Girl's home manual of cookery, home management, home nursing and laundry

No. 1. Thin Sauce. No. 2. Medium Sauce No. 3. Thick Sauce. 1 cup hot liquid, 1 cup hot liquid. 1 cup hot liquid. 2 tbsp. flour, or 3 tbsp. flour, or 4 tbsp. flour, or 1% tbsp. cornstarch. 2 tbsp. cornstarch. 2% tbsp. cornstarch. 2 tbsp. butter 2 tbsp. butter 2 tbsp. butter % tsp. salt. % tsp. salt. % tsp. salt. f.g. pepper. f.g. pepper. f.g. pepper. The liquid used may be milk, milk and water mixed, water from vegetables, or stock from meat or fish. The cornstarch makes a clearer sauce than flour when water is used. Method. Heat liquid first and return to cup. Melt butter, when bubbling add flour or cornstarch with seasoning, stir and blend well. Remove from over fire, add the hot liquid gradually, stirring all the time. Return to fire, stir and boil 3 minutes. ; STARCH. 23 Note: For a brown sauce, the butter and flour must be browned before the liquid is added. These need careful watching to prevent the flour and butter from burning. Dripping may be used instead of butter. with brown stock. For a cheaper sauce, omit the butter, mix the flour to a liquid with a little cold water and stir into the boiling liquid and finish as above. A small piece of butter added to this sauce when cooked enriches it. Flavouring. A little vinegar, Worcester sauce, chopped parsley or pickles may be added for fish sauces. Sweet Sauces. 1 cup hot water, milk, or milk and water mixed. 1% tbsp. cornstarch or 2 tbsp. flour. Y% cup sugar. 2 tbsp. butter. Use only one of these flavourings: ie tsp. vanilla: 1% tbsp. lime juice. 2 tbsp. lemon juice. one-tenth tsp. nutmeg or other spice. Heat the liquid and return to cup. Mix sugar and cornstarch together in saucepan, stir and add slowly the hot liquid. Stir and cook over fire, boil three minutes. Remove from fire and mix with it the butter and flavouring. Serve in a hot sauce boat or jug. VEGETABLES Classification. Green Vegetables. Ex.: lettuce, cabbage, spinach, nettles, leeks. Legumes or Pulses. Ex.: peas, beans, lentils. Roots and Tubers. Ex.: carrots, turnips, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes. Fruits. Ex.: tomatoes, cucumbers. Flowers. Ex.: cauliflower. Fungi. Ex.: mushrdoms. Belonging also to the vegetable kingdom are cereals, fruits and nuts. _ Composition and Value in Diet. Vegetables contain: (1.) A small amount of protein, except peas, beans and lentils, which contain much. (2.) Much water, from 73 to 96 per cent.; the pulses contain less. (3.) Mineral salts, which help to keep the blood pure and assist in building muscle and bone. (4.) Carbohydrates in the form of starch or sugar, sometimes both. (5.) Very little fat or oil, except nuts, which contain much. (6.) Cellulose, which is a carbohydrate by nature. This is the framework of vegetables, which encloses the starch grains and other nutrients, In old vegetables it becomes thick, hard, woody and indigestible. When young and thoroughly cooked it forms a useful bulk in the body. It stimulates and hastens the movements of the intestines and so helps to prevent constipation. (7.) A volatile essential oil which gives each vegetable its own peculiar flavour. Green vegetables as a whole contain much water, hardly any protein or fat, and but very little carbohydrate. Their nutritive value is therefore low. They are useful for two reasons: they help to prevent constipation, and they contain valuable mineral salts, Peas, beans and lentils are very nutritious because of the large quantity of protein they contain. Root vegetables and tubers are much richer in carbohydrates than green vegetables and therefore more nutritious. Digestion of Vegetables. Vegetables are not, as a whole, easily digested. Cauliflower is the easiest to digest. All vegetables are easier to digest if quite fresh; if stale they are very likely to ferment in the body and give rise to