English and French cookery

Mint Sauce. — Take a sufficiently large bunch of fresh green young mint to fill, when finely chopped, 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls. Chop the rind of a good-sized lemon very fine, and add to the mint in a sauce-tureen. To 4 ounces of best French vinegar add H ounces of fresh lemon-juice, and dissolve in this as much finely-powdered loaf-sugar as it will absorb. Pour the solution over the mint in the tureen, and let it stand for 1 hour. Mustard Sauce. — Knead 1 teaspoonful of flour of mustard and 1 dessertspoonful of baked flour with 3 ounces of butter ; stir to it a gill of boiling water, let it all boil 5 minutes, add 1 teaspoonful of vinegar, and serve. Melted Butter. — Mix 2 tablespoonfuls of flour with a little smooth milk to a smooth paste ; boil I a pint of milk and pour on to tlxe paste, the same manner as in making arrowroot. When mixed, boil for 3 minutes. Mayonnaise Sauce. — Break the yolk of a fresh egg into a basin, season with pepper and salt, and beat till thick. Add, drop by drop while beating, 3 tablespoonfuls of salad oil and 4 teaspoonfuls of vinegar. When these are thoroughly mixed add 2 tablespoonfuls of cream, stirring it in well. Two points to attend to in mixing a mayonnaise are that the materials and utensils should be as cool as possible, and that in mixing the oil and vinegar not more than a few drops of each should be added at a time. Time and care are required to make a good sauce. Onion Sauce. — Boil 4 or 6 white onions till tender. Mix them with ^ pint melted butter. Salt and pepper to taste, and boil up. Oyster Sauce. — Stew the beards of 12 oysters in their own juice with i a teacupful of good clear gravy ; strain it off, add it to \ pint melted butter, put in the oysters, and simmer gently for 3 minutes. Parsley and Butter. — To 1 pint melted butter add 2 tablespoonfuls of parsley, chopped very fine. Boil parsley for 5 minutes previously. Some prefer not to boil the parsley. Shrimp Sauce. — Into J pint melted butter put \ pint picked shrimps, add cayenne to taste, and simmer for 2 minutes. A dash of lemon-juice or anchovy sauce may be added. Sweet Sauce. — Take ^ pint melted butter, sweeten, and flavour with cinnamon, nutmeg, or grated almonds. Sauce Flavouring's. — In conveying delicate flavours to sauces, soups, gravies, stews, stuffings, and roast and. broiled meats, the cook will find Langdale’s essences of sage, parsley, garden mint, horseradish, onions, shallots, garlic, basil, marjoram, thyme, lemon thyme, mixed herbs, sweet herbs, savory and tomato, of material assistance. The essences of celery, capsicum, cayenne pepper, eschalot, tarragon, and truffles are also worth keeping in the storeroom. They are very inexpensive and go a long way. Sauce Tartare. — Put the yolks of 2 eggs, a dessertspoonful of the best vinegar, and a little salt into a small saucepan, whip these up with a whisk quickly into a cream, and add 2 dessertspoonfuls of oil and a teaspoonful of mustard, which must be well mixed previously ; a pinch of parsley minced very fine, and a little cayenne. The oil should be put in drop by drop, to mix perfectly. Wine and Brandy Sauces are made as sweet sauce, without the flavourings. White wines only are used for wine sauce.