The French say the English only know how to make one kind of sauce, and
a poor one at that. Notwithstanding the French understand the sauce
question, it is very convenient to make the drawn butter, and, by adding
different flavorings, make just so many kinds of sauce. For instance, by
adding capers, shrimps, chopped pickles, anchovy paste, chopped boiled
eggs, lobster, oysters, parsley, cauliflower, etc., one has caper,
shrimp, pickle, anchovy, egg, and the other sauces. The drawn-butter
sauce is simple, yet few make it properly, managing generally to have
it insipid, and with flour uncooked. If a housekeeper has any pride
about having a good table, she will be amply repaid for learning some of
the French sauces, which are, at last, simple enough. We are often
frightened to see many items in a receipt; we shake our heads dubiously
at the trouble and extravagance of one receipt mentioning thyme, nutmeg,
bay-leaf, mace, shallot, capers, pepper-corns, parsley, and, last of all
the horrors, stock. As far as the herbs are concerned, an investment of
twenty-five cents will purchase enough mace, thyme, bay-leaves, and
pepper-corns for a year’s supply of abundant sauces, to say nothing of
their uses for braising, _blanquettes_, etc. Five cents’ worth of
shallots should last a long time; they are sold in all city markets,
being only young forced onions. Capers would be extravagant if a
bottleful, costing sixty cents, would not last a year in a small-sized
family. I have already said enough about stock to show that one must be
very incompetent if a little of it can not be at hand, made of trimmings
and cheap pieces of meat and bones.
The use of mushrooms and truffles, which are comparatively cheap in
France, can not be extensively introduced here. A little tin can,
holding about a gill of tasteless truffles, costs three or four dollars:
however, mushrooms are much less expensive, and infinitely better. A can
of mushrooms costs forty cents, and is sufficient for several sauces and
_entrées_.
Some persons raise mushrooms in their cellars. A small, rich bed in a
dark place where the soil will not freeze, planted with mushroom spawn,
will yield enough mushrooms for the family, and the neighbors besides,
with very little trouble and expense.
The French white sauces differ from the English white sauce, as they are
made with strong white stock, prepared with veal, or chickens, or both,
and some vegetables for a basis. If one would learn to make the _sauce
Bechamel_, it will be found an easy affair to prepare many delicious
_entrées_, such as chicken in shells (_en coquille_), or in papers (_en
papillote_), and mushrooms in crust (_croûte aux champignons_).
For boiled fish the _sauce Hollandaise_ is a decided success. In Paris
every one speaks of this delicious sauce, and bribes the _chef de
cuisine_ for the receipt. It is made without stock, and is very simple.
For fried fish the perfection of accompaniments is the _sauce
Tartare_--a mere addition of some capers, shallots, parsley, and pickles
to the _sauce Mayonnaise_.
When tomatoes are so abundant, it is unpardonable that one should never
serve a tomato sauce with a beefsteak, and a score of other meat dishes.
For a chicken or a lobster salad, learn unquestionably the _sauce
Mayonnaise_.
In the thickening of sauces, let it be remembered that butter and flour
should be well cooked together before the sauce is added, to prevent the
flour from tasting uncooked. In butter sauces, however, only enough
butter should be used to cook the flour, the remainder added, cut in
pieces, after the sauce is taken from the fire. This preserves its
flavor.