GOOD BEEF OR VEAL GRAVY. (ENGLISH RECEIPT.)
Flour and fry lightly in a bit of good butter a couple of pounds of either beef or veal; drain the meat well from the fat, and lay it into a small thick stewpan or iron saucepan; pour to it a quart of boiling water; add, after it has been well skimmed and salted, a large mild onion sliced, very delicately fried, and laid on a sieve to drain, a carrot also sliced, a small bunch of thyme and parsley, a blade of mace, and a few peppercorns; stew these gently for three hours or more, pass the gravy through a sieve into a clean pan, and when it is quite cold clear it entirely from fat, heat as much as is wanted for table, and if not sufficiently thick stir into it from half to a whole teaspoonful of arrow-root mixed with a little mushroom catsup. Beef or veal, 2 lbs.; water, 2 pints; fried onion, 1 large; carrot, 1; small bunch of herbs; salt, 1 small teaspoonful or more; mace, 1 blade; peppercorns, 20: 3 to 3-1/2 hours.
A RICH ENGLISH BROWN GRAVY.
Brown lightly and carefully from four to six ounces of lean ham, thickly sliced and cut into large dice; lift these out, and put them into the pan in which the gravy is to be made; next, fry lightly also, a couple of pounds of neck of beef dredged moderately with flour, and slightly with pepper; put this, when it is done, over the ham; and then brown gently and add to them two or three eschalots, or a Portugal onion; should neither of these be at hand, one not large common onion must be used instead. Pour over these ingredients a quart of boiling water, or of weak but well-flavoured broth; bring the whole slowly to a boil, clear off the scum with great care, throw in a saltspoonful of salt, four cloves, a blade of mace, twenty corns of pepper, a bunch of savoury herbs, a carrot, and a few slices of celery: these last two may be fried or not as is most convenient. Boil the gravy very softly until it is reduced to little more than a pint; strain, and set it by until the fat can be taken from it. Heat it anew, add more salt if needed and a little mushroom catsup, cayenne-vinegar, or whatever flavouring it may require for the dish with which it is to be served; it will seldom require any thickening. A dozen small mushrooms prepared as for pickling, or two or three morels, previously well washed and soaked, may be added to it at first with advantage. Half this quantity of gravy will be sufficient for a single tureen, and the economist can diminish a little the proportion of meat when it is thought too much.
PLAIN GRAVY FOR VENISON.
Trim away the fat from some cutlets, and lay them into a stewpan; set them over a clear fire, and let them brown a little in their own gravy; then add a pint of boiling water to each pound of meat. Take off the scum, throw in a little salt, and boil the gravy until reduced one half. Some cooks broil the cutlets lightly, boil the gravy one hour, and reduce it after it is strained. For appropriate gravy to serve with venison, see “Haunch of Venison,” Chapter [XV].
A RICH GRAVY FOR VENISON.
There are few eaters to whom this would be acceptable, the generality of them preferring infinitely the flavour of the venison itself to any which the richest gravy made of other meats can afford; but when the flavour of a well-made Espagnole is likely to be relished, prepare it by the receipt of the following page, substituting plain strong mutton stock for the veal gravy.
SWEET SAUCE, OR GRAVY FOR VENISON.
Add to a quarter-pint of common venison gravy a couple of glasses of port wine or claret, and half an ounce of sugar in lumps. Christopher North’s sauce, mixed with three times its measure of gravy, would be an excellent substitute for this.