THE French chef keeps always on hand four sauces,—White, Brown, Béchamel, and Tomato,—and with these as a basis is able to make kinds innumerable. Butter and flour are usually cooked together for thickening sauces. When not browned, it is called roux; when browned, brown roux. The French mix butter and flour together, put in saucepan, place over fire, stir for five minutes; set aside to cool, again place over fire, and add liquid, stirring constantly until thick and smooth. Butter and flour for brown sauces are cooked together mich longer, and watched carefully lest butter should burn. The American cook makes sauce by stirring butter in saucepan until melted and bubbling, adds flour and continues stirring, then adds liquid, gradually stirring or beating until the boiling-point is reached. For Brown Sauce, butter should be stirred until well browned; flour should be added and stirred until butter until both are browned before the addition of liquid. The secret in making a Brown Sauce is to have butter and flour well browned before adding liquid.
It is well worth remembering that a sauce of average thickness is made by allowing two tablespoons each of butter and flour to one cup liquid, whether it be milk, stock, or tomato. For Brown Sauce a slightly larger quantity of flour is necessary, as by browning flour its thickening property is lessened, its starch being changed to dextrine. When sauces are set away, put a few bits of butter on top to prevent crust from forming.
Put better in saucepan, stir until melted and bubbling; add flour mixed with seasonings, and stir until thoroughly blended; then pour on gradually while stirring constantly the milk, bring to the boiling-point and let boil two minutes. If a wire whisk is used, all the milk may be added at once.
Cover onions with boiling water, cook five minutes, drain, again cover with boiling water, and cook until soft; drain, and rub through a sieve. Add to sauce with cream. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with mutton, pork chops, or “hard boiled” eggs.
Melt one-half the butter, add flour with seasonings, and pour on gradually hot water. Boil five minutes, and add remaining butter in small pieces. To be served with boiled or baked fish.
Cook onion in butter until slightly browned; remove onion and stir butter constantly until well browned; add flour mixed with seasonings, and brown the butter and flour; then add stock gradually, bring to the boiling-point, and let boil two minutes.
Cook butter with carrot, onion, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, and peppercorns, until brown, stirring constantly, care being taken that butter is not allowed to burn; add flour, and when well browned, add stock gradually. Bring to boiling-point, strain, and season with salt and pepper.
Drain and rinse mushrooms and chop finely one-half of same. Cook five minutes with butter and lemon juice; drain; brown the butter, add flour, and when well-browned, add gradually Consommé. Cook fifteen minutes, skim, add remaining mushrooms cut in quarters or slices, and cook two minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Use fresh mushrooms in place of canned ones when possible.
To one cup Brown Sauce add one tablespoon vinegar, one-half small shallot finely chopped, one tablespoon each chopped capers and pickle, and a few grains of cayenne.
Remove stones from ten olives, leaving meat in one piece. Cover with boiling water and cook five minutes. Drain olivers, and add to two cups Brown Sauce I or II.
Brown the butter, add flour, with salt and cayenne, and stir until well browned. Add stock gradually, and just before serving, orange juice, Sherry, and pieces of rind.
Cook first six ingredients with butter five minutes, add flour, and stir until well browned; then add gradually stock and wine. Strain, reheat, and after pouring around fish sprinkle with parsley.
Simmer two cups Espagnole Sauce until reduced to one and one-half cups. Add two tablespoons mushroom liquor, one-half cup champagne, and one tablespoon powdered sugar.
Cook onion with tomatoes fifteen minutes, rub through a strainer, and add to butter and flour (to which seasonings have been added) cooked together. If tomatoes are very acid, add a few grains of soda. If tomatoes are to retain their red color it is necessary to brown butter and flour together before adding the tomatoes.
Cook tomatoes twenty minutes with sugar, peppercorns, bay leaf, and salt; rub through a strainer, and add stock. Brown the butter, add flour, and when well browned, gradually add hot liquid.
Brown the butter with carrot, onion, bay leaf, thyme, and parsley; remove seasonings, add flour, stir until well browned, then add tomatoes and stock. Bring to boiling-point, and strain.
2 slices chopped bacon or small quantity uncooked ham
2 cloves
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1 slice onion
Few gratings nutmeg
6 slices carrot
3 tablespoons flour
Bit of bay leaf
1/2 can tomatoes
2 sprigs thyme
11/2 cups Brown Stock
Sprig of parsley
Salt and pepper
1/2 can mushrooms
Cook bacon, onion, and carrot five minutes; add bay leaf, thyme, parsley, cloves, peppercorns, nutmeg, and tomatoes, and cook five minutes. Add flour diluted with enough cold water to pour; as it thickens, dilute with stock. Cover, and cook in oven one hour. Strain, add salt and pepper to taste, and one-half can mushrooms, drained from their liquor, rinsed, and cut in quarters; then cook two minutes. Use fresh mushrooms in place of canned ones when possible.
Cook ham and vegetables with butter until butter is well browned; add flour, stock, and tomatoes; cook five minutes, then strain. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook stock twenty minutes with onion, carrot, bay leaf, parsley, and peppercorns, then strain; there should be one cupful. Melt the butter, add flour, and gradually hot stock and milk. Season with salt and pepper.
To two cups Béchamel Sauce add yolks of three eggs slightly beaten, first diluting eggs with small quantity of hot sauce, then adding gradually to remaining sauce. This prevents the sauce from having a curdled appearance.
Wash oysters, reserve liquor, heat, strain, add oysters, and cook until plump. Remove oysters, and make a sauce of butter, flour, oyster liquor, and milk. Add oysters, and season with salt and pepper.
Beat one-half cup heavy cream until stiff, and add one-fourth teaspoon salt, few grains pepper, and gradually two tablespoons vinegar; then add one cucumber, pared, chopped, and drained.
Wash and scrape celery before cutting into pieces. Cook in boiling salted water until soft, drain, rub through a sieve, and add to sauce. Celery sauce is often made from the stock in which fowl or turkey has been boiled, or with one-half stock and one-half milk.
Mix vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and Worcestershire Sauce in a small bowl, and heat over hot water. Brown the butter in an omelet pan, and strain into first mixture.
Clean, wipe, and force coral through a fine sieve. Put in a mortar with butter, and pound until well blended. This butter is used in Lobster Soup and Sauces to give color and richness,
Put butter in a bowl, cover with cold water, and wash, using a spoon. Divide in three pieces; put one piece in a saucepan with yolks of eggs and lemon juice, place saucepan in a larger one containing boiling water, and stir constantly with a wire whisk until butter is melted; then add second piece of butter, and, as it thickens, third piece. Add water, cook one minute, and season with salt and cayenne. If mixture curdles, add two tablespoons heavy cream.
Wash butter, divide in three pieces; put one piece in a saucepan with vinegar or lemon juice and egg yolks; place saucepan in a larger one containing boiling water, and stir constantly with a wire whisk. Add second piece of butter, and, as it thickens, third piece. Remove from fire, and add salt and cayenne. If left over fire a moment too long it will separate. If a richer sauce is desired, add one-half teaspoon hot water and one-half tablespoon heavy cream.
Remove meat from lobster, and cut tender claw-meat in one-half inch dice. Chop remaining meat, add to body bones, and cover with water; cook until stock is reduced to two cups, strain, and add gradually to butter and flour cooked together, then add salt, cayenne, lemon juice, and lobster dice.
To Hollandaise Sauce II add two tablespoons tomato purée (tomatoes stewed, strained, and cooked until reduced to a thick pulp), one teaspoon finely chopped parsley, and a few grains cayenne.
Cook milk thirty minutes in double boiler, with fine bread crumbs and onion stuck with cloves. Remove onion, add salt, cayenne, and two tablespoons butter. Usually served poured around roast partridge or grouse, and sprinkled with coarse crumbs browned in remaining butter.
Wash rice, add to milk, and cook in double boiler until soft. Rub through a fine strainer, return to double boiler, add onion stuck with cloves, and cook fifteen minutes. Remove onion, add butter, salt, and pepper.
Add sugar to vinegar; when dissolved, pour over mint and let stand thirty minutes on back of range to infuse. If vinegar is very strong, dilute with water.
To one cup Brown Sauce, from which onion has been omitted, add one-fourth tumbler current jelly and one tablespoon Sherry wine; or, add currant jelly to one cup gravy made to serve with roast lamb. Currant Jelly Sauce is suitable to serve with lamb.
Mix mustard, sugar, salt, and cayenne; add yolks of eggs, and stir until thoroughly mixed, setting bowl in pan of ice-water. Add oil, at first drop by drop, stirring with a wooden spoon or wire whisk. As mixture thickens, dilute with vinegar, when oil may be added more rapidly. Keep in cool place until ready to serve, then add remaining ingredients.
To white sance add remaining ingredients. Stir constantly until mixture is thoroughly heated, but do not let it come to the boiling-point. Served with boiled, steamed, or fried fish.
Add oil slowly to egg yolks, then pour on gradually vinegar and water. Cook over boiling water until mixture thickens, then add seasonings and parsley.
To three-fourths cup Mayonnaise add one-half tablespoon each finely chopped capers and parsley, one finely chopped gherkin, and one-half can tomatoes, stewed, strained, and cooked until reduced to two tablespoons. Serve with any kind of fried fish.
Cook onion and pepper with butter five minutes; add tomatoes, mushrooms, and olives, and cook two minutes, then add Brown Sauce. Bring to boiling-point, and add wine to taste. Serve with broiled beefsteak or fillet of beef. Boiled rice should accompany the beef, and be served on same platter.
Melt butter, add flour, and pour on gradually White Stock; then add salt, pepper, mustard, chives, and horseradish. Cook two minutes, strain, add cream and lemon juice. Reheat before serving. Serve with Beef Tenderloins or Hamburg Steaks.
