Is nothing more than pounded white sugar, melted over a slow fire, with a little butter and water, till it begins to smoke and turn brown, then diluted with more water, till about the consistence of soy, and afterwards boiled, skimmed, strained, and preserved in well corked bottles.
All plain sauces, should taste only of the articles from which they take their names.
In compound sauces the several ingredients should be so nicely proportioned that no particular flavour should predominate.
Soy, walnut-peels, burnt treacle, or sugar, cayenne pepper, or capsicums, chilies, vinegar, pickled herrings, anchovies, sardinias, or sprats, are the bases of almost all the sauces to be found in the shops.
Never season too highly your sauces, gravies, or soups.
Cloves and allspice,—mace and nutmeg,—marjorum, thyme, and savory,—leeks, onions, shalots, and garlic,—need not be mixed together in the same preparation, when either of them will supply the place of the others.
In short, Cooks now know, by experience, that a much less number of ingredients are sufficient to give a finer flavour to sauces, &c. than was formerly used; because, in this age of refined taste, we have learnt to combine the simply elegant with the purely nutritious.
Salads.
These may be eaten at all seasons of the year; but they are most wholesome in the spring, when green herbs, of all kinds, are in the greatest perfection. They are, then, most efficacious, in cleansing, sweetening, and purifying the blood. But, though Salads in the winter act not so powerful as in the spring, yet, such as are to be had, retain all the properties or qualities of their nature, and the warmer kinds, in particular, being gentle, salutary, and most excellent stimulants, are well calculated to warm the stomach, and exhilarate the spirits.
The following are the principal herbs, or vegetables, used in English salads; viz.