White gravy is made with fresh veal boiled in milk; and after straining, thickened arrow-root, or rice flour, mixed with fresh butter, if real cream cannot be obtained.
MUSHROOM CATCHUP.—
Let the mushrooms be large and freshly-gathered, for they soon become worm-eaten if not speedily salted. They should be well examined. Cut off the stalks of four quarts of nice mushrooms. Put the flaps into a deep earthen pan, and break them up with your hands. Strew among them half a pound of salt, reserving the largest portion of it for the top. Let them stand for three days, stirring them gently every morning. The fourth day, put them into a sieve, and draw off the liquor without pressing the mushrooms. When all the liquor has drained through, measure it, allowing to each quart a tea-spoon of cayenne, a dozen blades of mace, and a nutmeg broken up. Put the whole into a porcelain kettle, and boil it slowly till reduced one half. Then pour it into a clean white-ware pitcher, cover it with a folded napkin, and keep it in a cool dry place till next day. Then, through a funnel, pour it gently from the sediment into small bottles. Finish with a tea-spoonful of sweet oil on the top of each. Cork the bottles tightly, and seal the corks.
The next time you make catchup, proceed as above with the new mushrooms, and other ingredients; and, when it is done, strain it, and put it into a clean kettle. Then add to it a quart of last year's mushroom catchup, and boil it a quarter of an hour. Then bottle it as above.
This double catchup is very fine.
WALNUT CATCHUP.—
Take two hundred walnuts or butter-nuts, while the green shell is still so soft that you can pierce it with the head of a pin. Bruise them to small pieces, in a marble mortar. Transfer them to a broad stone-ware pan, and stew among them six handfuls of salt. Stir them three times a day, for ten days or two weeks. Then squeeze and strain them through a cloth, pressing them very dry, till no more juice comes out. Boil up the liquor with two quarts of cider vinegar, half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of whole pepper, half an ounce of nutmegs broken up, and two roots of ginger cut small, and half a dozen shalots or small onions, peeled and cut up, and a large bunch of sweet herbs. Let the whole boil for half an hour. Then pour off the liquor into a large pitcher, leaving out the bunch of sweet herbs. Pour off the liquor (through a funnel,) into small bottles, having first put into the bottom of each bottle a portion of the spice. Fill the bottle up to the top with the catchup, finishing with a tea-spoonful of salad oil, which will greatly assist in keeping the catchup good. Cork the bottles very closely, and seal the corks.