Espagnole and Bechamel.— These are justly termed the Adam and Eve of all the other preparations, because from these an endless variety of sauces can be made. If we look into the above statement concerning the four grande sauces more closely, we find that espagnole is a brown sauce, whilst the other three are white sauces. This must strike the uninitiated as somewhat odd, because only one brown sauce is recognised, whereas in cookery, a brown sauce is used at least three times as often as a white one. It is furthermore curious, or apparently so, that the brown sauce which the French cuisine recognises as the sauce should be called Spanish (espagnole). The white sauce has two varieties, the bechamel and allemande or veloutee. It would, however, be much more distinctive to recognise but two kinds of sauces as foundation or grande sauces, viz. : — The Spanish and bechamel, which are unquestionably the two leading sauces in cookery, and as such is the case they deserve to be recognised. Sauce espagnole, versus Brown Sauce. — There are many people who imagine that espagnole sauce is nothing more than an ordinary brown sauce. The French practically owe much of their advancement in cookery to Spain, although they have excelled the Spanish cuisine by a long way. Spanish cookery was at one time the pioneer, when no doubt this sauce was introduced into France, and such being the case, it cannot be wondered at that the French cooks have stuck to the name of so important an item, which they have adopted as their chief brown sauce. The great secret about this brown sauce consists in the hammy flavour which is blended into the sauce in such a skilful manner, making it superior to and distinguishable from an ordinary brown sauce. Much of the success of a brown sauce, as a fundamental sauce, depends upon the manner in which the flour is blended, or, to be SAUCES AND THEIR COMPOSITION 97 more correct, roasted. The principle of roasting flour is practically the same in every instance, although there are a number of ways of introducing the roast flavour into a brown sauce. To illustrate my meaning, let us take the roasting of coffee as an example, which will give us some idea as to what happens in roasting flour for a sauce. We know that when coffee is properly roasted its aromatic qualities are developed, whereby certain salts and volatile oils are blended, bringing out an excellent aroma, which by mere boiling of the berry could never be attained. The result obtained by roasting is not merely a .change of colour and an access of fragrance, but also the development of qualities which affect the human frame— which exhilarate the nervous system. The process of roasting flour, and the subsequent result in sauces is to a certain extent the same. To roast the flour to a nut- brown colour develops a fragrance of the most exquisite flavour, which will ultimately be incorporated into the sauce or sauces. Time required for Cooking. In preparing this as well as other sauces, which require a process of long cooking, it should be remembered that a sauce must simmer long enough to clear, and have the fat separated and come to the surface, so that it can be skimmed off.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Espagnole and Bechamel.— These are justly termed the Adam and Eve of all the other preparations, because from these an endless variety of sauces can be made. If we look into the above statement concerning the four grande sauces more closely, we find that espagnole is a brown sauce, whilst the other three are white sauces. This must strike the uninitiated as somewhat odd, because only one brown sauce is recognised, whereas in cookery, a brown sauce is used at least three times as often as a white one. It is furthermore curious, or apparently so, that the brown sauce which the French cuisine recognises as the sauce should be called Spanish (espagnole). The white sauce has two varieties, the bechamel and allemande or veloutee. It would, however, be much more distinctive to recognise but two kinds of sauces as foundation or grande sauces, viz. : — The Spanish and bechamel, which are unquestionably the two leading sauces in cookery, and as such is the case they deserve to be recognised. Sauce espagnole, versus Brown Sauce. — There are many people who imagine that espagnole sauce is nothing more than an ordinary brown sauce. The French practically owe much of their advancement in cookery to Spain, although they have excelled the Spanish cuisine by a long way. Spanish cookery was at one time the pioneer, when no doubt this sauce was introduced into France, and such being the case, it cannot be wondered at that the French cooks have stuck to the name of so important an item, which they have adopted as their chief brown sauce. The great secret about this brown sauce consists in the hammy flavour which is blended into the sauce in such a skilful manner, making it superior to and distinguishable from an ordinary brown sauce. Much of the success of a brown sauce, as a fundamental sauce, depends upon the manner in which the flour is blended, or, to be SAUCES AND THEIR COMPOSITION more correct, roasted. The principle of roasting flour is practically the same in every instance, although there are a number of ways of introducing the roast flavour into a brown sauce. To illustrate my meaning, let us take the roasting of coffee as an example, which will give us some idea as to what happens in roasting flour for a sauce. We know that when coffee is properly roasted its aromatic qualities are developed, whereby certain salts and volatile oils are blended, bringing out an excellent aroma, which by mere boiling of the berry could never be attained. The result obtained by roasting is not merely a .change of colour and an access of fragrance, but also the development of qualities which affect the human frame— which exhilarate the nervous system. The process of roasting flour, and the subsequent result in sauces is to a certain extent the same. To roast the flour to a nutbrown colour develops a fragrance of the most exquisite flavour, which will ultimately be incorporated into the sauce or sauces. Time required for Cooking. In preparing this as well as other sauces, which require a process of long cooking, it should be remembered that a sauce must simmer long enough to clear, and have the fat separated and come to the surface, so that it can be skimmed off.

The new century cookery book