Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Saucepans. — Under the general name of saucepans are included utensils indispensable in cookery, of different shapes and sizes, and of various kinds. A description of those generally in use will be found in another place. It may be said here, however, that the cook cannot be too careful to keep her saucepans sweet and clean, and to do this she must fill them with water the moment she has finished using them, clean them as soon as possible afterwards, on no account put them away dirty, remember to dry them before the fire a few minutes before putting them away, and keep them in a dry place. A celebrated French cook used to say that a dirty saucepan was sufficient to spoil the effect of a whole dinner. Besides being washed, scoured, and rinsed inside each time they are used, saucepans should be made bright outside on the upper rim, and where the fire does not touch them. When tinned saucepans are used, they should be examined constantly, and retinned as soon as ever they begin to redden, as satisfactory cookery cannot be carried on with an insufficiently tinned saucepan. It will not only render whatever is cooked in it unwholesome, but will injure its colour and taste. Saucer Cake. — Mix a quarter of a pound of flour with a quarter of a pound of best arrow- SAU ( 829 ) SATT root. Beat four ounces of butter to cream, add the same weight of powdered sugar, the flour and arrowroot, one ounce of candied peel finely shred, and two well-whisked eggs. Beat the mixture till it is smooth and light, put it into a shallow dish lined with buttered paper, and bake in a moderate oven. If the cake is kept in an air-tight tin, it will keep good for some time. Time to bake, an hour or more. Probable cost, 1s. 2d. Saucer Pudding (suitable for a child or invalid). — Mix a tea-spoonful of flour to a smooth paste with a little cold milk, and stir into this as much boiling milk as will make up the quantity to a tea-cupful. Let the liquor cool, then add a well-beaten egg and a little sugar and flavouring. Pour the preparation into a large buttered saucer, and bake in a well-heated oven. When done enough, turn the pudding upon a plate, and serve with jam, or with a little sherry if preferred. Time to bake, twenty minutes. Probable cost, 3d. Sufficient for one person. Sauces. — The skill and knowledge of a cook is shown in nothing more assuredly than in the way in which she manufactures and chooses sauces. M. Soyer used to say that sauces are to cookery what grammar is to language and the gamut is to music; and another great authority says that "a good sauce ought to call into activity each ramification of the palatal organs." However this may be, sauce ought certainly to serve either as a relish or a finish to the meat which it accompanies : it ought, too, to be carefully made, and attractively sent to table. It will be found that in this book the names of the sauces appropriate to be served with each dish are usually mentioned in the instructions for making it. With regard to sauces in general it should be remembered that hot sauces should be served very hot ; that when sauces need to be kept hot they should not be kept boiling, but should be put into a bain-marie, or, failing this, the saucepan should be placed in a vessel containing boiling water ; that eggs and acids should not be added to sauce until it has cooled for