For a quart of sauce, put over the fire in a thick
saucepan, two heaping tablespoonfuls of dry flour and
two ounces of butter, and stir them constantly until
the butter melts and is smoothly blended with the flour;
then begin to use a quart of boiling water, adding it to
the butter and flour by the half-cupful, and stirring
each portion smoothly with the sauce before adding
any more ; if this direction is followed the sauce will
be free from lumps ; when all the water has been
smoothly stirred with the butter and flour, season the
sauce palatably with salt, white pepper, and a very lit-
tle nutmeg, and let it boil for a moment. The sauce
should be thick enough to coat a spoon dipped into it,
but by no means pasty. The cooking of the butter and
flour together before the addition of liquid obviates
any taste of raw flour. If half water and half milk
replace the water, the sauce is richer ; all milk makes
cream sauce.
Some cooks use white broth as part of the liquid in
making white sauce ; but a white sauce properly made
with broth and kitchen herbs should be called veUmlc;
bechamel sauce is made with white broth, milk, the
kitchen herbs and vegetables ; both these sauces be-
long to a department of cookery which we are not con-
sidering at present. But white and cream sauces come
legitimately within our limit, and if properly made add
nutriment and flavor to inexpensive food.
BROWN SAUCE.
In natural sequence follows brown sauce as an im-
portant source of savor and bulk in the cookery of the
cheaper meats. A well-made brown sauce will raise
the plainest dish of boiled potatoes, hominy or rice to
the gustatory level of some of the lighter dishes of
meat, and for children's luncheons and suppers the for-
mer is often preferable. Children with normal,
healthy appetites require larger quantities of food than
some grown persons, and they should have plenty,
but not food of the kind supplied to adults. For in-
stance, boiled or baked potatoes, rice, oatmeal, homi-
ny, Indian meal mush, or even bread, with plenty of
good gravy, is better fare for children than abundance
of meat, two or three times a day, especially if the
meat is salt or fat. A brown sauce is simply a good
gravy. To make a quart of brown sauce use either
two ounces of good butter, or of perfectly sweet drip-
pings ; if the drippings from the different meats are
kept in separate crockery vessels, as they should be,
different flavors will accompany the sauces niade from
different fats. Put two ounces of drippings and two
tablespoonfuls of flour over the fire in a thick sauce-
pan and stir them constantly until the flour is nicely
browned ; then gradually stir in a quart of boiling wa-
ter, half a cupful at once, stirring the sauce smooth
with each addition of water, and keeping it at the boil-
ing point ; when all the water is used, season the sauce
palatably with salt and white pepper, let it boil thor-
oughly, and then use it. It is an error germane to the
digestive cranks that the food of children should be
free from condiments ; salt and the simple spices used
in moderation, aid the proper digestion and assimila-
tion of the food of healthy persons of any age. The
rest of our space must be given to a few cheap break-
fast dishes.
MINCED MEAT IN WHITE SAUCE.
Page 46
Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
For a quart of sauce, put over the fire in a thick saucepan, two heaping tablespoonfuls of dry flour and two ounces of butter, and stir them constantly until the butter melts and is smoothly blended with the flour; then begin to use a quart of boiling water, adding it to the butter and flour by the half-cupful, and stirring each portion smoothly with the sauce before adding any more ; if this direction is followed the sauce will be free from lumps ; when all the water has been smoothly stirred with the butter and flour, season the sauce palatably with salt, white pepper, and a very little nutmeg, and let it boil for a moment. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon dipped into it, but by no means pasty. The cooking of the butter and flour together before the addition of liquid obviates any taste of raw flour. If half water and half milk replace the water, the sauce is richer ; all milk makes cream sauce.
Some cooks use white broth as part of the liquid in making white sauce ; but a white sauce properly made with broth and kitchen herbs should be called veloute; bechamel sauce is made with white broth, milk, the kitchen herbs and vegetables ; both these sauces belong to a department of cookery which we are not considering at present. But white and cream sauces come legitimately within our limit, and if properly made add nutriment and flavor to inexpensive food.
BROWN SAUCE.
In natural sequence follows brown sauce as an important source of savor and bulk in the cookery of the cheaper meats. A well-made brown sauce will raise the plainest dish of boiled potatoes, hominy or rice to the gustatory level of some of the lighter dishes of meat, and for children's luncheons and suppers the former is often preferable. Children with normal, healthy appetites require larger quantities of food than some grown persons, and they should have plenty,
but not food of the kind supplied to adults. For instance, boiled or baked potatoes, rice, oatmeal, hominy, Indian meal mush, or even bread, with plenty of good gravy, is better fare for children than abundance of meat, two or three times a day, especially if the meat is salt or fat. A brown sauce is simply a good gravy. To make a quart of brown sauce use either two ounces of good butter, or of perfectly sweet drippings ; if the drippings from the different meats are kept in separate crockery vessels, as they should be, different flavors will accompany the sauces made from different fats. Put two ounces of drippings and two tablespoonfuls of flour over the fire in a thick saucepan and stir them constantly until the flour is nicely browned ; then gradually stir in a quart of boiling water, half a cupful at once, stirring the sauce smooth with each addition of water, and keeping it at the boiling point ; when all the water is used, season the sauce palatably with salt and white pepper, let it boil thoroughly, and then use it. It is an error germane to the digestive cranks that the food of children should be free from condiments ; salt and the simple spices used in moderation, aid the proper digestion and assimilation of the food of healthy persons of any age. The rest of our space must be given to a few cheap breakfast dishes.
MINCED MEAT IN WHITE SAUCE.