Cut two ounces of butter into small pieces, and put it into a pint
saucepan, with a large tea-spoonful of flour, and two table-spoonsful
of milk; when thoroughly mixed, add six table-spoonsful of water,
shake it continually, over the fire, always the same way, till it
simmers, then set it on, and let it just boil up, when it will be
about the thickness of cream: if too thick to eat with vegetables,
add a little more milk.
_This is the foundation of almost all the sauces._
Two table-spoonsful of mushroom catsup added to this instead of the
milk, will make an excellent sauce for _fish_, _flesh_, or _fowl_,
and particularly for _chops_ and _steaks_.
If butter be oiled in melting, put in a spoonful of cold water and
stir it with a spoon; or pour it forward and backward from the
saucepan to the boat, till it is come again.