My best 250 recipes

Make small pockets in a breast of mutton and fill them with chopped celery ; place it in a bakingpan, dust with a teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of pepper. Add a cupful of water and bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes, then more slowly for one hour. Serve with brown sauce. TWENTY SAUCES The pleasures of the table are greatly increased by a variety of carefully made sauces; and homely dishes are made sightly by their use. While many sauces may seem elaborate and mysterious to the uninitiated they are all quite simple when once understood. They may be, however, divided into two classes — the simple, every-day ones, as brown sauce, cream or white sauce, English drawn butter, sauce Bechamel with a host of others; and the more elaborate sauces, such as mayonnaise, Bearnaise, sauce tartar, and those savory dish sauces which heighten the flavor of fish, flesh and game. These elaborate sauces are not in the least complicated, but require materials and seasonings not usually found in the everyday American kitchen, and, moreover, require the delicate taste and trained hand of an intelligent cook. The chief causes of failure in even the more simple sauces are the use of inferior materials, and the lack of constant stirring and careful attention while the sauce is heating. Lard or suet cannot be substituted for good, sweet butter; corn- 42 My Best 250 Recipes starch or coarse flour will not take the place of fine flour. Ingredients must be carefully measured. SAUCES ONE OF THE FINE ARTS OF COOKERY An untrained cook with an untrained palate cannot make a perfect sauce. Sauces and soups are the fine arts of cookery, and the person who undertakes them must understand tastes and flavors, as well as chemistry. Cold butter put into a hot saucepan spoils the sauce; saucepan and butter must heat slowly together, and the butter must not be left to boil, or both flavor and digestibility are spoiled. An iron saucepan will not produce a delicate sauce. Keep a dainty white granite pan especially for sauces. Each sauce should be fitted or adapted to the vegetable or meat or fish with which it is to be served. Fish requires a slightly acid sauce; for it either lemon juice or vinegar may be used. Roots used as vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, etc., not containing much nourishment, may be covered with a cream or an egg sauce. Asparagus, summer squash, cooked radishes, artichokes are better with sauce Hollandaise. One rounding or two level tablespoonfuls of butter and one rounding or two level tablespoonfuls of flour will thicken half a pint of liquid. The rounding measurements are used in the reci- My Best 250 Recipes 43 pes. Seasonings must be added to harmonize with the articles with which the sauce is to be served. Blend the fat and flour, and add the liquid cold, if possible. Stir constantly until the mixture boils. This method insures a smooth sauce, prevents the boiling of the butter and more thoroughly cooks the starch. Eggs must be added after the sauce is taken from the fire; then cook slightly over hot water. Add salt and pepper at last. FOR FISH, MEAT AND POULTRY WHITE, MILK OR CREAM SAUCE Rub together a tablespoonful of butter and one of flour; add half a pint of cold milk, stir until boiling; take from the fire, add half a teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of white pepper. Serve with boiled mutton, potatoes, white meats or green vegetables. ENGLISH DRAWN BUTTER Rub together a tablespoonful of butter and one of flour. Add slowly half a pint of boiling water, beating all the while. Boil for a moment, take from the fire; add half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and then stir in another tablespoonful of butter. Serve with summer squash, stewed cucumbers or other green vegetables. 44 My Best 250 Recipes