VERY COMMON WHITE SAUCE.
The neck and the feet of a fowl, nicely cleaned, and stewed down in half a pint of water, until it is reduced to less than a quarter of a pint, with a thin strip or two of lemon-rind, a small blade of mace, a small branch or two of parsley, a little salt, and half a dozen corns of pepper, then strained, thickened, and flavoured by the preceding receipt, and mixed with something more than half the quantity of cream, will answer for this sauce extremely well; and if it be added, when made, to the liver of the chicken, previously boiled for six minutes in the gravy, then bruised to a smooth paste, and passed through a sieve, an excellent liver sauce. A little strained lemon-juice is generally added to it when it is ready to serve: it should be stirred very briskly in.
DUTCH SAUCE.
Put into a small saucepan the yolks of three fresh eggs, the juice of a large lemon, three ounces of butter, a little salt and nutmeg, and a wineglassful of water. Hold the saucepan over a clear fire, and keep the sauce stirred until it nearly boils: a little cayenne may be added. The safest way of making all sauces that will curdle by being allowed to boil, is to put them into a jar, and to set the jar over the fire in a saucepan of boiling water, and then to stir the ingredients constantly until the sauce is thickened sufficiently to serve.
Yolks of eggs, 3; juice, 1 lemon; butter, 3 oz.; little salt and nutmeg; water, 1 wineglassful; cayenne at pleasure.
Obs.—A small cupful of veal gravy, mixed with plenty of blanched and chopped parsley, may be used instead of water for this sauce, when it is to be served with boiled veal, or with calf’s head.
FRICASSEE SAUCE.
Stir briskly, but by degrees, to the well-beaten yolks of two large or of three small fresh eggs, half a pint of common English white sauce; put it again into the saucepan, give it a shake over the fire, but be extremely careful not to allow it to boil, and just before it is served stir in a dessertspoonful of strained lemon-juice. When meat or chickens are fricasseed, they should be lifted from the saucepan with a slice, drained on it from the sauce, and laid into a very hot dish before the eggs are added, and when these are just set, the sauce should be poured on them.
BREAD SAUCE.
Pour quite boiling, on half a pint of the finest bread-crumbs, an equal measure of new milk; cover them closely with a plate, and let the sauce remain for twenty or thirty minutes; put it then into a delicately clean saucepan, with a small saltspoonful of salt, half as much pounded mace, a little cayenne, and about an ounce of fresh butter; keep it stirred constantly over a clear fire for a few minutes, then mix with it a couple of spoonsful of good cream, give it a boil, and serve it immediately. When cream is not to be had, an additional spoonful or two of milk must be used. The bread used for sauce should be stale, and lightly grated down into extremely small crumbs, or the preparation will look rough when sent to table. Not only the crust, but all heavy-looking or imperfectly baked portions of it, should be entirely pared off, and it should be pressed against the grater only so much as will reduce it easily into crumbs. When stale bread cannot be procured, the new should be sliced thin, or broken up small, and beaten quite smooth with a fork after it has been soaked. As some will absorb more liquid than others, the cook must increase a little the above proportion should it be needed. Equal parts of milk and of thin cream make an excellent bread sauce: more butter can be used to enrich it when it is liked.