SAUCES AND GRAVIES.
=Bignon's Sauce.=--THIS is a delightful appetizer with meats cold or
hot, or with fish. Chop fine equal parts, say one tablespoonful of each,
capers, parsley, chives, gherkins, tarragon and green Chili peppers. Mix
together; season with salt, pepper and cayenne and cover with tarragon
vinegar; let it stand an hour and add three tablespoonfuls of oil and a
teaspoonful of French mustard.
=Bread Sauce.=--Mince an onion and boil in milk until soft. Then strain
the milk over one cupful of grated bread crumbs and stand aside, closely
covered, for an hour. Add the minced onion, two tablespoonfuls of
butter, pepper, salt and a bit of mace to season. Set over the fire,
boil up and serve with roasted or broiled birds.
=Brown Sauce.=--The formula for this is the same as for the white sauce,
except that the butter and fat are browned before the flour is added, or
browned flour is used for thickening. Use a little more flour
proportionately, in a brown sauce, as the browning destroys, in a
measure, the thickening qualities of the flour. Reduce with brown stock
or water.
With this as foundation, any number of palatable sauces can be invented
which will be found useful in disposing of many odds and ends of
vegetables, cold meats and left-over fish, that might otherwise "go
begging."
=Celery Sauce.=--Prepare a smooth, white sauce by blending over the fire
two tablespoonfuls each butter, and flour, then reducing with a pint of
warm milk. Add a dozen stalks of celery that have been minced fine and
cooked tender in just enough water to cover. Cook two minutes, season
with salt and pepper and serve with boiled fowl.
=Currant Jelly Sauce.=--This makes a delicious addition to roast venison
or mutton. Cook together in a saucepan one tablespoonful butter and a
teaspoonful minced onion. When the onion is lightly colored, (not
blackened) add a teaspoonful of flour and stir until smooth. Add
gradually a half cupful stock, stirring all the time, and when it boils
up add a bit of bay leaf, a teaspoonful vinegar, a half teaspoonful
salt, and eighth teaspoonful pepper, one clove, and a tablespoonful of
currant jelly. Simmer five minutes, strain and serve hot.
=Curry Sauce.=--This is nice with any delicate meat or fish or can be
poured over boiled rice for a side dish. Put two tablespoonfuls butter
in a saucepan, then stir into it two tablespoonfuls flour. Add a scant
tablespoonful curry powder and a teaspoonful onion juice, and cook a
moment or two, but do not allow them to brown. Stir in gradually one
cupful milk and cook until smooth and thickened. Add a cup of cream,
season with salt and just before serving, add, if you like, a hard
boiled egg chopped fine.
=Hollandaise Sauce.=--Put one-half cup of butter into a bowl of cold
water and wash it to take out the salt. Divide it into three parts and
put one-third into the top of a double boiler with the yolks of two
eggs and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Stir and cook until the butter
melts, add another piece of butter and continue stirring. As the sauce
thickens stir in the last piece, add one-third cup of boiling water, a
speck of cayenne and a saltspoon of salt and cook one minute.
=Horseradish Sauce.=--Put a saucepan over the fire with a tablespoonful
of butter and a half tablespoonful of flour. Stir and cook two minutes,
then add a half cupful of strained soup stock and a half cupful of milk,
six whole peppers, a bit of bay leaf and an even half teaspoonful of
salt. Cook five minutes, remove bay leaf and peppers, and add three
tablespoonfuls grated horseradish. Cook two minutes and serve.
=Maitre d'Hotel Butter.=--To make it, rub a quarter cupful of butter to
a cream, add a half teaspoonful of salt, a good dash of pepper, white or
paprika, a tablespoonful of fine chopped parsley and a tablespoonful of
lemon juice. If you are partial to nutmeg, a grating of that is
sometimes added.
=Mexican Sauce.=--Take four large tomatoes or the equivalent in canned,
three green peppers and one onion. Chop pepper and onion in a wooden
bowl, add the tomato and salt and pepper to season. To one-half cupful
of vinegar, add the drippings from four slices fried bacon, pour over
the chopped vegetables and serve in individual salad dishes as an
accompaniment to meats.
=Mint Sauce for Roast Lamb.=--Put one cup of vinegar and one rounding
tablespoon of sugar together and stir in one-quarter cup of finely
minced mint. Let stand fifteen minutes before it is served.
=French Mustard Sauce, Creole Style.=--Work together three
tablespoonfuls mustard and one cupful sugar, then beat in one egg until
smooth. Add one cupful of vinegar a little at a time, set over the fire
and cook three or four minutes stirring constantly. When cold add one
tablespoonful olive oil beating all well together.
=An Excellent Mustard Sauce for Cold Meat.=--Two teaspoonfuls flour, one
teaspoonful sugar, one teaspoonful mustard, a little pepper and salt.
Mash all together, add boiling water, to make thick paste. Beat
constantly till lumps are all out. Add sufficient vinegar to make it
thinner. Be sure the water is boiling.
=Onion Sauce.=--Prepare a smooth white sauce by blending over the fire
two tablespoonfuls of butter and a tablespoonful and a half of flour.
When bubbly, turn in two cupfuls of hot milk, and stir until smooth and
thickened. Add two large boiled onions minced fine, cook a moment,
season with salt and pepper and serve with poultry or boiled veal.
=Spanish Sauce.=--For veal, lamb or mutton chops, broiled or fried fish,
chicken, etc. One large onion, one full section of garlic, one-half
large sweet, green or red pepper. Put in two tablespoonfuls of butter,
one teaspoonful of olive or vegetable oil. When effervescing stops add a
half teaspoonful of salt, and the onion, garlic and green pepper which
has been finely grated. When this begins to brown, giving it time to
cook rather well, add four good sized tomatoes, skinned and chopped, or
the thick part of one can of tomatoes. Let all simmer for fifteen to
twenty minutes with occasional stirring to prevent burning. Add salt and
pepper, paprika, or cayenne to taste, two tablespoonfuls tomato ketchup
and one dessertspoonful Worcestershire Sauce, before taking off fire.
It should be the consistency of good cream. If too thin, cook down, or
if too thick add a sufficient amount of _boiling_ water. Use red pepper
as a seasoning.
=Thick Tomato Sauce.=--Blend over the fire two tablespoonfuls of melted
butter and two tablespoonfuls of flour; add a little at a time, and
stirring all the while, one large cupful of tomato juice. Stir until the
mixture thickens; then season to taste with sugar, salt and cayenne
pepper. The seasoning may sometimes be varied by adding a little chopped
parsley or chopped onion or even both. For a thinner tomato sauce--use
but one tablespoonful of butter and one of flour to each cupful of
liquor.
=Sauce Tartare.=--Make first a good mayonnaise, then finish with the
addition of a tablespoonful each of chopped gherkins, olives, parsley
and capers; mix together in a bowl a half teaspoonful of salt, a half
teaspoonful mustard, a half teaspoonful of powdered sugar and a half
saltspoonful of pepper; add the yolks of two raw eggs that have been in
the ice box long enough to be as cold as possible and beat lightly;
measure out a half cupful of olive oil and have this cold also; add the
oil slowly at first, then as it begins to thicken it can be poured in
more rapidly. When quite thick, add three tablespoonfuls of vinegar,
then the chopped ingredients. This will keep several weeks. Tarragon
vinegar may be used in place of the cider vinegar if preferred.