The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees

cook is singlehanded, attention to the initial roux will render unnecessary this troublesome process, or where it is a sine qua non the mistress must provide her cook with a tamis-pressoir (a fine sieve furnished with a rotary dasher, which forces the sauce through the fine meshes of the sieve). Allcmande, with the addition of a little finely minced parsley, and a spoonful or so more of cream at the last, becomes Sauce poulette ; or, if minced mushrooms and a suspicion of shallot are added to the parsley, it is known as Sauce Pascaline, a very favourite sauce for hashed lamb ; whilst if two tablespoonfuls of d'Uxelles mixture are added for each pint of allemande it becomes sauce d'Uxelles blanche, or sauce aux fines herbes (needless to say where economy has to be considered veloute may be used as the foundation of these sauces, but a spoonful of cream or new milk, and a tiny morsel of butter just at the last are in that case indispensable). Sauce Indienne is simply allemande sauce to which you have stirred one or more ounces of curry butter just at the last, or if preferred an ounce of fresh butter and a spoonful of curry powder; in this case, however, allowing the sauce just to boil up for a minute or two after adding the curry to cook the latter. Sauce Portugaise is made by reducing together a fourth part, a pint of veloute and a gill of white (preferably poultry) stock, and at the last, after sieving it, stirring in the juice of an orange, and the finely peeled and blanched rind cut into Julienne strips. Sauce Villeroi is a carefully made allemande, reduced till very thick, and further thickened by an egg and cream liaison, and used for o 2 masking cutlets, &c., previous to egg and crumbing them. Bechamel sauce is made by diluting an ounce or two of white roux with rather better than a gill each of white stock, and milk (the latter previously boiled up with a bunch of herbs, one or two green onions, and seasoning to taste). This, when reduced a fourth part, is then finished off with a couple of spoonfuls of thick cream, a dash of lemon juice, and white pepper and salt to taste. Obviously this sauce may be made more or less rich according to the richness of the stock used, the substitution of cream for butter, &c. But the point to remember is that the milk used in the original mixing of the stock, must have been first boiled up with the flavouring herbs, and seasoning ; it is this which constitutes the difference between sauce blanche, which is simply melted butter made with milk instead of water, and bechamel maigre, when no stock is used, but only milk flavoured as above. From bechamel we obtain sauce blanquette, when the milk used has been boiled with a slice of lean smoked ham as well as the herbs, &c., and the whole, when tammied, is mixed with minced parsley, and mushrooms (if liked), a squeeze of lemon juice and a spoonful or so of cream. The difference between this and poulette is its superior delicacy and the snowy white tint which differentiates it from the more substantial and cream coloured poulette. Sauce a la creme is another variant of bechamel, mtide by reducing about a fourth part rather more ibar. a pint of bechamel, with a gill of rich white