to gravy or sauce, you will find this very useful.

Butter, to burn.

Put your butter into a frying-pan over a slow fire; when it is melted, dust in some flour, and keep stirring it till it is thick and brown: then thicken some with it.

Butter, to clarify.

Let it slowly melt and then stand a little; and when it is poured into pots, leave the milk, which will settle at the bottom.

Another way.

Melt the butter, and skim it well before it is poured upon any thing.

Plain melted Butter—very simple, but rarely well done.

Keep either a plated or tin saucepan for the sole purpose of melting butter. Put into it a little water and a dust of flour, and shake them together. Cut the butter in slices; as it melts, shake it one way; let it boil up, and it will be smooth and thick.

Another.

Mix a little flour and water out of the dredger, that it may not be lumpy; then put in a piece of butter, set it over a quick fire; have it on and off every instant to shake it, and it will not oil, but will become thick and smooth.

To thicken Butter for Peas, &c.

Put two or three spoonfuls of water in a saucepan, sufficient to cover the bottom. When it boils, put half a pound of butter; when it is melted, take off the saucepan, and shake it round a good while, till very smooth.

Caper Sauce.

Chop half of the capers, and the rest put in whole; chop also a little parsley very fine, with a little bread grated very fine, and add salt: put these into smooth melted butter.

Carp Sauce.

One pint of Lisbon wine, with a small quantity of mace, cloves, and cinnamon, three anchovies, a bit of bay-leaf, a little horseradish not scraped, and a slice or two of onion; let the whole boil about a quarter of an hour, and, when cold, mix as much flour with the sauce as will make it of a proper thickness. Set it over the stove; keep it stirred till it boils. Just before you serve up, put in a quarter of a pint of cream, more or less according to the thickness of your sauce.

Boil the carp in as much water as will cover them, with some wine, a little vinegar, and slices of lemon and onion.

Another.

Four large anchovies, eight spoonfuls of white wine, four of vinegar, two onions, whole, a nutmeg quartered, some mace, whole pepper, two or three cloves; boil it nearly half away, then strain it off, thicken it with butter and flour, and three spoonfuls of thick cream; the sauce should not be too thick.

Light brown Sauce for Carp.

To the blood of the carp put thyme, parsley, onions, and anchovies; chop all these small, and put them together in a saucepan. Add half a pint of white wine, a quarter of a pint of elder vinegar, and a little tarragon vinegar: mix all these together, set the pan on the fire, and boil till it is almost dry. Mix some melted butter with the sauce, and pour it on the fish, being plain boiled.

Sauce for Carp and Tench.

Boil a pint of strong gravy drawn from beef, with three or four anchovies, a small bit of lemon-peel and horseradish, a little mushroom ketchup, and a great deal of black pepper. When boiled enough, strain it off, and when it is cold take off all the fat. Then add nearly half a pound of butter, well mixed with flour, to make it of a proper thickness. When it boils, add a cupful of red wine and a little lemon-juice.

White Sauce for Carp.

Boil half a pint of white wine, a quarter of a pint of elder vinegar, a little tarragon vinegar, half a pint of water, a bunch of sweet-herbs, an onion stuck with cloves, and some mace, till the goodness is out of the ingredients. Thicken with melted butter, the yolk of an egg beat, and a quarter of a pint of good cream.

Celery Sauce, white.

Make some strong boiled gravy, with veal, a good deal of spice, and sweet-herbs; put these into a stewpan with celery cut into pieces of about two or three inches in length, ready boiled, and thicken it with three quarters of a pound of butter rolled in flour, and half a pint of cream. Boil this up, and squeeze in some lemon-juice; pour some of it into the dish.

This is an excellent sauce for boiled turkey, fowl, or veal. When the stuffing is made for turkey, make some of it into balls, and boil them.

Celery Sauce, brown.

Put the celery, cut into pieces about an inch long, and the onions sliced, with a small lump of butter; stew them on a slow fire till quite tender; add two spoonfuls of flour, half a pint of veal or beef broth, salt, pepper, and a little milk or cream. Boil it a quarter of an hour.

Sauce for boiled Chickens.

Take the yolks of four eggs, three anchovies, a little of the middle of bacon, and the inside of half a lemon; chop them all very fine; add a little thyme and sweet marjoram; thicken them all well together with butter, and pour it over the chickens.

Another.

Shred some anchovies very fine, with the livers of the chickens and some hard eggs; take a little of the boiling water in which the chickens were boiled, to melt the butter. Add some lemon juice, with a little of the peel cut small.

Sauce for cold Chicken or Game.

Chop a boned anchovy or two, some parsley, and a small onion; add pepper, oil, vinegar, mustard, and ketchup, and mix them all together.

White Sauce for Chickens.

Half a pint of cream, with a little veal gravy, three tea-spoonfuls of the essence of anchovies, half a tea-spoonful of vinegar, one small onion, one dozen cloves: thicken it with flour and butter; rub it through a sieve, and add a table-spoonful of sherry.

Consommé.

To make this foundation of all sauces, take knuckle of veal and some new ham. One pound of ham will be sufficient for six pounds of veal, with onions and roots of different sorts, and draw it down to a light colour: fill up with beef broth, if there is not enough. When the scum rises, skim it well, and let it simmer gently for three or four hours, keeping it well skimmed. Strain it off for use.

Cream Sauce for White Dishes.

Put a bit of butter into a stewpan, with parsley, scallions, and shalots, the whole shred fine, and a clove of garlic entire; turn it a few times over the fire; shake in some flour, and moisten it with two or three spoonfuls of good cream. Boil it a quarter of an hour, strain off the sauce, and, when you are ready to use it, put in a little good butter, with some parsley parboiled and chopped very fine, salt, and whole pepper, thickening it over the fire.

Dandy Sauce, for all sorts of Poultry and Game.

Put a glass of white wine into a stewpan, with half a lemon cut in slices, a little rasped bread, two spoonfuls of oil, a bunch of parsley and scallions, a handful of mushrooms, a clove of garlic, a little tarragon, one clove, three spoonfuls of rich cullis, and a thin slice of fine smoked ham. Let the whole boil together till it is of a fine rich consistency; pass it through the sieve; then give it another turn over the fire, and serve it up hot.

Devonshire Sauce.

Cut any quantity of young walnuts into small pieces; sprinkle a little salt on them; next day, pound them in a mortar and squeeze the juice through a coarse thin cloth, such as is used for cheese. To a pint of juice add a pound of anchovies, and boil them slowly till the anchovies are dissolved. Strain it; add half a pint of white wine vinegar, half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of cloves, and forty peppercorns; boil it a quarter of an hour, and, when cold, rack it off and bottle it. A quarter of a pint of vinegar put to the dregs that have been strained off, and well boiled up, makes an excellent seasoning for the cook’s use in hashes, fish sauce, &c.

Sauce for Ducks.

Stew the giblets till the goodness is extracted, with a small piece of lean bacon, either dressed or not, a little sprig of lemon-thyme, some parsley, three or four sage leaves, a small onion quartered, a few peppercorns, and plenty of lemon-peel. Stew all these well together; strain and put in a large spoonful of port wine, a little cayenne pepper and butter, and flour it to thicken.

Dutch Sauce.

Put into a saucepan some vinegar and water with a piece of butter; thicken it with the yolks of two eggs; squeeze into it the juice of a lemon, and strain it through a sieve.

Dutch Sauce for Fish.

Slice a little horseradish, and put it into a quarter of a pint of water, with five or six anchovies, half a handful of white peppercorns, a small onion, half a bay-leaf, and a very little lemon peel, cut as thin as possible. Let it boil a quarter of an hour; then strain and thicken with flour and butter and the yolk of an egg. Add a little elder vinegar, and then squeeze it through a tamis. It must not boil after being strained, or it will curdle.

Dutch Sauce for Meat or Fish.

Put two or three table-spoonfuls of water, as many of vinegar, and as many of broth, into a saucepan, with a piece of butter; thicken it with the yolks of two eggs. If for fish, add four anchovies; if not, leave them out. Squeeze into it the juice of a lemon, and strain it through a sieve.

Egg Sauce.

Take two or three eggs, or more if you like, and boil them hard; chop the whites first and then the yolks with them, and put them into melted butter.

The Exquisite.

Put a little cullis [see recipes at the top] into a stewpan, with a piece of butter the size of a walnut rolled in twice as much flour, salt, and large pepper, the yolks of two eggs, three or four shalots cut small, and thicken it over the fire. This sauce, which should be very thick, is to be spread over meat or fish, which is afterwards covered with finely grated bread, and browned with a hot salamander.

Fish Sauce. No. 1.

One pound of anchovies, stripped from the salt, and rinsed in a little port wine, a quarter of an ounce of mace, twelve cloves, two races of ginger sliced, a small onion or shalot, a small sprig of thyme, and winter savory, put into a quart of port wine, and half a pint of vinegar. Stew them over a slow fire covered close; strain the liquor through a hair sieve, cover it till cold, and put it in dry bottles. By adding a pint of port wine and the wine strained that the anchovies were rinsed in you may make an inferior sort. When used, shake it up: take two spoonfuls to a quarter of pound of butter; if not thick enough add a little flour.

Fish Sauce. No. 2.

Take a pint of red wine, twelve anchovies, one onion, four cloves, a nutmeg sliced, as much beaten pepper as will lie upon a half-crown, a bit of horseradish sliced, a little thyme, and parsley, a blade of mace, a gill of vinegar, two bay-leaves. Simmer these all together until the anchovies are dissolved; then strain it off, and, when cold, bottle it up close. Shake the bottle up when you use it; take two table-spoonfuls to a quarter of a pound of butter, without flour and water, and let it boil.

An excellent white Fish Sauce.

An anchovy, a glass of white wine, a bit of horseradish, two or three blades of mace, an onion stuck with cloves, a piece of lemon-peel, two eggs, a quarter of a pint of good broth, two spoonfuls of cream, a large piece of butter, with some flour mixed well in it; keep stirring it till it boils; add a little ketchup, and a small dessert spoonful of the juice of a lemon, and stir it the whole time to prevent curdling. Serve up hot.

Another.

Take eight spoonfuls of white wine, three of vinegar, one of soy or ketchup, three anchovies, one onion, a few sweet-herbs, a little mace, cloves, and white pepper; let it stew gently till it is reduced to six spoonfuls; then strain it off, and add half a pound of fresh butter rolled in a little flour, and six spoonfuls of cream. Let it boil after the cream and butter are added.

Fish Stock.

Put into a pot a scate, cut in pieces, with turnips, carrots, thyme, parsley, and onion. Cut in pieces an eel or two, and some flounders; put them into a stewpan with a piece of butter; stew them down till they go to pieces; put them to your scate; boil the whole well, and strain it off.

White Sauce, for Fowls.

Some good veal gravy, boiled with an anchovy or onion, some lemon-peel, and a very little ketchup. Put in it the yolk of hard egg to thicken it, and add what cream you think proper.

Another.

Take a pint of milk, the yolks of two eggs, well beaten, a spoonful of mushroom pickle, a little salt, nutmeg, a small piece of butter, rolled in flour; stir all together till thick. Pour it over the fowls, and garnish with lemon or parsley.

White Sauce, for boiled Fowls.

Have ready a sauce, made of one pint of veal jelly, half a quarter of a pound of butter, two small onions, and a bunch of parsley; then put three table-spoonfuls of flour, half a pint of boiling hot cream, the yolks of three eggs, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and the same of salt; boil all up together, till of a tolerable thickness; keep it hot, and take care that it does not curdle. Make ready some slices of truffles, about thirty-four, the size and thickness of a shilling, boil them in a little meat jelly; strain them, and add the truffles to the sauce previously made. When ready to serve, pour the sauce and truffles over whatever meat they are destined for.

Sauce, for roasted Fowls of all kinds, or roasted Mutton.

Cut some large onions into square pieces; cut some fat bacon in the same manner, and a slice of lean ham; put them in a stewpan; shake them round constantly, to prevent their burning. When they are of a fine brown colour, put in some good cullis[see recipes at the top] more or less, according to the quantity you want to make. Let them stew very gently, till the onions are tender; then put in two tea-spoonfuls of mustard, and one table-spoonful of vinegar. Serve it hot.

A very good general Sauce.

Take some mint, balm, basil, thyme, parsley, and sage; pick them from the stalks, cut them very fine, slice two large onions very thin; then put all the ingredients into a marble mortar, and beat them till they are quite mixed; add some cayenne pepper and salt; beat all these well together, and mix them by degrees in some good cullis [see recipes at the top], till it is of the thickness of cream. Put them in a stewpan, boil them up; strain the gravy from the herbs, pressing it from them very hard with the back of a spoon; add to the gravy half a glass of wine, half a spoonful of salad oil, the squeeze of a lemon, and a pinch of sugar. This sauce is excellent for most dishes.

Genoese Sauce for stewed Fish.

This sauce is made by stewing fish. Make marinade of carrots, parsley roots, onions, mushrooms, a bay-leaf, some thyme, a blade of mace, a few cloves, and some spices: fry the whole white in butter; pour in a pint of white wine, or less, according to the quantity of sauce required; put in the fish, and let it stew thoroughly to make the sauce. Then take a little browned flour and butter, and mix it with the reserved liquor; add three or four spoonfuls of gravy from veal jelly; let these stew very gently on the corner of the stove; skim off the grease; put in a little salt and cayenne pepper, and add two spoonfuls of the essence of anchovy and a quarter of a pound of butter kneaded with flour. Squeeze in the juice of a whole lemon, and cover the stewed fish with this sauce, which ought to be made thick and mellow.

German Sauce.

Put the same quantity of meat jelly and fresh made broth into a stewpan, with a little parsley parboiled and chopped, the livers of two roasted or boiled fowls, an anchovy, and some capers, the whole shred very fine, a bit of butter about the size of an egg, half a clove of garlic, salt, and a little cayenne pepper. Thicken it over the fire.

Exceedingly good with poultry, pigeons, &c.

Beef Gravy.

Cut in pieces some lean beef, according to the quantity of gravy you may want; put it into a stewpan, with an onion or two, sliced, and a little carrot; cover it close, set it over a gentle fire, and pour off the gravy as it draws from it. Then let the meat brown; keep turning it to prevent its burning, pour over some boiling water, and add a few cloves, peppercorns, a bit of lemon, and a bunch of sweet-herbs. Gently simmer it, and strain it with the gravy that was drawn from the meat, some salt, and a spoonful of ketchup.

Beef Gravy, to keep for use.

Cover a piece of six or eight pounds with water; boil it for twenty minutes or half an hour: then take out the meat, beat it thoroughly, and cut it in pieces, to let out the gravy. Put it again into the water, with a bunch of sweet-herbs, an onion stuck with cloves, a little salt, and some whole pepper. Let it stew, but not boil, till the meat is quite consumed; pass it through a sieve, and let it stand in a cool place. It will keep for a week, if the weather is not very hot. If you want to use this for a hash of brown meat, put a little butter in your frying-pan, shake in a little flour as it boils, and add a glass of claret: if for a white sauce to fowls or veal, melt the butter in the gravy, with a glass of white wine, two spoonfuls of cream, and the yolks of four or six eggs, according to the quantity of sauce required.

Brown Gravy.

Put a piece of butter, about the size of a hen’s egg, into a saucepan; when it is melted, shake in a little flour, and let it brown; then by degrees stir in the following ingredients: half a pint of small beer, the same quantity of water, an onion, a piece of lemon-peel cut small, three cloves, a blade of mace, some whole pepper, a spoonful of mushroom-pickle, the same quantity of ketchup, and an anchovy. Let the whole boil together a quarter of an hour; strain it off, and it will be a good sauce.

Another.

Take the glaze that remains at the bottom of the pot after you have stewed any thing à la braise, provided it be not tainted game; skim it, and strain it through a sieve; then put in a bit of butter about the size of a walnut, mixed with flour; thicken it over the fire, and add the juice of a lemon, and a little salt and cayenne pepper.

Green Sauce for Green Geese, or Ducklings.

Half a pint of the juice of sorrel, with a little grated nutmeg, some bread crumb, and a little white wine; boil it a quarter of an hour, and sweeten with sugar, adding scalded gooseberries and a piece of butter.

Another.

Pound a handful of spinach and another of sorrel together in a mortar; squeeze and put them into a saucepan; warm, but do not let it boil.

Ham Sauce.

When your ham is almost done, let the meat be picked clean from the bone, and mash it well; put it into a saucepan with three spoonfuls of gravy; set it over a slow fire, stirring it all the while, otherwise it will stick to the bottom. When it has been on for some time, add a small bundle of sweet-herbs, pepper, and half a pint of beef gravy; cover it up; stew it over a gentle fire, and when quite done strain off the gravy.

This is very good for veal.

Sauce for Hare or Venison.

In a little port wine and water melt some currant jelly, or send in the jelly only; or simmer port wine and sugar for twenty or thirty minutes.

Harvey’s Sauce.

Three table-spoonfuls of walnut ketchup, two of essence of anchovies, one tea-spoonful of soy, and one of cayenne pepper. Mix these together; put them, with a clove of garlic, into a pint bottle, and fill it up with white wine vinegar.

Sauce for Hashes or Fish, and good with any thing and every thing.

Take two or more spoonfuls of good cullis, according to the quantity you intend to make, a glass of white wine, a shalot, a small onion, a few mushrooms, truffles, morels, and a bunch of sweet-herbs, with a little grated lemon-peel, a slice of ham, and the yolk of an egg. Thicken it with a bit of butter rolled in flour, and let it stew till the ingredients are quite soft.

Sauce for White Hashes or Chickens.

A pint of new milk, the yolk of two eggs, well beaten, two ounces of butter, well mixed with flour; mix it all together in a saucepan, and, when it boils, add two spoonfuls of mushroom ketchup; it must be stirred all the time, or it will not do. If used for cold veal or lamb, the meat must be cut as thin as possible, the sauce made first to boil, and then the meat put into it, till it is hot enough for table.

Horseradish Sauce.

A tea-spoonful of mustard, one table-spoonful of vinegar, three of thick cream, and a little salt; grate as much horse radish into it as will make it as thick as onion sauce. A little shalot may be added.

Italian Sauce.

Put into a stewpan two spoonfuls of sweet oil, a handful of mushrooms cut small, a bunch of parsley, scallions, and half a laurel-leaf, two cloves, and a clove of garlic; turn the whole a few times over the fire, and shake in a little flour. Moisten it with a glass of white wine and twice as much good cullis [see top recipes]; let it boil half an hour; skim away the fat, allowing it to cool a little for that purpose; set it on again, and serve it; it will be found to eat well with any white meat.

Ketchup.

Put a pint of the best white wine vinegar into a wide-mouthed quart bottle; add twelve cloves of shalots, peeled and bruised; take a quarter of a pint of the strongest red wine and boil it a little; wash and bone about a dozen anchovies, let them dissolve in the wine, and, when cold, put them into the vinegar bottle, stopping it close with a cork, and shaking it well. Into the same quantity of wine put a spoonful of pepper bruised, a few races of split ginger, half a spoonful of cloves bruised, and a few blades of large mace, and boil them till the strength of the spice is extracted. When the liquor is almost cold, cut in slices two large nutmegs, and when quite cold put into it some lemon-peel. Put that into the bottle, and scrape thin a large, sound horseradish root, and put that also into the bottle; stop it down close; shake it well together every day for a fortnight, and you may then use it.

Lemon Sauce.

Pare a lemon, and cut it in slices; pick out the seeds and chop them small: then boil the lemon and bruise it. Mix these in a little gravy; and add it to some melted butter, with a little lemon-peel chopped fine.

Liver Sauce for boiled Fowls.

Boil the liver just enough to spread; add a little essence of anchovy and grated lemon-peel, the yolk of a hard egg, and the juice of a lemon: mix it well together, and stir it into some butter.

Lobster Sauce. No. 1.

Pull the lobster to pieces with a fork; do not chop it; bruise the body and the spawn with the back of a spoon; break the shell; boil it in a little water to give it a colour; strain it off. Melt some butter in it very smooth, with a little horseradish, and a little cayenne pepper; mix the body of the lobster well with the butter; then add the meat, and give it a boil, with a spoonful of ketchup and a spoonful of gravy.

Lobster Sauce. No. 2.

Put the red spawn of a hen lobster in a mortar; add half an ounce of butter; pound it smooth, and run it through a hair sieve with the back of a spoon. Cut the meat of the lobster into small pieces, and add as much melted butter to the spawn as will suffice; stir it till thoroughly mixed; then put to it the meat of the lobster, and warm it on the fire; but do not let it boil.

The Marchioness’s Sauce.

Put as much bread rasped very fine as you can take at two handfuls into a stewpan, with a bit of butter of the size of a walnut, a kitchen-spoonful of sweet oil, a shalot cut small, salt and large pepper, with a sufficient quantity of lemon-juice to lighten the whole. Stir it over the fire till it thickens. This sauce may be served with all sorts of meat that require a sharp relishing sauce.

Meat Jelly for Sauces.

Every sort of dish requires good sauce, and for every sauce it is absolutely necessary to have a good meat jelly. The following may be depended upon as being excellent: a shin of beef, about eight pounds, rather more than less; a knuckle of veal, about nine pounds; a neck of mutton, about nine pounds; two fowls; four calves’ feet: carefully cut off all fat whatever, and stew over a stove as slowly as possible, till the juice is entirely extracted. This will produce about seven quarts of jelly. No pepper, salt, or herbs of any kind. These should be added in using the jelly, whether for soups, broths, or sauces; but the pure jelly is the thing to have as the foundation for every species of cookery.

Another.

Three shanks, or two pounds, of mutton in two quarts of water; stew down to a pint and a half, with a carrot, and an onion.

A Mixed Sauce.

Take parsley, scallions, mushrooms, and half a clove of garlic, the whole shred fine; turn it a few times over the fire with butter; shake in a little flour, and moisten it with good broth: when the sauce is consumed to half the original quantity, add two pickled gherkins cut small, and the yolks of three eggs beaten up with some more broth; a little salt and cayenne will complete the sauce.

Mushroom Ketchup. No. 1.

Take a bushel of the large flaps of mushrooms, gathered dry, and bruise them with your hands. Put some of them into an earthen pan; throw some salt over them; then put in more mushrooms, then more salt, till you have done. Add half an ounce of beaten mace and cloves, and the same quantity of allspice; and let them stand five or six days, stirring them every day. Tie a paper over and bake for four hours in a slow oven; strain out the liquor through a cloth, and let it stand to settle. Pour it off clear from the sediment: to every gallon of liquor put a quart of red wine; if not salt enough, add a little more salt, with a race of ginger cut small, and half an ounce of cloves and mace, and boil till reduced nearly one third. Strain it through a sieve into a pan; next day pour it from the settlings, and bottle it for use.

Mushroom Ketchup. No. 2.

Mash your mushrooms with a great deal of salt; let them stand two days; strain them, and boil the liquor once or twice, observing to scum it well. Then put in black pepper and allspice, a good deal of each, and boil them together. Bottle the liquor, and put five or six cloves into each bottle.

Mushroom Ketchup. No. 3.

Pick the mushrooms clean, but by no means wash them; put them into an earthen pipkin with salt, cover them close with a coarse paste, and put them in the oven for seven hours or thereabout. Squeeze them a little, and pour off the liquor, which must be put upon fresh mushrooms, and bake these as long as the first. Then pour off the liquor, after pressing, and boil it well with salt sufficient to keep. Boil it half away till it appears clammy. When cold, bottle it up.

Mushroom Ketchup. No. 4.

Into a quart of red wine put some flaps of mushrooms, half a pound of anchovies, some thyme, two onions sliced, parsley, cloves, and mace. Let them stew gently on the fire; then strain off the liquor, a spoonful of which, with a little gravy, butter, and lemon, will make excellent fish sauce, and be always ready.

Mushroom Sauce.

Mix a little flour with a good piece of butter; boil it up in some cream, shaking the saucepan; then throw in some mushrooms with a little salt and nutmeg: boil this up; or, if you like it better, put the mushrooms in butter melted with a little veal gravy, some salt, and grated nutmeg.

Onion Sauce.

Let the onions be peeled; boil them in milk and water, and put a turnip into the pot; change the water twice: pulp them through a colander, or chop them as you please; then put them into a saucepan, with butter, cream, a little flour, and some pepper and salt.

Brown Onion Sauce.

Peel and slice the onions, to which put an equal quantity of cucumber or celery, with an ounce of butter, and set them on a slow fire; turn the onions till they are highly browned; stir in half an ounce of flour; add a little broth, pepper, and salt; boil it up for a few minutes; add a spoonful of claret or port, and some mushroom ketchup. You may sharpen it with a little lemon-juice. Rub through a tamis.

Pepper-pot.

A good stock made with beef bones or mutton, one small carrot, one onion, three turnips, two heads of celery, a little thyme and sweet-herbs; season to your taste; boil these, and put them through a tamis; then add a little flour and butter; make up some flour and water in little balls, and boil them in the pepper-pot.

Sauce for Pike, or any other fresh-water Fish.

Take half a pint of good beef broth, three table-spoonfuls of cream, one onion sliced fine, a middling sized stick of horseradish scraped, seven or eight peppercorns, three or four cloves, two anchovies; boil well in a piece of butter as big as a walnut well rolled in flour.

Pike should be boiled with the scales on.

Poivrade Sauce.

Boil half a pint of the best vinegar, half a pint of water, two large onions, half a handful of horseradish, and a little pounded white pepper, some salt and shalot, all together a quarter of an hour. If you would have it clear, strain and bottle it: if you chuse, add a little gravy when you use it.

Poor Man’s Sauce.

A handful of parsley leaves picked from the stalks, shred fine, and a little salt strewed over; shred six young green onions, put them to the parsley, with three table-spoonfuls of oil, and five of vinegar, some ground black pepper, and salt. Pickled French beans or gherkins, cut fine, may be added, or a little grated horseradish.

Ragout Sauce.

One ounce of salt; half an ounce of mustard; a quarter of an ounce of allspice; black pepper ground, and lemon-peel grated, half an ounce each; of ginger and nutmeg grated, a quarter of an ounce each; cayenne pepper two drachms. Pound all these, and pass them through a sieve, infused in a quart of vinegar or wine, and bottle them for use.

Spice in ragout is indispensable to give it a flavour, but not a predominating one.

Quin’s Fish Sauce.

A pint of old mushroom ketchup, a pint of old walnut pickle, six anchovies finely pounded, six cloves of garlic, three pounded, three not, and half a tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper.

Ragout Sauce.

One ounce of salt; half an ounce of mustard; a quarter of an ounce of allspice; black pepper ground, and lemon-peel grated, half an ounce each; of ginger and nutmeg grated, a quarter of an ounce each; cayenne pepper two drachms. Pound all these, and pass them through a sieve, infused in a quart of vinegar or wine, and bottle them for use.

Spice in ragout is indispensable to give it a flavour, but not a predominating one.

Sauce à-la-Remoulade. No. 1.

Take two large spoonfuls of capers cut fine, as much parsley, two anchovies, washed and boned, two cloves of garlic, and a little shalot; cut them separately, and then mix them together; put a little rich gravy into a stewpan, with two spoonfuls of oil, one of mustard, and the juice of a large lemon. Make it quite hot, and put in your other ingredients, with salt, pepper, and the leaves of a few sweet-herbs, picked from their stalks. Stir it well together, and let it be four minutes over a brisk fire.

Sauce à-la-Remoulade. No. 2.

Put into a stewpan a shalot, parsley, scallions, a little bit of garlic, two anchovies, some capers, the whole shred very fine. Dilute it with a little mustard, oil, and vinegar, and two table-spoonfuls of good cullis.

Rice Sauce.

Steep a quarter of a pound of rice in a pint of milk, with onion, pepper, &c. When the rice is boiled quite tender, take out the spice, rub it through a sieve, and add to it a little milk or cream. This is a very delicate white sauce.

Richmond Sauce, for boiled Chicken.

Half a pint of cream, the liver of the chicken, a little parsley, an anchovy, some caper liquor, the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, a little pepper, salt, nutmeg, and juice of lemon, with a piece of butter, about the size of a walnut, to thicken it. Send it up hot, with the chicken.

Sauce Robert.

Melt an ounce of butter, and put to it half an ounce of onion, mixed fine; turn it with a wooden spoon till it takes a light brown colour; stir into it a table-spoonful of mushroom ketchup, and the same quantity of port wine. Add half a pint of broth, a quarter of a tea-spoonful of pepper, and the same of salt; give them a boil; add a tea-spoonful of mustard, the juice of half a lemon, and one or two tea-spoonfuls of vinegar or tarragon.

Sauce for Salad.

The yolk of one egg, one tea-spoonful of mustard, one tea-spoonful of tarragon vinegar, three table-spoonfuls of oil, one table-spoonful of common vinegar, chives, according to taste.

Sauce for Steaks.

A glass of small beer, two anchovies, a little thyme, parsley, an onion, some savory, nutmeg, and lemon-peel; cut all these together, and, when the steaks are ready, pour the fat out of the pan, and put in the small beer, with the other ingredients and a piece of butter rolled in flour: let it simmer, and strain it over the steaks.

Sultana Sauce.

Put a pint of cullis into a stewpan with a glass of white wine, two slices of peeled lemons, two cloves, a clove of garlic, half a laurel-leaf, parsley, scallions, onions, and turnip. Boil it an hour and a half over a slow fire, reducing it to a creamy consistency; strain it very carefully through a sieve, and then add a little salt, the yolk of an egg boiled hard and chopped, and a little boiled parsley shred fine.

This sauce is very good with poultry.

Tomata Ketchup.

Take a quart of tomata pulp and juice, three ounces of salt, one ounce of garlic pounded, half an ounce of powdered ginger, and a quarter of an ounce of cloves; add two ounces of anchovies or a wine-glassful of the essence, as sold in the shops. Boil all in a tin saucepan half an hour; strain it through a fine hair sieve. To the strained liquor add a quarter of a pint of vinegar, half a pint of white wine, half a quarter of an ounce of mace, which is to be pounded, and a tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper. Let the whole simmer together over a gentle fire twenty minutes; then strain it through fine lawn or muslin. When cold bottle it up, and be careful to keep it close corked. It is fit for use immediately.

The best way to obtain the pulp and juice free from the skin and seeds is to rub it through a hair sieve.

Tomata Sauce. No. 1.

Roast the tomatas before the fire till they are very tender; save all the liquor that runs from them while roasting; then with a spoon gently scoop out the pulp from the skins; avoid touching them with your fingers: add to the pulp a small quantity of shred ginger, and a few young onions cut very small. Salt it well, and mix the whole together with vinegar, or the best common wine. Put it into pint bottles, as it keeps best with only a bladder tied over.

This is to mix with all other sauces in the small cruet for fish.

Tomata Sauce. No. 2.

Take twelve or fifteen tomatas, ripe and red; cut them in half, and squeeze out all the water and seeds; add capsicums, and two or three table-spoonfuls of beef gravy; set them on a slow fire or stove, for an hour, till melted; rub them through a tamis into a clean stewpan, with a little white pepper and salt; then simmer for a few minutes. The French cooks add a little tarragon vinegar, or a shalot.

Tomata Sauce. No. 3.

When the fruit is ripe, bake it tender, skin, and rub the pulp through a sieve. To every pound of pulp add a quart of chili vinegar, one ounce of garlic, one of shalots, both sliced, half an ounce of salt, a little cayenne pepper, and the juice of three lemons. Boil all together for twenty minutes.

Savoury Jelly for a Turkey.

Spread some slices of veal and ham in the bottom of a stewpan, with a carrot and turnip, and two or three onions. Stew upon a slow fire till the liquor is of as deep a brown as you wish. Add pepper, mace, a very little isinglass, and salt to your taste. Boil ten minutes; strain through a French strainer; skim off all the fat; put in the whites of three eggs, and pass all through a strainer till it is quite clear.

Venison Sauce.

Take vinegar, water, and claret, of each a glassful, an onion stuck with cloves, salt, anchovies, pepper and cloves, of each a spoonful; boil all these together, and strain through a sieve.

Sweet Venison Sauce.

Take a small stick of cinnamon, and boil it in half a pint of claret; then add as much finely grated bread-crumbs as will make a thick pap; and, after it has boiled thoroughly, sweeten it with the powder of the best sugar.

Walnut Ketchup. No. 1.

Take walnuts when they are fit to pickle, beat them in a mortar, press out the juice through a piece of cloth, let it stand one night, then pour the liquor from the sediment, and to every pint put one pound of anchovies; let them boil together till the anchovies are dissolved; then skim, and to every pint of liquor add an eighth of an ounce of mace, the same of cloves and Jamaica pepper, half a pint of common vinegar, half a pound of shalots, with a few heads of garlic, and a little cayenne. Boil all together till the shalots are tender, and when cold bottle up for use.

A spoonful of this ketchup put into good melted butter makes an excellent fish-sauce; it is equally fine in gravy for ducks or beef-steaks.

Walnut Ketchup. No. 2.

Take half a bushel of green walnuts, before the shell is formed, and grind them in a crab-mill, or beat them in a marble mortar. Squeeze out the juice, through a coarse cloth, wringing the cloth well to get out all the juice, and to every gallon put a quart of wine, a quarter of a pound of anchovies, the same quantity of bay salt, one ounce of allspice, half an ounce of cloves, two ounces of long pepper, half an ounce of mace, a little ginger, and horseradish, cut in slices. Boil all together till reduced to half the quantity; pour it into a pan, when cold, and bottle it. Cork it tight, and it will be fit for use in three months.

If you have any pickle left in the jar after the walnuts are used, put to every gallon two heads of garlic, a quart of red wine, and of cloves, mace, long, black, and Jamaica pepper, one ounce each; boil them all together till reduced to half the quantity; pour the liquor into a pan; bottle it the next day for use, and cork it tight.

Walnut Ketchup. No. 3.

Pound one hundred walnuts very fine, put them in a glazed pan with a quart of vinegar; stir them daily for ten days; squeeze them very dry through a coarse cloth. Boil the liquor, and skim it as long as any thing will rise; then add spice, ginger, anchovies instead of salt, and boil it up for use.

Walnut Ketchup. No. 4.

Take one hundred walnuts, picked in dry weather, and bruise them well in a mortar. Squeeze out the juice; add a large handful of salt; boil and skim it well; then put into the juice an equal quantity of white wine vinegar, or the vinegar in which pickled walnuts have been steeped, a little red wine, anchovies unwashed, four or five cloves of garlic, as many blades of mace, two dozen cloves, and a little whole pepper. Boil it six or seven minutes, and when cold bottle it. If higher spiced the better.

Walnut Ketchup. No. 5.

Pound your walnuts; strew some salt upon them, and let them stand a day or two; strain them; to every pint of juice put half a pound of anchovies, and boil them in it till they are dissolved. Then strain the liquor, and to every pint add two drachms of mace, the same quantity of cloves, some black pepper, one ounce of dried shalots, and a little horseradish.

White Sauce.

Put some good veal or fowl cullis into a stewpan, with a piece of crumb of bread, about the size of a tea-cup, a bunch of parsley, thyme, scallions, a clove of garlic, a handful of butter, mushrooms, and a glass of white wine: let the whole boil till half the quantity is consumed. Strain it through a coarse sieve, keeping the vegetables apart; then add to it the yolks of three eggs beaten up in three table-spoonfuls of cream, and thicken it over the fire, taking care to keep it continually stirred lest the eggs should curdle. You may either add your vegetables or not. This sauce may be used with all sorts of meat or fish that are done white.

Another.

Take some cream, a very little shalot, and a little salt; when warmed upon the fire add a piece of butter rolled in flour; stir it gently one way, and make it the consistency of cream. This sauce is excellent for celery, chickens, veal, &c.

White Wine sweet Sauce.

Break a stick of cinnamon, and set it over the fire in a saucepan, with enough water to cover it; boil it up two or three times; add a quarter of a pint of wine and about two spoonfuls of powdered sugar, and break in two bay-leaves; boil all these together; strain off the liquor through a sieve; put it in a sauceboat or terrine, and serve up.

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