Sauce à la Bechamel is made by putting sliced onions and carrots into a saucepan with a little butter and flour and a pint of cream; pepper, salt, and nutmeg are added, with mushrooms and finely chopped parsley, if desired. The whole is suffered to stew gently three quarters of an hour, and then it is strained and thickened with a liaison of yolks of eggs. Another kind is made by adding an equal quantity of veal stock to the cream; and dressing any dish à la bechamel means serving it up with a white sauce; either made as above or in any other way, provided it consists principally of cream or thickened milk.
Sauce velouté is a white sauce, the base of which is veal stock instead of cream.
A Liaison of eggs is made by taking some fresh eggs (it is essential that they should be quite fresh), and separating the white carefully from the yolk. The yolks are then beaten up, and two or three spoonfuls of the liquor they are wanted to thicken is added to them, stirring them carefully. The saucepan is then taken off the fire while the eggs are gradually mixed with its contents, and only put on the fire again for a minute, carefully stirring the contents so as to make them quite hot, but not boiling, before they are served up.
Sauce à la Tartare is mixed by putting shallots and other herbs cut very fine, with mustard, salt, pepper, oil, and a little vinegar. The ingredients are all mixed well together and served cold, or they may be made hot for fish.
A Blanquette is made by cutting cold meat into thin slices, and then putting it into a saucepan with a lump of butter, a little flour, pepper, salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a little gravy. Simmer it gently five minutes, and then put the meat into a dish; and after thickening the sauce with the yolks of eggs beaten up with a very small quantity of vinegar, and putting it over the fire for a minute, pour it quite hot over the meat.
A Marinade is made by stewing the remains of a fowl or slices of cold meat with butter or oil, vinegar, pepper, salt, onions, and sweet herbs; and then draining the pieces, dipping them in white of egg, and flouring them or covering them with bread crumbs, and frying them.
A Capilotade is a brown fricassée or hash, and a Terrine is a pie baked in a dish, but without crust.
Croustades are pieces of stale, firm bread, cut like sippets, but much thicker, and hollowed out into the centre, keeping the piece cut out to serve as a lid. The croustades are then fried a fine brown, and while hot they are filled with minced fowl or veal; or if a sweet dish is required, with some kind of marmalade or jam made hot.
Omelettes are always a great addition to a dinner table, and they are easily made. The following is the French receipt for the Omelettes aux fines herbes. Take any quantity of eggs and beat them well, adding pepper, salt, parsley, and any other herbs, with a few shallots or small onions chopped very fine. Melt enough butter in a frying-pan to cover the bottom of the frying-pan with liquid, and when it is boiling pour in the omelette, and fry it till it becomes a fine brown. When served, fold it so that only the brown side may be seen, and pour over it a kind of sauce made by putting a little butter, flour, and catsup in the pan, and shaking it for a few minutes over the fire; or a little gravy may be heated and poured over it. The frying-pan should not be too large, as an omelette should always be rather thick. About six or eight eggs will make an omelette of the ordinary size, and about two ounces of butter will be required for frying it. Other omelettes may be made by omitting the herbs, and adding mushrooms cut very small, or mushroom-powder, grated ham, grated cheese, or, in fact, any other substance that may be thought desirable.
Dr. Hunter gives the following receipt for a Potato omelette. Take three ounces of potatoes mashed, and add to them the yolks of five eggs, and the whites of three. Add white pepper, salt, and nutmeg to the taste. Fry in butter, and serve up with clear gravy, to which some add a little lemon-juice. Sweet omelettes may be made by adding to the eggs orange-flower water, and sugar, or grated lemon-peel and sugar, or marmalade of apples or apricots, or raspberry or currant jam. The omelette is then fried in the usual way; but it is usually served without doubling it up, sugar being grated over the upper side after it is put in the dish, which is then set in front of the fire for a few minutes, or the omelette is browned by holding over it a flat red-hot iron called a salamander.