Mem.—These are piquante relishes for anchovy toasts ([No. 573], or [No. 538]); for BROILED DEVILS, &c. “Véritable sauce d’enfer,” see [No. 538]; and a refreshing excitement for those idle palates, who are as incessantly mumbling out “piquante, piquante,” as parrots do “pretty Poll, pretty Poll.”
“For palates grown callous almost to disease,
Who peppers the highest is surest to please.”
Goldsmith.
Sauce for Steaks, or Chops, Cutlets, &c.—(No. 356. See also [No. 331].)
Take your chops out of the frying-pan; for a pound of meat keep a table-spoonful of the fat in the pan, or put in about an ounce of butter; put to it as much flour as will make it a paste; rub it well together over the fire till they are a little brown; then add as much boiling water as will reduce it to the thickness of good cream, and a table-spoonful of mushroom or walnut catchup, or pickle, or browning ([No. 322], or [No. 449]); let it boil together a few minutes, and pour it through a sieve to the steaks, &c.
Obs.—To the above is sometimes added a sliced onion, or a minced eschalot, with a table-spoonful of port wine, or a little eschalot wine (Nos. [402], [423], or [135]). Garnish with finely-scraped horseradish, or pickled walnuts, gherkins, &c. Some beef-eaters like chopped eschalots in one saucer, and horseradish grated in vinegar, in another. Broiled mushrooms are favourite relishes to beef-steaks.
Sauce Piquante for cold Meat, Game, Poultry, Fish, &c. or Salads.—(No. 359. See also [No. 372], and Cucumber Vinegar, Nos. [399] and [453].)
Pound in a mortar the yelks of two eggs that have been boiled hard ([No. 547]), with a mustard-spoonful of made mustard, and a little pepper and salt; add two table-spoonfuls of salad oil; mix well, and then add three table-spoonfuls of vinegar; rub it up well till it is quite smooth, and pass it through a tamis or sieve.
Obs.—To the above, some add an anchovy, or a table-spoonful of mushroom catchup, or walnut pickle, some finely-chopped parsley, grated horseradish, or young onions minced, or burnet ([No. 399]), horseradish ([No. 399*], or [No. 402]), or tarragon, or elder vinegar ([No. 396]), &c., and Cayenne or minced pickles, capers, &c. This is a piquante relish for lobsters, crabs, cold fish, &c.
Sauce for Hashes of Mutton or Beef.—(No. 360. See also Nos. [451], [485], and to make Plain Hash, [No. 486].)
Unless you are quite sure you perfectly understand the palate of those you are working for, show those who are to eat the hash this receipt, and beg of them to direct you how they wish it seasoned.