Take one or two anchovies; scale, split, and put them into a saucepan, with a little water, or good broth, a spoonful of vinegar, and a small round onion. When the anchovy is quite dissolved, strain off the liquor, and put into your melted butter to your taste.
To recover Anchovies.
When anchovies have, through the loss of the pickle, become rusty or decayed, put two pounds of saltpetre to a gallon of water, and boil it till reduced to a fourth part, continuing to skim it as it rises; then add a quarter of an ounce of crystal tartar; mix these, and stir them well. Take away the spoiled fish, put them together lightly, and pour in the new pickle, mixed with a pint of good old pickle, and stop them up close for twenty-four days. When you open them again, cover them with fine beaten bay salt; let them remain about four days; and, as you take them out for use, cover them carefully down.
Bacchanalian Sauce.
Take a spoonful of sweet oil, a gill of good broth, and a pint of white wine vinegar, adding two glasses of strong white wine: boil them together till half is consumed; then put in some shalot, garden cresses, tarragon, chervil, parsley, and scallions, all shred very fine, with some large pepper. Let the whole boil up, and serve it. A little cullis added will improve it.
Bechamel, or White Sauce. No. 1.
Take half a quarter of a pound of butter, three pounds of veal, cut into small slices, a quarter of a pound of ham, some trimmings of mushrooms, truffles, and morels, two white onions, a bunch of parsley, and thyme, put the whole into a stewpan, and set it on the fire till the meat is made firm; then put in three spoonfuls of flour, moistened with boiling hot thin cream. Keep this sauce rather thin, so that while you reduce it the ingredients may have time to be stewed thoroughly. Season with a little salt and cayenne pepper, and strain it through a sieve. This is excellent for pouring over roast veal instead of butter, and is a good sauce for hashed veal, for any white meat, and for all sorts of vegetables.
Bechamel. No. 2.
Two pounds of lean veal, cut in square pieces, half an inch thick; half a pound of lean ham. Melt in your stewpan two ounces of butter; simmer it until nearly ready to catch the stewpan, which must be avoided: add three table-spoonfuls of flour. When well mixed, add three pints of broth, or water, pouring in a little at a time that the thickening may be smooth. Stir till it boils; set it on the corner of the hob to boil gently for two hours. Season with an onion, twelve peppercorns, a few mushrooms, a faggot of parsley, a sprig of thyme, and a bay-leaf. Let the sauce be reduced to a quart; skim off the fat; and strain through a tamis.