The English Housekeeper/Chapter 16
Read the directions for making stock for soup.—A cook ought never to be without stock for gravy, as she may preserve all bones and trimmings of meat, poultry and game; also liquor in which meat (unsalted), and poultry have been boiled, and thus seldom buy meat expressly for the purpose.
Sauces in which cream and eggs or acids are mixed, must be constantly stirred to prevent their curdling. Cream heated first, then stirred in by degrees.—The greatest nicety should be observed in thickening gravy, both for look and taste. The common method is to rub flour in butter; but the French roux is better.
The following is a list of store sauces, to keep in the house, to flavour hashes and stews. A bottle of each lasts some time, and the cost not very great.—The basis of all sauces for made dishes of fish is soy and chili vinegar.—A little practice and great attention will enable a cook to use these judiciously, to suit the dish, and the taste of her employers. Some like a combination of flavours, others prefer one, or two at most.
- Worcester Sauce.
- Camp Sauce.
- Gloucester Sauce.
- Harvey's Sauce.
- Oude Sauce.
- Reading Sauce.
- Tomata Sauce.
- Lopresti's Sauce.
- Essence of Shrimps.
- Oyster Catsup.
- Walnut Catsup.
- Mushroom Catsup.
- Chili Vinegar.
- Universal Sauce.
- Essence of Anchovy.
- Essence of Lobster.
- Eschalot Vinegar.
- Tarragon Vinegar.
- Lemon Pickle.
Gravy ought to be perfectly clear and free from fat; flavoured, to suit the dish it is intended for; and always served hot; if in a tureen, that ought to be covered.
Some very good cooks use brandy in making sauces, particularly for ragouts; sugar also.
Melt slowly 1 lb. of good butter in a little water, then stir in 1 lb. of fine, well dried flour; stir till as thick as paste, then simmer it a quarter of an hour, stirring all the time, or it will burn. It will keep two or three days. The common mode of browning soup and gravy with burnt sugar is not so good as brown flour, but the browning is prepared thus: put ¼ lb. of fresh butter with ½ lb. of lump sugar into a saucepan, shake it often, and when of a clear brown bottle it for use.
Spread flour on a plate, set it in the oven, or before the fire, and turn often, that it may brown equally, and any shade you like. Put it by in a jar for use.
Melt butter very slowly, and stir in browned flour; it will not require so long as to cook white roux, because the flour has been browned. Will keep two or three days. When you use either of these Roux, mix the quantity you wish (a table-spoonful for a tureen of soup), with a little of the soup or gravy quite smooth, then use it.
The basis of most English sauces is melted butter, yet English cooks do not excel in making it, and the general fault is deficiency of butter.
Break ¼ lb. of good butter in small pieces, into a saucepan, with 3 table-spoonsful of sweet cream, or milk, milk and water, or water alone; dredge fine dried flour over, hold the saucepan over the fire, toss it quickly round (always one way) while the butter melts, and becomes as thick as very thick cream; let it just boil, turn the saucepan quickly, and it is done.
Butter for oysters, shrimps, lobsters, eggs, or any thickening ingredient, should be made rather thin, and if to be rich, a great proportion of cream. If for catsup or any flavouring ingredient, melt the butter with water only, and stir the ingredients in, by degrees, just before you serve it.
Toss a lump of butter in a frying-pan, over the fire, till it becomes brown. Skim, then dredge browned flour over, stir round with a spoon till it boils; it ought to be quite smooth. This, adding cayenne, and some flavouring vinegar, is a good fish sauce.
Tie the parsley in a bunch, and boil it in salt and water, 5 or 10 minutes, according to its age, drain it, cut off the stalks, mince very fine, and stir it into melted butter.
Fennel, basil, burnet, cress, chervil, and tarragon the same. When you have not the fresh vegetable, boil celery or parsley seeds in the water to be used with the butter.
Cut away all skin and the fat of an undressed ham; cut out the bone, and put it into a large saucepan, with 3 quarts of water, 2 large carrots, 3 onions (2 in slices), a bunch of sweet basil and parsley, 3 cloves, and a table-spoonful of mushroom powder: let this simmer by the fire two hours; stirring up the vegetables from time to time; then take out the bone, put in the meat, and stew it 3 hours, or till the liquor, when strained and cold, is a jelly. A table-spoonful will flavour a tureenful of soup, and half the quantity in melted butter, is good sauce for poultry and game. Also good in veal and chicken pie.
Notch and flour 1 lb. of gravy beef, or an ox melt, and put it in 1½ pint cold water; scum carefully, and stew gently, till all the juice is extracted from the meat, and about half an hour before it is done, put in a piece of crust of bread. When done, strain and clear it from the fat, and pour it again into a saucepan to thicken, with butter rolled in flour; season with salt, black or cayenne pepper.
This, the basis of many rich sauces, is made of lean juicy meat. Cut 4 lbs. into thin slices, and score them; place a slice of streaked bacon, or the knuckle of a ham, at the bottom of a stew-pan, the beef upon it, and bits of butter; add half a large carrot, 3 onions, half an eschalot, and 3 heads of celery, all cut up; also a bunch of sweet herbs. Brown it over the fire, shaking the saucepan occasionally; in half an hour the juices will be drawn; then put in 2 quarts of boiling water, scum well, and when that is no longer necessary, wipe the edges of the saucepan and lid, and cover close. Simmer 3 hours, by the side of the fire; let it stand to settle, then strain it into an earthen vessel, and put it by in a cool place. For hare, add an anchovy.
Line a stew-pan with thin slices of ham or bacon, and add 3 lbs. of fillet of veal, or 2 of beef, in slices, a carrot and onion; moisten this with a tea-cupful of broth. The juices will form a glaze. Take the meat out on a dish, pick it all over, put a little more broth, or boiling water, add young onions, parsley, and sweet herbs to taste, also celery, cayenne, a bay leaf, mushrooms, and garlic, if you like; and after it has been scummed, simmer very gently. Strain, and then stand it in a cool place. This gravy may be enriched and flavoured at the cook's discretion. Wine, flavoured vinegar, truffles, morells, curry powder, tarragon, anchovy, pickled mushrooms and oysters, may be used to suit the dish it is required for.—Some cooks use more carrots and onions than I have directed.
Part of a knuckle of veal, and some gravy beef. (The quantity will depend upon the degree of richness required.) Cut it in pieces, and put it in a stew-pan, with any trimmings of meat or poultry. Moisten with broth or water, and add a carrot, 3 onions, parsley, thyme, 2 bay leaves, and chopped mushrooms, if convenient. Let the meat heat through, without burning, and prick it, to let the juices flow. When the knuckle is sufficiently cooked for the table, take it out, let the stew-pan stand by the fire a few minutes, skim the fat off the sauce, strain, and boil it again till reduced to the quantity you require; thicken it with white roux (it can be thinned afterwards), boil it again, and skim if needful; keep stirring, lifting it often in a spoon and letting it fall, to make it smooth and fine. Sweet thick cream is a nice substitute for white roux, in this sauce.—Or: put 2 lbs. of lean gristly veal, and ¼ lb. lean bacon or ham, in little bits, into a stew-pan, in which some butter has been melted, let the gravy flow, but do not brown the meat. Mix 2 table-spoonsful of potatoe or rice flour smooth, with a little water, put it into a stew-pan, with a quart or 3 pints of veal broth, water, or milk; also an onion, a bunch of parsley and lemon thyme, a bay leaf, a piece of lemon peel and a tea-spoonful of white peppercorns; stew it very slowly an hour and three quarters, then stand a few minutes to settle, strain it, add a tea-cupful of cream, boil it up, and strain again.—A nice sauce for boiled fowls is made of thin veal broth and milk, seasoned as above, and thickened with the yolk of an egg stirred in, just before you serve it.—Mushrooms may be put in this sauce.—Another very good sauce for boiled fowls, veal, rabbits, and fricassees, is as follows: to ½ pint of the liquor in which either of these have been boiled, an onion sliced, a small bunch of parsley, lemon thyme and basil, a little pounded mace, nutmeg, and a few white peppercorns. Strain, boil it again, with a piece of butter rolled in flour, and at the last a little cream. If for boiled fowls, put the peel of a lemon in this, and add the juice just at the last.
Slice a large onion, flour, and fry it in butter; put it into a saucepan with a breakfast-cupful of good fresh beer, the same of water, a few peppercorns, salt, grated lemon peel, 2 cloves, and a table-spoonful of catsup. Simmer nearly half an hour, then strain it. An anchovy may be added.
Put some lean beef, in thin slices, into a stew-pan with butter, and what herbs and roots you like, strewed over: cover close, and set it over a slow fire. When the gravy is drawn, keep shaking the stew-pan backwards and forwards several minutes, that it may dry up again, then put in as much water as you require, let it simmer an hour and a half. Keep it in a cool place. A thin slice of lean ham may be added.
May be made of the knuckle of a leg or shoulder of veal, or a piece of the scrag, and shanks of mutton, or a cow heel. Put the meat, a slice of lean ham or bacon, some herbs, 2 blades of mace, 2 onions, a tea-spoonful of Jamaica peppers bruised, the same of black pepper, and a piece of lemon peel, into a stew-pan; cover with about 3 pints of water, and let it boil; scum well, and let it simmer till the liquor is strong: strain it, and when nearly cold take off all the fat. Put it rough round cold poultry or veal. Eaten with cold meat pies.
Make a pint of good gravy, of the trimmings of venison, and mutton shanks; the meat should be browned first in the frying-pan, then stewed slowly, in water, to make the quantity required; scum carefully and strain it when done: add salt, pepper, walnut pickle, and a wine-glass of Port or claret.
Broil a scrag of mutton, in pieces, rather brown; put them into a stew-pan, with a quart of boiling water; cover close, and simmer gently an hour: uncover the stew-pan, and let it reduce to ¾ pint; pour it through a hair sieve, take the fat off, add a little salt, and serve it quite hot.
Put into a pint of clear good veal broth, an onion, twelve leaves of basil, a large piece of orange or lemon peel, and boil it slowly ten minutes; then strain, and put it back into the saucepan, with the juice of a Seville orange or a lemon, ½ a tea-spoonful of salt, the same of pepper, and a wine-glass of Port. Serve quite hot. Add cayenne, unless it be the practice to introduce it into cuts in the breast of the birds, at table.
Steep 2 oz. of fresh sage leaves, 1 oz. lemon peel, 1 oz. minced eschalot, the same of salt, ½ a drachm of cayenne and of citric acid, in a pint of claret, a fortnight; shake it well every day. Let it stand 24 hours, to settle, then strain into a clean bottle, and cork it close. A table-spoonful to ¼ pint gravy or melted butter, heat it up, and serve quite hot.—Another, to make at once: stir a tea-spoonful of mustard, ½ tea-spoonful of salt, a little cayenne, and a wine-glass of Port or claret, into a ¼ pint of good melted butter or gravy.—Or: the mixture may be heated by itself and poured into the goose, by a slit made in the apron, just before you serve it.
Put 1 oz. butter into a saucepan, with half a large onion, minced very fine; shake the saucepan frequently, or stir the butter with a wooden spoon, till the onion be of a light brown. Rub a table-spoonful of browned flour smooth, into a little broth or water, add salt and pepper, a table-spoonful of Port wine, and of mushroom catsup, and put this with ½ pint more of broth or water into the saucepan with the onions; boil it, add a tea-spoonful of made mustard, the juice of ½ a lemon, and two tea-spoonsful of any flavouring vinegar you like. Another Grill Sauce is: To ½ pint of clear drawn gravy, add 1 oz. butter, rubbed smooth in flour, a table-spoonful of mushroom catsup, 2 tea-spoonsful of lemon juice, 1½ tea-spoonful of made mustard, the same of capers, 1 tea-spoonful of essence of cayenne, ½ a one of black peppers, and 1 of chili vinegar; simmer it a few minutes, pour some over the grill, and serve the rest in a tureen.
Season veal gravy with pepper and salt, the juice of a Seville orange and a lemon, 2 wine-glassfuls of Port wine, and serve it in a sauce tureen.
Parboil the liver, and mince it fine; pare a lemon thin, take off the white part, and cut the lemon in small bits, picking out the seeds; mince a quarter part of the peel very fine, and put it with the lemon, the minced liver, and a little salt, to ½ pint of melted butter. Heat it over a gentle fire, but if it boil it will become oily. Parsley may be chopped with the liver.—Or: chop the parboiled liver, and stir into thin melted butter, boil it up, and then thicken it with the yolk of an egg; add a tea-spoonful of made mustard, and the same of walnut catsup.
Boil 4 eggs hard, dip in cold water, and roll them under your hand, that the shell may come off easily; chop the whites and yolks separately, stir first the whites, then the yolks, into boiling hot melted butter. Serve directly.
Wash and pick, a bason full of small button mushrooms, take off the thick skin, and stew them in veal broth, with pepper, cayenne, salt, mace, and nutmeg, 3 lumps of sugar, also enough butter rolled in flour, or arrow root, to thicken the sauce. Stew gently, till tender, stirring occasionally. When done, keep the sauce hot, and pour it over fowls, veal, or rabbit.—Or: stew the mushrooms in thin cream, instead of broth, and thicken as above. Pickled mushrooms, may be fried to make this sauce, instead of fresh ones.
Cut a young head of celery into slices of 1½ inch long, season with salt, a very little white pepper, nutmeg and mace, and then simmer till the celery be quite tender, in weak broth, or water. Thicken with butter rolled in white flour. The juice of a lemon may be added, when the sauce is ready. Pour it over the fowls, or serve in a tureen. This may be made brown, by thickening with browned flour, and adding a glass of red wine.
Chop an eschalot very fine with 5 sprigs of parsley; beat 2 yolks of egg, and mix 3 table-spoonsful of olive oil with them, beat the mixture till quite thick, then stir in the eschalot and parsley with a tea-spoonful of good vinegar, a salt-spoonful of salt and the same of cayenne.
Put the tomatas into a jar, and place it in a cool oven. When soft, take off the skins, pick out the seeds, beat up the pulp, with a capsicum, a clove of garlic, a very little ginger, cayenne, white pepper, salt and vinegar; rub it through a sieve, and simmer it, a very few minutes. A little beet root juice will improve the colour.—Or: stew them in weak broth or water with salt and pepper, when done, pass them through a rather wide sieve, add butter, stir well and serve it hot.—Italians, who use tomatas a great deal, cut them open, squeeze them gently to get rid of their liquor, and just rinse them in cold water, before they dress them.
Pare, core, and slice 5 large apples, and boil them gently, in a saucepan, with a very little water, to keep them from burning; add lemon peel to taste. When they are soft, pour off the water, and beat them up, with a small bit of butter and some sugar. Some add a table-spoonful of brandy.
Cut off the tops and tails of a breakfast-cupful of gooseberries; scald them, till tender, then stir them into melted butter.—Or: mash the gooseberries after they are scalded, sweeten to taste, and serve, without butter.
Pare the cucumbers, slice, and cut them in small pieces, stew them in thin broth or melted butter, till tender, then press them through a sieve into melted butter, stir and beat it up; season with mace, nutmeg, lemon peel, and finely grated ham. A dish of stewed cucumbers answers the purpose.
Peel 12 onions, and lay them in salt and water a few minutes, to prevent their becoming black. Boil them in plenty of water, changing it once. When done, chop fine, and rub them with a wooden spoon, through a sieve; stir this pulp into thin melted butter, or cream, and heat it up. The onions may be roasted, then pulped, in place of being boiled. A very little mace, or nutmeg, may be added to onion sauce having cream in it. Brown onion sauce is made by frying, in butter, some sliced Spanish onions; simmer them in brown gravy, or broth, over a slow fire, add salt, pepper, cayenne, and a piece of butter, rolled in browned flour. Skim the sauce, add ½ a glass of Port or claret, the same of mushroom catsup, or a dessert-spoonful of walnut pickle, or eschalot vinegar. To make the sauce milder, boil a turnip with the onions.
Chop enough eschalot to fill a dessert-spoon, and scald it in hot water, over the fire; drain, and put it into ½ pint of good gravy or melted butter, add salt and pepper, and when done, a large spoonful of vinegar.—Or: stew the eschalots in a little of the liquor of boiled mutton, thicken with butter rolled in flour, add a spoonful of vinegar, and this is good sauce for the mutton.
Take 1 pint of walnut pickle liquor, the same of catsup, ½ pint of white wine, ½ lb. anchovies unwashed, 2 cloves of garlic, one stick of horse-radish, a faggot of sweet herbs, the rind of a lemon, and cayenne to cover a sixpence. Boil together till the anchovies are dissolved. Strain and bottle it for use.
Pour heated vinegar over 12 eschalots, let it stand twelve hours, then strain and add ½ pint of walnut, and ½ pint of mushroom catsup, 2 wine-glassfuls of soy, a tea-spoonful of cayenne, ½ a tea-spoonful of chili vinegar: boil five minutes, then bottle and rosin it.
Boil some chopped eschalots in gravy, seasoned with salt and pepper, and flavoured with vinegar.
Scrape fine, or grate, a tea-cupful of horse-radish, add salt, and a little cupful of bread-crumbs, stew this in white gravy, and add a little vinegar.—This may be made brown by using browned gravy; a tea-spoonful of made mustard is an improvement. Vinegar may be used alone, instead of gravy.—Or: to 3 table-spoonsful of cream, put 2 table-spoonsful vinegar, 1 tea-spoonful made mustard, a little salt, and grated horse-radish.
Wash and pick some young mint, and mince the leaves very fine; mix them with powdered sugar, put these into the sauce tureen, and pour good white vinegar over.
Chop some eschalots, parsley, and mint, and put to them an equal portion of olive oil, vinegar, and a little salt.—Another: chopped parsley, vinegar, oil, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard.—You may add to either of these an equal portion of tarragon and chervil.
Half a clove, or less, according to taste, of garlic pounded, a large tea-spoonful of soy, the same of walnut pickle, a little cayenne, and good vinegar.
Chop 2 onions, and mix them with pepper, salt, vinegar, and melted butter.
Mince parsley and a few eschalots, and stew them in broth or water, with a few peppercorns; add a little vinegar when done. Good with broils of poultry and game.
Mix 1½ table-spoonful of grated horse-radish with a dessert-spoonful of made mustard, the same of brown sugar; add vinegar to make it as thin as mustard.
Pare a lemon, and take off all the white part; cut the lemon in thick slices, take out the seeds, and cut the slices into small pieces; mix them by degrees into melted butter, and stir it, that the butter may not oil.
Mince 1 table-spoonful of capers very fine, and another one not so fine, put a spoonful of good vinegar to them, and mix all into ½ pint of melted butter, or gravy. Stir it well or it may oil.—This is a good sauce for fish, with a little of the essence of anchovies.—A very good substitute for capers, is made by chopping pickled gherkins or nasturtiums or radish pods: a little lemon juice will improve these.—Walnut sauce made in the same way, is good with boiled mutton.—Some persons deem it better not to mince capers, but have them whole.
Put a small tea-cupful of grated bread-crumbs into a small saucepan, and sufficient to moisten them of the liquor in which fresh meat, or poultry, has been boiled; let it soak, then add a small onion (parboiled), salt, mace, and six or eight peppercorns. Beat it up from time to time, and when the bread is smooth and stiff, take out the onions and peppercorns, and put to the sauce two table-spoonsful of cream. Some persons add cayenne, a little.
By some preferred to bread sauce. Wash and pick 2 oz. rice, and stew it in milk, with a parboiled onion, salt, and 6 peppercorns. When tender, take out the onion and peppercorns, rub the rice through a cullender, and heat in milk, cream, or melted butter.
Melt some white, or red currant jelly, with a glass or two of red, or white wine. Or: send the jelly to table in glasses, or glass dishes.
Melt ¼ lb. of loaf sugar-candy in ½ pint of champagne vinegar; take off the skim as the sugar dissolves.
To ¼ pint good mushroom catsup, add the same of walnut catsup, of eschalot and basil wine, and soy, 1 oz. of slices of lemon peel, 1 drachm of concrete of lemon, a wine-glassful of essence of anchovies, 1 drachm of the best cayenne, and 2 wine-glassfuls of tarragon or eschalot vinegar. Let these infuse ten days, then strain and bottle for use: 2 table-spoonsful will flavour a pint of gravy. Another, for Roast Meat, Steaks, or Chops.—Take ½ pint of mushroom or oyster catsup, the same of walnut pickle, add ½ oz. Jamaica pepper in powder, the same of scraped horse-radish and of minced eschalot, and 4 grains cayenne. Infuse these ten days, strain and bottle for use. A table-spoonful or two, according to the quantity of gravy. Melted butter flavoured with this, to pour over steaks or chops.
To ½ a tea-cupful of gravy an equal quantity of white wine, 2 anchovies, 2 eschalots and a small piece of horse-radish: simmer till the anchovies are dissolved, then strain and thicken it: add a tea-cupful of cream, also a little lemon juice.
To 1 pint of sherry add ½ pint of walnut pickle, ¼ pint of soy, ¼ pint of lemon pickle, 1 pint of white wine vinegar, a wine-glassful of eschalot and the same of chili vinegar, ¾ pint of essence of anchovy, the peel of 2 and the juice of 1 lemon, 10 eschalots, 10 blades of mace, 2 nutmegs, 12 black and 12 white peppers, some cayenne, and mushroom powder: boil ten minutes, and when cold strain and bottle it. Good with all fried fish, and with salmon.
Chop 6 cloves of eschalot, 4 of garlic, a handful of horse-radish and 24 anchovies; put them into 1 pint of white, and 1 pint of Port wine, also 2 wine-glassfuls of soy, the same of walnut catsup, and 1 wine-glassful of chili vinegar. Boil well, strain, and when cold, bottle and rosin it.
Boil in ¼ pint water 3 anchovies, 2 onions, and a faggot of herbs, all chopped, a little horse-radish (scraped), and a large spoonful of vinegar. Boil till the anchovies are dissolved, then strain it, and mix what proportion you like with melted butter, or send it to table in a cruet.
A hen lobster is best. Pound the coral and spawn with a bit of butter, and rub it through a coarse sieve into melted butter, mix smooth, and season with cayenne; then add the meat of the tail, cut in very small dice, and let the sauce heat up, but not boil. A little essence of anchovy, or catsup, and spices may be added; also cream, heated first. Crab sauce the same way.
Do not open them till ready to make the sauce, then save all the liquor; put it and the oysters into a small saucepan, and scald them; lift them out on a sieve with a spoon with holes in it; let the liquor settle, and pour all but the sediment into good melted butter; beard the oysters, put them into a saucepan, and pour the butter over them; let it nearly boil, then stand by the side of the fire till they are tender, for boiling makes them hard. When ready, stir in a little cream.—A very little mace, lemon peel, and a tea-spoonful of oyster catsup, or essence of anchovy, may be added.
Bone and pound 3 anchovies, with a piece of butter, and stir into thick melted butter. Add cayenne, soy, essence of anchovy, mustard, horse-radish or vinegar.
Shell and wash carefully, put them into thick melted butter, let it boil, and then stand covered two minutes.
Boil 2 or 3 soft roes, take off all the filaments which hang about them, bruise in a mortar with the yolk of an egg, and stir them in thin parsley, or fennel, and butter; add pepper, salt, and a small spoonful of walnut pickle.
Boil equal quantities of water and vinegar, season with pepper and salt, and thicken with beaten yolk of egg; stir the egg in, but do not boil, or it will curdle.
Thicken some good gravy (of either fish or meat stock,) with browned flour, till it is a batter, add a dessert-spoonful of walnut catsup, a tea-spoonful of essence of anchovies, the same of made mustard, 12 capers and a bit of eschalot, all finely minced, a tea-spoonful of grated lemon peel, and a little cayenne. Simmer for a minute, pour a little of it over the broil, and serve the rest in a tureen.
Except in the matter of plain roasting, boiling, or baking, the test of good cooking is the taste and skill displayed in giving flavour to the composition. Care is not all that is required here; there needs study, and practice. No rules can be given, except to avoid over flavouring, and to suit the ingredients, as much as possible, to the compound which is to be flavoured. In order to be able always to do this, some forethought is requisite on the part of the housekeeper, who will save herself much vexation and trouble by keeping a small assortment of seasonings always ready for use in her Store Room; and by taking some little pains, to have a sufficient variety.
Many prefer cayenne made from English chilies to any other: they are in season in September and October; cut off the stalks, and lay them before the fire to dry for twelve hours. When dry, pound them in a mortar with one fourth their weight in salt, till they are as fine as possible, and put the mixture into a close stopped bottle.
Before spices are rubbed into meat, they should be pounded, and well mixed. For the convenience of the cook they may be kept prepared in the following manner.