Melt one-half a pound of butter, add a little flour, salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg. Stir until thick, then add one pint of cream, a little chopped parsley, and heat for five minutes.
MEAT SAUCE
Put into a saucepan one pound of beef and one-half an onion chopped up with three ounces of lard, some parsley, salt, pepper, one clove, and a very small slice of ham. Fry these over a hot fire for a few moments, moving them continually, and when the onion is browned add four tablespoons of red wine, and four tablespoons of tomato sauce (or tomato paste). When this sauce begins to sputter, add, little by little, some boiling water. Stick a fork into the meat from time to time to allow the juices to escape. Take a little of the sauce in a spoon, and when it looks a good golden color, and there is a sufficient quantity to cover the meat, put the covered saucepan at the back of the stove and allow it to simmer until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Then take out the meat, slice it, prepare macaroni, or any paste you desire, and serve it with the meat, and the sauce poured over all, and the addition of butter and grated cheese.
ECONOMICAL SAUCE
Take one-half of an old onion and chop it up fine. Take one small carrot, wash it, scrape it, and cut it into transverse slices; do the same with a stalk of celery, some parsley, and one fresh or canned mushroom. Then take a slice of ham (raw if possible), fat and lean, about four fingers wide and one finger high. Chop it up fine, and put it into a medium-sized saucepan with one tablespoon of butter. When the ham is colored, put in the chopped-up vegetables, one clove, salt, and pepper, and stir constantly, allowing the vegetables to cook thoroughly but not to burn, which will destroy the taste of the sauce. It should be a golden color. A little red wine may be added if you have it, but this is not necessary. Then add four fresh tomatoes, cut into several pieces, the skins removed, and the seeds taken out. Allow these to cook in the sauce until they sputter, then add a little water (or bouillon if you have it), allow it to boil for a few moments more, then take it off the fire and pass it through a sieve or fine colander, pressing hard so that all will pass through. If it is too thick after straining, add water or bouillon, and put it back and allow it to boil again a few moments. This sauce can be used for macaroni, gnocchi, left-over meat, egg, etc. The success of the sauce depends upon the proper frying of the onion in it.
HOT PIQUANTE SAUCE
Chop up fine two ounces of lean ham and a small piece of onion, add a little celery, the stalks of parsley, one clove, one-half tablespoon of pepper, and one-half bay-leaf. Pour over these ingredients a scant one-half cup of vinegar. Cover the saucepan and allow it to boil until it has consumed one-half. Put into another saucepan one-half cup of bouillon (or water in which you have dissolved one tablespoon of extract of beef). Allow it to boil, and then thicken with a teaspoon of potato flour which has been diluted in a little cold water. Drop this, little by little, into the saucepan until you have gained the required thickness for the sauce. Then pour in the boiled vinegar, passing it through cheese-cloth. Mix well together and add a teaspoon of French mustard, some capers, and some chopped-up pickles. Serve hot with meats or tongue. The pepper should predominate in this sauce.
PIQUANTE SAUCE WITH EGG
Take some anchovy paste—one tablespoon, two tablespoons of chopped parsley, some capers and chopped pickles, one teaspoon of French mustard and the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Work this all together into a paste, then add three tablespoons of olive-oil and two or three of vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper. This sauce is good with both meat and fish.