No. 3. Brown Sauce from all sorts of meat.
Knowing by experience the difficulty of getting meat for stock in the country, especially veal, I will, for the convenience of families, give a receipt for brown sauce, to be made from rabbits, poultry, trimmings of mutton, beef, pork, or even venison; (but to every ten pounds of meat required, use twelve, as it is not so succulent as beef or veal.) In Scotland I was compelled to use venison even for beef-tea; this may appear rather strange, but it is no less true; for although the wealth of my employer would have enabled me to have anything required for my use, money could not purchase it at the time required. The mock beef-tea had of course a wild flavour, but it was still very palatable. Butter the bottom of a thick stewpan, upon which lay ten large onions peeled and cut in halves, then put in what trimmings of meat or poultry you may have, proceed exactly with it as directed for brown sauce (No. 1), but using stock or water in proportion to the quantity of meat; the same precaution must be used likewise with the quantity of roux used for thickening.
No. 4. For thickening Brown Sauce without making a roux.
Make your stock as directed in either of the three last receipts, (according to circumstances;) if sixteen quarts, bake two pounds of the best flour in a moderate oven, without letting it brown; sift it, and when quite cold mix it into a thin paste with two quarts of cold stock; mix it by degrees, getting it as smooth as possible; have the stock for your sauce boiling in a stewpan upon the fire, into which pour in the paste, keeping it stirred until it boils; then set it at the corner of the stove; let it simmer an hour and a half; skim it well, then place it upon a brisk fire, and add a few chopped mushrooms, boil it very quickly, keeping it stirred until it adheres to the back of the spoon; then pass it through a tammie as before, and use it where required.
No. 5. Velouté.
This sauce has stood for a century as a foundation sauce in the highest class of cookery, and may be admired for its utility, and the delicacy of its flavour; but I have avoided referring to it in almost every receipt on account of the expense attached to it and its tedious fabrication. According to the old system, it requires two days to complete it; one for the simmering of the stock, and the other for the sauce. I have here, however, succeeded in simplifying it, by which the aroma of its component parts are better preserved than when subject to so long boiling.
Put six tablespoonfuls of oil in a large thick-bottomed stewpan, rub it over the bottom, then lay in twenty pounds of veal in large slices, (from knuckles or the under part of legs,) an old fowl, two carrots, six onions, (in one of which you have stuck six cloves,) two blades of mace, four pounds of good ham, and a bunch of parsley, six sprigs of thyme, and four bay-leaves; pour in a pint of water, and place the stewpan upon a sharp fire; when it begins to form large bubbles, stir the whole round with a large wooden spoon; place some ashes upon the fire, and some live charcoal upon the lid of the stewpan; take off the lid occasionally, and stir the meat round, prick it, and when each piece is covered with a light white glaze fill up the stewpan with sixteen quarts of light stock (No. 133), or water, add a quarter of a pound of salt, if water, but only three ounces, if stock; when upon the point of boiling, stand it on the corner of the stove and let it simmer for two hours and a half, keeping it well skimmed, and adding a little cold water every now and then, to clarify it and keep its quantity; pass it through a fine cloth into a basin; then in another stewpan have a pound of fresh butter, which melt upon a slow fire, stirring in one pound and a half of flour, stir it over the fire ten minutes (but do not let it change colour), add the trimmings of half a pottle of mushrooms; stir it round another minute, then take it off the fire and keep stirring it until about half cold; then pour in the stock all at once, keeping it stirred quickly; place it over a sharp fire, and stir it until it boils, then place it at the corner of the fire and let it simmer for two hours, keeping it well skimmed; pass it through a tammie into a basin, and stir it occasionally until cold; when wanted, take the quantity you require, reduce it over a sharp fire, keeping it stirred until it adheres to the back of the spoon; finish with half a pint of cream or boiled milk.
This sauce, when well made, should be as white as ivory; it is used for removes or entrées of poultry, and may be substituted for white sauce in any of these receipts.
No. 6. Velouté, a plainer way.
Well oil the bottom of a thick stewpan; cut twelve pounds of veal in dice, (lamb trimmings or rabbits may be used with it,) and two pounds of lean ham also cut in dice; put the whole into the stewpan with three onions, a carrot, four cloves, a blade of mace, half a grated nutmeg, and a bunch of parsley, four sprigs of thyme, and two bay-leaves; pour in a pint of water, and set it over a sharp fire, stirring it round occasionally, (the fire should be sharp at first, but very slow at the finish,) until the meat and the bottom of the stewpan is covered with a white glaze; then add a pound of flour, mix it well with the meat, then fill up the stewpan with ten quarts of stock (No. 133), or water; add three ounces of salt, if with water, but two if with stock, and keep moving it round until upon the point of boiling, when place it on the corner of the stove and let it simmer two hours, keeping it well skimmed; then pass it through a hair sieve into a basin, and again through a tammie into another stewpan; add a few chopped mushrooms; stir it over the fire until it is reduced to a proper consistency, (this sauce is quickly done, and full of flavour;) finish with a pint of cream or boiling milk, and use it as directed in the last.