Method.—Melt the butter in a stewpan, stir in the flour, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, then add the milk and stir until it boils. Cut the hard boiled egg into dice (or rub the yolk through a wire sieve if needed to decorate the fish), add it, together with any necessary seasoning, to the sauce. Beat the yolk of the raw egg slightly, add to it gradually 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of the sauce, and when thoroughly mixed stir into the remainder of the sauce and cook very gently for 2 or 3 minutes. It must not boil, or it will curdle.
Time.—25 to 30 minutes. Average Cost, 4d.
299.—FENNEL SAUCE. (Fr.—Sauce Fenouil.)
Ingredients.—½ a pint of melted butter, No. 202, 2 tablespoonfuls of chopped fennel.
Method.—Make the melted butter as directed. Wash the fennel well, pick it from the stalks, put it into boiling water, and boil until tender. Drain well, chop finely, and add it to the boiling sauce. Use as required.
Time.—Altogether 35 to 40 minutes. Average Cost, 3d. to 4d. for this quantity.
Fennel (Fr. fenouil).—This fragrant and elegant plant is found growing wild, chiefly on chalky soils. It is very generally cultivated in gardens. The leaves are finely divided and the flowers, which are small, are of a yellow colour. It grows to the height of about 3 feet; a larger variety, Giant Fennel, sometimes attains the height of 15 feet. Fennel leaves are served with fish either whole or as a sauce. The seeds are used in medicine as a carminative, and oil of fennel is obtained from Italian fennel, which is cultivated in the south of Europe.
300.—GENEVA SAUCE. (Fr.—Sauce Genévoise.)
Ingredients.—¾ of a pint of fish stock, 1 glass of sherry or Madeira wine, 2 ozs. of butter, 1½ ozs. of flour, 1 onion sliced, 2 mushrooms sliced, ½ a teaspoonful of lemon-juice, ½ a teaspoonful of anchovy-essence, salt and pepper.
Method.—Melt the butter in a stewpan, fry the onion until slightly browned, add the mushrooms, stir in the flour, and cook the preparation until it acquires a nut-brown colour. Now add the stock, wine, lemon-juice, anchovy-essence, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes, pass through a fine strainer or tammy cloth, re-heat, and use as required.
Time.—From 40 to 50 minutes. Average Cost, 9d.
301.—GÉNOISE SAUCE. (Fr.—Sauce Génoise.) (For Fish.)
Ingredients.—½ a pint of Espagnole sauce, 1 pint of fish stock, 1 gill of claret, ½ a small onion, 1 clove of garlic, 2 cloves, 2 shallots, 1 bay-leaf, a few sprigs of parsley, 1 sprig of thyme, 2 ozs. of anchovy butter, pepper, salt, one pinch of castor sugar.
