Every-day dishes and every-day work

Cream or White Sauce. — Heat a pint of rich milk, or part cream, to boiling, and stir into it one tablespoonful of flour previously rubbed smooth in a little milk. With some brands of flour, a larger quantity may be needed, as there is a difference in the thickening property of different flours, Season with salt, and cook in a double boiler five or ten minutes, stirring frequently, that no lumps be formed. If lumps are found in the sauce, turn it quickly through a fine, hot colander into the dish in which it is to be served. Celery Sauce. — Cut half a dozen stalks of celery into fingerlengths, and simmer in milk for ten or fifteen minutes. Skim out the celery, add a little cream to the milk, salt to taste, and thicken with flour as for white sauce. This is very nice for potatoes and for toast. Egg Sauce. — Heat a pint of milk to boiling, and stir in a dessert-spoonful of flour rubbed smooth in a little milk. Stir constantly until the sauce is well thickened ; add the well-beaten yolk of an egg, turning it in very slowly and stirring rapidly, so that it shall be well mingled. Boil up once only, add a very little salt, and serve. The egg makes an excellent substitute for cream. Pease Gravy. — A gravy prepared either of dried or green pease as directed for lentil gravy on page 7G makes a suitable dressing for baked potatoes. Lentil gravy is also good for the same purpose. The addition of a little lemon juice to the lentil gravy makes another variety. Tomato Gravy. — A gravy made of tomatoes as directed on page 91 is excellent to use on baked or boiled sweet potatoes. Tomato Cream Gravy.— Prepare a gravy as for cream sauce, using a slightly heaping measure of flour. When done, add, just before serving, for each quart of the cream sauce, one cup of hot stewed tomato which has been put through a fine colander to remove all seeds. Beat it thoroughly into the sauce, and serve on boiled or baked potato. In preparing soups from grains, legumes, and vegetables, the material should be first cooked in the ordinary manner, in as small an amount of water as practicable, so as the more thoroughly to disintegrate or break it up. If the material be legumes or grains, the cooking should be slow and prolonged. The next step is to make the material homogeneous throughout, and to remove any skins or cellulose material it may contain. To do this, it should be put through a colander. The colander process being completed, a sufficient amount of liquid may be added to make the whole of the consistency of rather thick cream. If the material is now cold, it must be reheated, and the salt, if any is to be used, added. The quantity of salt will depend somewhat upon the taste of the consumer ; but in general, one-half teaspoonful to the pint of soup will be an ample supply. If any particular flavor, as of onion or celery, is desired, it may be imparted to the souj) by adding to it a slice of onion or a few stalks of celery, allowing them to remain during the reheating. By the time the soup is well heated, it will be delicately flavored, and the pieces of onion or celery may be removed with a fork or a skimmer. It is better, in general, to cook the soup all that is needed before flavoring, since the delicate flavors are apt to be lost by evaporation in the boiling. When reheated, [9G]