Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Now, it is evident that brown thickening is of no use when the substance thickened is required to be clear or bright. Brown gravy or thick mock-turtle soup are what may be called muddy, i.e., they don't pretend to be bright. There are, however, sauces, and even gravies, that should be thick, and at the same time bright and clear. Here, then, it is apparent that we must have some other thickening altogether. "We will take as a specimen that exceedingly nice-looking, and at the same time nice-tasting, sauce, called sauce Bordelaise, made from claret ; and as of course any ordinary sound claret will do for the purpose, in the present day of cheap French wine the sauce is by no means so dear as it would have been a few years ago. To make Bordelaise sauce, you must first have some very good stock, perfectly bright and absolutely free from fat. Take say half a pint of such stock, and boil it down in a small saucepan, in which has been placed one bead of garlic, PRIXCIPLES GRAVY. and a very little piece of mace and cinnamon, with just a suspicion of cayenne pepper. When the stock, by means of being gently boiled, has evaporated away till there is only one-third of it left, strain it very carefully off, and mix it with nearly a tumblerful of claret, and warm it up. It will of course be quite thin. Next take a little arrowroot, and mix it with a tablespoonful of cold water in a cup; stir it, and mix it in gradually with the sauce, which must be just simmering on the fire. As soon as the sauce gets as thick as prepared gum or very thin treacle, it is done. The sauce should, however, be as bright as claret itself. This sauce does for a variety of purposes, such as sweetbreads, boiled fish, or even cold meat may be cut in slices and warmed up in it. The advantage of arrowroot as a thickening is very marked in this sauce, as the brightness of the colour is not in the least destroyed, and the exact consistency liked can easily be obtained by simply adding a little at a time, and keeping the sauce well stirred and simmering. Recollect, however, in using an'owroot as a means of thickening, always to mix it with cold water in a cup, and stir it up before taking any out, as the arrowroot will settle and cake at the bottom of the cup. Arrowroot is the best thickening when clearness is desirable ; there are many kinds of gravies, however, which are necessarily clear, and yet which are ill-adapted to bear brown thickening. The gravy for ordinary hashed mutton is one. Colour can be imparted by browning a little sliced onion with a little butter in a frying-pan, or by means of burnt brown sugar and water, or toasted bread. This gravy is best tliickened with corn-flour or arrowroot, as mutton previously cooked is not savoury enough to bear the rich flavouring of brown thickening like roast goose, or duck, or fowl. Colouring from sugar is made by simply melting some coarse brown sugar in an old frying-pan till it looks like blood, and then pouring some boilingwater on it, and stirring it till it is dissolved.