The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees

Sauce Robert. — Cut two medium sized onions into dice, and fry in butter till of a golden brown, then drain off the butter, and cook them in a little stock with a tiny pinch of sugar, till melted; meantime boil a full half pint of espagnole with a gill of light French wine (or white wine vinegar), and a handful of mushroom stalks and trimmings, till reduced a fourth part ; sieve it, stir it to the onions, add a good spoonful of made mustard and serve. Excellent with pork cutlets, hashed goose, &c. Sauce Richelieu. — This is simply espagnole made with strong game stock, and enriched at the last with strong game glaze or essence. It should be specially dark in colour, and taste strongly of game. If 3oz. or 4oz. of dried cherries or prunes are stewed in a gill of claret with a strip of lemon peel, a piece of stick cinnamon, and a few cloves, for twenty minutes at the side of the stove till tender, and then stirred into a good half pint of this sauce (after removing the lemon peel, cinnamon, and cloves) it is known as Sauce St. Hubert, and is in Germany much used with venison, wild boar, &c. It is manifestly impossible in a book of this size to give even a tenth of the sauces in use, but the above will allow of considerable variety, and if thoroughly mastered, will enable the cook to pick up any new sauces she may come across fairly easily. Hot butter sauces are much used abroad, and very delicious they are, and well worth the trouble they entail. For instance : ' Sauce Bearnaise. — Put into a pan three or four shallots, some roughly crushed allspice or black peppercorns, as you please, and a tiny bit of mace, pour to this a gill of tarragon vinegar and half a pint of water, and allow it to boil-in to half ; then strain and leave it till cold. Strain three or four eggs into a pan, and stir them over a slow fire with enough of the above liquid to produce a rich custard, then stir in bit by bit 2oz. of fresh butter, and when these have all been worked in, sprinkle in a teaspoonful of minced tarragon, and serve. This sauce should be made just as it is wanted, as it oils if it has to stand ; still, as accidents will happen, it will keep fairly good for twelve or fifteen minutes if stood in the bain-marie ; whilst if it oils, the addition of a tiny knob of ice in summer, or a little oold water in winter, will often bring it back to fairly good condition. This sauce should be like mayonnaise in appearance and consistency. Indeed, it is often called “ hot mayonnaise.” Sauce a la d'Orleans. — Bring to the boil two tablespoonfuls of the best Orleans vinegar, then add to it a full tablespoonful of rich espagnole sauce, and let this heat ; now work into it bit by bit l^oz. to 2oz. of fresh butter, being careful not to add the next piece till the first is perfectly dissolved ; then stir into it a dust of cayenne and of caster sugar, with a good pinch of finely minced parsley, and serve. Sauce Frangaise. — To the quantity of Bearnaise sauce given above add half a gill of good tomato puree, with an ounce of very strong chicken stock ; add a small teaspoonful of finely minced parsley and a teaspoonful of chilli vinegar, and use with fillets or cutlets of any meat or poultry. These butter sauces, again, are many.