These sharp relishes go well with fish, and, as a change,
are welcome with cutlets, etc.
o]E3:.a.:e=teii^ z^^i.
Sauces— continued.
¥ the whole category o£ simple sauces none is more
_ g-enerally maltreated than " bread-sauce." Deli-
cious when properly made, it is positively a re-
pulsive mess when wrongly treated. You have no doubt
lamented many a time over the wretched compound which
your cook persists in sending up under this title ; and I
have heard people say that true "bread-sauce" cannot be
made in India. Now, I have tasted quite as nasty a com-
position as Ramasamy's in England, in fact even there you
more frequently get it bad, than good. The good " bread-
sauce," now served at the junior United Service Club in
London, is due to the admonitions of an officer, once well
known in Madras.
The system pursued by the ignorant cook may be thus
described : — he cuts some slices of bread, or grates bread-
crumbs enough for his requirements, over which he pours
a tea-cupful of boiling ivater, he gives that a pinch of salt,
perhaps (but by no means for certain) a spoonful of milk,
and a quantity of whole pepper corns, and cloves ; he stirs
this to the consistency of thick porridge, and finally sends
up a mixture which may be plainly described as spiced
bread poultice !
Setting aside other considerations for a moment, can
anything be more disagreeable than the accidental biting
88 CULINARY JOTTINGS FOR MADRAS.
of a ichole clove, or a pepper corn, in any dish or sauce ?
Common sense accordingly dictates that when the use of
these condiments is necessary, vre should strain the liquid
in which they have been placed befoi^ serving it.
The back-bone of " bread-sauce" is the flavouring of the
milk with which it is made, to begin with ; that done, to
strain it carefully over your grated crumbs ; then to
re-heat it, and finish it off with a good table-spoonful of
creavi at the moment you serve it. In the absence of
cream, the yolk of one egg, beaten up in a little milk till
it looks creamy, may be added, off the fire, just at the last>
but cream should be used if possible.
To flavour the milk, you must take a good sized white
onion, peel off the outside skin, cut it into quarters, and
pnt them, with a dozen pepper coras, six cloves, a blade
of mace, a pinch of gi\ated nutmeg, and a salt-spoonful of
salt, into a sauce-pan containing not less than half a pint
of good milk. The utmost care is now necessary, for milk
boils up so rapidly that you must watch your sauce-pan
narrowly, and use a very low fire to retard the boiling-
stage. Remove the pan as soon as the sui'face of the milk
looks frothy : let it cool a little, and replace it, continuing
the operation until the onion is done, and adding a little
milk from time to time to make good the loss by evapora-
tion. Now, strain it off through a piece of muslin into a
bowl, and add to it, spoonful by spoonful, the stale bread-
crumbs you have abeady prepared✪ Bread Sauce, till your eye tells you
that you have attained the right consistency ; then heat
the sauce up again, and finish it as I have already de-
scribed.
I can always rely upon making as good a " bread-sauce"
here as I ever ate in England, but then I would never
attempt it unless I had all the ingredients at my command.
There can be no evasion of the milk. "Water at once pro-
SAUCES— CONTINUED. 89
Page 50 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1885. 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
These sharp relishes go well with fish, and, as a change, are welcome with cutlets, etc.
[illustration: continued]
Sauces— continued.
Of the whole category of simple sauces none is more _ g-enerally maltreated than " bread-sauce." Delicious when properly made, it is positively a repulsive mess when wrongly treated. You have no doubt lamented many a time over the wretched compound which your cook persists in sending up under this title ; and I have heard people say that true "bread-sauce" cannot be made in India. Now, I have tasted quite as nasty a composition as Ramasamy's in England, in fact even there you more frequently get it bad, than good. The good " breadsauce," now served at the junior United Service Club in London, is due to the admonitions of an officer, once well known in Madras.
The system pursued by the ignorant cook may be thus described : — he cuts some slices of bread, or grates breadcrumbs enough for his requirements, over which he pours a tea-cupful of boiling water, he gives that a pinch of salt, perhaps (but by no means for certain) a spoonful of milk, and a quantity of whole pepper corns, and cloves ; he stirs this to the consistency of thick porridge, and finally sends up a mixture which may be plainly described as spiced bread poultice !
Setting aside other considerations for a moment, can anything be more disagreeable than the accidental biting
of a ichole clove, or a pepper corn, in any dish or sauce ? Common sense accordingly dictates that when the use of these condiments is necessary, we should strain the liquid in which they have been placed before serving it.
The back-bone of " bread-sauce" is the flavouring of the milk with which it is made, to begin with ; that done, to strain it carefully over your grated crumbs ; then to re-heat it, and finish it off with a good table-spoonful of creavi at the moment you serve it. In the absence of cream, the yolk of one egg, beaten up in a little milk till it looks creamy, may be added, off the fire, just at the last> but cream should be used if possible.
To flavour the milk, you must take a good sized white onion, peel off the outside skin, cut it into quarters, and put them, with a dozen pepper coras, six cloves, a blade of mace, a pinch of grated nutmeg, and a salt-spoonful of salt, into a sauce-pan containing not less than half a pint of good milk. The utmost care is now necessary, for milk boils up so rapidly that you must watch your sauce-pan narrowly, and use a very low fire to retard the boilingstage. Remove the pan as soon as the surface of the milk looks frothy : let it cool a little, and replace it, continuing the operation until the onion is done, and adding a little milk from time to time to make good the loss by evaporation. Now, strain it off through a piece of muslin into a bowl, and add to it, spoonful by spoonful, the stale breadcrumbs you have already prepared, till your eye tells you that you have attained the right consistency ; then heat the sauce up again, and finish it as I have already described.
I can always rely upon making as good a " bread-sauce" here as I ever ate in England, but then I would never attempt it unless I had all the ingredients at my command. There can be no evasion of the milk. "Water at once pro-
SAUCES— CONTINUED. 89
Records on this page
Bread Sauce