PLAIN ONION SAUCE.—
Peel some very small onions, and boil them whole in milk, (seasoned slightly with pepper and salt,) and put in some bits of butter rolled in flour. Let them boil till tender all through, but not till they loose their shape. Eat them with any sort of boiled meat.
NASTURTION SAUCE.—
This is eaten with boiled mutton; is superior to caper sauce, and costs almost nothing, if you have nasturtions in your garden. Gather the green seeds as soon as they are full grown, and throw them (without the stems) into a jar of cider vinegar. They require no cooking, but keep a muslin bag of spice in the jar, (mace and nutmeg broken small, and a little piece of root ginger.) To use them for sauce, make some nice drawn butter, and as it simmers throw in plenty of nasturtions from the jar. The seeds, when gathered, should be full grown, but by no means hard; and the color a fine green. If there is the slightest brown tinge, the nasturtion seeds are too old, and should be kept for planting.
MUSHROOM SAUCE.—
Have ready some excellent drawn butter, and thicken it with small button mushrooms that have been pickled. Or, take freshly-gathered mushrooms of good size, rub off the outer skin with a clean flannel, and cut off the stems close to the flaps. Wash the mushrooms in a cullender. Have ready some bits of fresh butter dredged all over with flour. Lay them among the mushrooms, (which, if very large, should be quartered,) and put them into a stew-pan. Cover the pan, and let them stew till the mushrooms are all tender. When you take off the lid to try them, replace it immediately, keeping in as much of the aroma as possible. If fresh, they will yield a great deal of juice. When done, transfer them to a sauce-tureen, and serve them up with any nice dish of meat or poultry.
The best mushrooms are found in pure open air or rather high ground, and where there is no swamp or woodland. On the upper side of their top they are not white, but of a pale grayish tint; the under side is invariably light red, pinkish, or pale salmon color, which in a few hours, or after being gathered, turns brown. The false mushrooms are poisonous. They are entirely white above and below. The fungi that grow in forests or marshes can never be mistaken for real mushrooms. They are of various colors, chiefly bright yellow and red, and originate in foul air. By boiling a silver tea-spoon with your mushrooms, you may test their goodness. If the silver turns black, throw the mushrooms away. An onion will also blacken from the same cause. Mushrooms should be cooked as soon as possible. If kept two or three days, worms will be found in them. Never give mushrooms to children. Even in their best state they are not wholesome. The taste for mushrooms is an acquired one, and it is best not to acquire it.