Take four pounds of tomatoes, cut them in two and put them into a two-quart sauce-pan with two wineglassfuls of water, two saltspoonfuls of salt, one of pepper, and a bouquet. Cover the sauce-pan and boil for forty minutes, stirring often to prevent burning; then strain. Make a roux in another sauce-pan with one ounce of butter, and three-quarters of an ounce of flour. Cook for three minutes, mixing well. Take the roux off the fire and pour the tomatoes into it a little at a time, stirring to keep it smooth. Add two wineglassfuls of stock, put on the fire, and cook for twenty minutes, stirring all the time.
Vellutata Sauce.
Put one pound of knuckle of veal and any scraps you have of fowl into a well-buttered sauce-pan with two or three slices of ham, two carrots, one onion, and one tumbler of veal broth. When the broth is reduced add twelve mushrooms, two or three shallots, salt and pepper to taste, a bouquet, and enough veal broth to cover the meat. Boil, skim off the fat, and let it simmer for one and a half hours. It will keep some days if well corked in a cold place. Before using mix white roux with it.
Sorrel Purée.
Nip the stalks off a peck of sorrel, wash well, drain, and chop up fine with one head of well-washed lettuce and a small bunch of chervil. Put all into a sauce-pan and stir over a hot fire for three minutes, then place in the oven until well dissolved. Add one and a half ounces of fresh butter, stir until it bubbles, add half a pint of good stock or beef gravy, and cook for five minutes.
Sorrel Purée (Maigre).
Take sorrel as above, but instead of stock or gravy, add two yolks of eggs and half a cupful of cream.
Sorrel Stewed.
Wash clean the necessary quantity of sorrel, boil until tender, then rub through a sieve into a stew-pan. Add one or two tablespoonfuls of Béchamel sauce (see Sauces, p. [119]), a little salt and sugar, and two or three ounces of fresh butter. Stew for a few minutes and serve.