SAUCES FOR FISH AND MEAT
Drawn butter (“white sauce”)
Heat two tablespoonfuls of butter in a saucepan. When it bubbles put in (all at once) two tablespoonfuls of flour, and stir from the sides towards the center of the pan until the ingredients are well mixed. Have ready-heated a cupful of milk, add to this the “roux” gradually, and beat to a smooth cream. Season with white pepper and salt, and, if you like, a little onion juice.
Egg sauce
Make as above, beating the yolks of two raw eggs into the thickened milk, and if for fish, adding the yolk and white of a hard-boiled egg chopped fine, also a little minced parsley.
Brown sauce
Make as you would white, but substitute boiling water for the milk, and browned flour for white. Add a teaspoonful of kitchen bouquet, the juice of a lemon, pepper and salt.
Sauce tartare (No. 1)
Make a pint of mayonnaise dressing. Into this beat a teaspoonful of mustard, a tablespoonful of minced parsley, a teaspoonful, each, of chopped pickle and minced capers, a dozen drops of onion juice. Beat for a minute, and serve in a sauceboat.
Sauce tartare (No. 2)
Make a cupful of drawn butter (using boiling water, not milk). Beat in a teaspoonful of French mustard, half as much onion juice, a little cayenne and salt, a heaping teaspoonful of finely-chopped pickle and the beaten yolk of a raw egg at the last.
Hollandaise sauce
Into one cupful of drawn butter beat the yolk of an egg, then a good teaspoonful of best salad oil, dropping as you would for mayonnaise. Add, then, the juice of half a lemon, a pinch of pepper, one of salt, and the same of sugar, and serve at once.
Béchamel sauce for meat
A roux of butter and flour should be thinned with a cupful of veal or chicken stock, seasoned with onion juice, a small carrot, sliced, pepper and salt. Strain the stock before mixing with the roux. Have ready a cupful of rich milk or cream, heated with a pinch of soda; draw the hot stock and roux from the fire, stir in the cream, and it is ready for use.
Béchamel sauce for fish
Put the bones, head and a few ounces of fish meat in cold water over the fire, with an onion and a small carrot, sliced, also a bay leaf; boil down to one cupful of liquid, and use instead of veal or chicken stock in last recipe. In all other respects make in the same way.
Oyster sauce
To a white roux of butter and flour add a cupful of boiling liquid made by cooking a dozen oysters in hot water for two minutes. Drain the oysters (which should be very small) and keep warm while you stir the thinned roux to a smooth cream, and season it with a dash of cayenne, a teaspoonful of lemon juice and a little salt. Boil one minute, put in the oysters and take at once from the fire.
Lobster sauce
Make a rich-drawn butter and beat into it the coral of a lobster worked smooth with a tablespoonful of butter. Add the juice of half a lemon, cayenne and salt. Finally, add half a cupful of lobster meat, minced as fine as powder. Heat and serve.
Horseradish sauce
Into a cupful of drawn butter beat a great spoonful of grated horseradish wet with lemon juice, and work to creamy whiteness.
Anchovy sauce
Beat a tablespoonful of anchovy paste into a cupful of drawn butter, adding the juice of half a lemon and a dash of cayenne or paprika.
Shrimp sauce
Into a cupful of drawn butter beat a good teaspoonful of anchovy sauce, the juice of half a lemon, and half a can of shrimps minced fine and made very hot in a tablespoonful of boiling butter. Simmer for two minutes and serve.
An excellent fish sauce.
Celery sauce
Boil half a cupful of minced celery in a cupful of hot water for fifteen minutes. Strain through a cloth, pressing hard. Return the liquor to the fire and boil up. Then cook with it a roux made of two tablespoonfuls of butter and the same of flour. Have ready the yolk of an egg, beaten light. Pour the hot sauce upon it, stir less than one minute over the fire, season with salt and paprika and pour out.
A nice accompaniment to boiled fowl and to boiled mutton.
Tomato sauce
Peel and slice a quart of tomatoes; cook twenty minutes and strain through a coarse bag into a saucepan. Season with a teaspoonful of onion juice, one of sugar, a little salt and pepper, and when it boils stir in a tablespoonful of butter cooked to a roux with one of flour. Simmer two minutes and serve.
Caper sauce
Into a cupful of good drawn butter stir a great spoonful of minced capers and a teaspoonful of onion juice.
Maître d’hôtel sauce
Beat two tablespoonfuls of soft butter to a cream with the juice of half a lemon and a tablespoonful of finely-minced parsley. It should be a fine, pale green when done. Serve cold with hot fish.
Mint sauce
Chop six sprays of mint very fine, and add to half a cupful of vinegar in which have been dissolved two tablespoonfuls of white sugar and a dash of pepper.
Serve cold with roast lamb.
Onion or soubise sauce
Boil two onions of fair size in two waters and until soft all through; mince and mix with a cupful of drawn butter. Season with pepper and salt, beat to a cream over the fire, and when very hot, serve.
Bread sauce
Heat a cupful of milk and season with a tablespoonful of butter, salt and pepper to taste and a teaspoonful of onion juice. Boil up and stir in lightly half a cupful of fine bread-crumbs, previously dried, but not colored in the oven. They should be tossed up several times while drying to prevent clotting, and be very crisp.
Serve with boiled chicken.
Béarnaise sauce
Beat the yolks of two eggs very light, put into a round-bottomed saucepan and set in one of boiling water; stir into it, a few drops at a time, three tablespoonfuls of salad oil, heating as you stir; then, as gradually, the same quantity of boiling water; next, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, a dash of cayenne and salt.
It is served with all sorts of fish, also with chops, cutlets and steaks.
Claret or Bordelaise sauce
Make a brown sauce by substituting browned flour for white in the roux, adding a teaspoonful of kitchen bouquet. Season with onion juice, salt and pepper, boil one minute, pour in a wineglassful of claret, heat for half a minute more, and serve.
Serve with roast meats and poultry.
Cream cucumber sauce
Pare and mince with a keen knife two cucumbers of fair size. Drain off the liquid without pressing, letting it drip for two minutes. Have ready a chilled bowl rubbed with a clove of garlic. Put the mince into it, season with white pepper, salt, a teaspoonful of onion juice and a tablespoonful of lemon juice.
Mix lightly into it with a silver fork a cupful of whipped cream into which has been beaten a pinch of soda.
Serve very cold with fish.
Plain cucumber sauce
When the cucumbers have been minced, drained and turned into the chilled bowl scented with cut garlic, mix with them a good French dressing of two tablespoonfuls of oil, one-third as much lemon juice, a little salt and pepper.
N. B.—You may substitute for the garlic a tablespoonful of minced chives blended with the dressing.
Serve cold with fish, and quickly, before the cucumbers wilt.
Cranberry sauce
Wash and pick over carefully a quart of cranberries. Put into the inner vessel of a double boiler, fill the outer with boiling water and cook, keeping the cranberries closely covered until they are broken to pieces. Rub through your vegetable press into a saucepan, sweeten abundantly, bring to a boil (barely), and turn into a wet mold to form.
Apple sauce
Pare, core and quarter tart apples, dropping into cold water as you do this. Put over the fire dripping wet and cover closely to keep in the steam. When they are heated through, open and stir up from the bottom. When soft and broken, rub through colander or vegetable press, sweeten to taste while hot and set away to cool.
Serve with roast pork and roast ducks.
Jelly sauce
Make a cupful of a brown sauce of butter, browned flour and a little caramel. Heat boiling hot and beat in four or five teaspoonfuls of currant or other tart jelly.
Serve with game, lamb or mutton.
Espagnole sauce
(Contributed)
Put four tablespoonfuls of butter into a saucepan. When hot stir into it five tablespoonfuls of flour. Stir until very brown. Add two cupfuls of brown stock and one tablespoonful of Worcester sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Let the sauce boil well and remove from the fire. Serve with chops or steak.
Parsley sauce
(Contributed)
To a good white sauce add three tablespoonfuls of finely-chopped parsley and a little green fruit coloring and let it come to a boil.
Cider sauce
(Contributed)
Put into a saucepan over the fire one tablespoonful of butter and when this begins to bubble stir into it one tablespoonful of flour; cook for one minute, then add slowly one teacupful of highly-seasoned stock; cook for ten minutes, add a cupful of cider, and when it again comes to a boil, strain and serve. This sauce is excellent with boiled ham.
Giblet sauce
(Contributed)
Boil the giblets until tender. Chop them, but not too fine. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter into a saucepan, with two tablespoonfuls of flour. Add slowly a cupful of the water in which the giblets have been boiled and a cup and a half of rich milk. Add to this the chopped giblets and season with salt and pepper. Serve in sauce-boat.
Cauliflower sauce
(Contributed)
To a pint of white sauce add a cupful of chopped cauliflower. Reheat, and when ready to serve stir in a teaspoonful of butter and a tablespoonful of lemon juice.
Champagne sauce
(Contributed)
Into one cupful of champagne put two cloves, four peppercorns, one bay leaf and a little sugar. Let all simmer for five minutes. Then add one cupful of brown sauce. Simmer for ten minutes more and strain. To be served with ham.
Port wine sauce
(Contributed)
Port wine sauce is made the same as champagne sauce, except that port wine is used instead of champagne.
Olive sauce
(Contributed)
Make a brown sauce as follows: Put four tablespoonfuls of butter into a saucepan; when hot add four and a half tablespoonfuls of flour and stir until very brown; add two cupfuls of brown stock and salt and pepper to taste. Remove the stones from five olives and boil for five minutes in water to which one tablespoonful of vinegar has been added. Drain and mince and add to the sauce.
Imitation caper sauce
Cut cucumber pickles into tiny cubes with a sharp knife. Do not chop them, as the bits must be of uniform size. Drain perfectly dry and stir into hot drawn butter. Boil for one minute. Eat with fish or chops.