Practical household cookery

Peel and cut in slices five or six apples; put them in a stewpan with half a pint of water; when cooked and the water entirely consumed, rub them through a sieve; return the puree to the stewpan on the fire, add about a gill of hot water, an ounce of sugar, and half an ounce of butter to it, stir well, and when the whole is properly melted, and mixed together, serve. 182. EGG SAUCE. Mix in a stewpan on the fire a teacupful of Veloute sauce with three hard-boiled eggs cut in small dice ; add a little white pepper and salt to taste, also a little grated nutmeg, together with the juice of half a lemon and a dessert-spoonful of anchovy butter; mix the lot well together by stirring over the fire before serving. 183. BREAD SAUCE. Pour one pint of fresh cream into a stewpan on a moderate fire, and as soon as it begins to foam and swell draw the stewpan away ; then add three ounces of breadcrumbs, a little salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, and an onion ; boil for five minutes, take the onion out, add an ounce of butter, stir well, and serve. Note,—The above is the proper manner to make a bread sauce, but a similar one can be made (although not so good) by substituting milk for cream. 184. HOLLANDAISE SAUCE (DUTCH). Mix in a stewpan on a moderate fire the yolks of four eggs with three tablespoonfuls of Veloute sauce, a little grated nutmeg, and six ounces of fresh butter; stir this continually, and as the sauce thickens draw it gradually away from the fire to prevent boiling, without ceasing the stirring. When it has assumed a nice soft compact form, and swelling in the stewpan, pour in it two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, a little white pepper, and salt to taste ; stir well and pass it through a tammy sieve, and serve quickly, or into a bain-marie to keep hot till wanted. 185. INDIAN SAUCE. Mix two tablespoonfuls of Allemande sauce in a stewpan with a very small pinch of saffron, three ounces of curry butter, or simply one tablespoonful of curry powder and two ounces of fresh butter, set it on the fire, stir, and when properly mixed, and made hot, serve. 186. OYSTER SAUCE. Blanch for five minutes two dozen oysters in a gill of white wine, strain the liquor into a small saucepan, mix with it one pint of Veloute sauce and a gill of fish broth if handy, or the same quantity of white stock ; boil, stir, and simmer for ten minutes, then add the yolks of two eggs well beaten, stir the contents well, pass it through a tammy sieve into the saucepan again on the fire, season with salt and pepper, squeeze the juice of half a lemon, stir gently, pour the oysters in, stir again, and serve. 187. FINANClilRE SAUCE. Cut in small dice a slice of gammon of about two ounces, shred an onion, mince a few mushrooms and one truffle, put the lot into a stewpan with two ounces of butter, add a small " bouquet garni '* with a few peppercorns, fry for a few minutes, then pour in it half a pint of white claret or sherry, cover the stewpan and simmer till reduced to half the original quantity; pass the liquid through a fine-pointed strainer into the stewpan, and set it on the fire ; keep the gammon, mushrooms, and truffle apart, add and mix with the liquor a pint of Espagnole sauce, boil on a brisk fire for fifteen minutes, stir well, and pass it through a tammy sieve. Meanwhile put in a small saucepan a gill of white wine, with three spoonfuls of cut truffles, add it to the gammon, mushrooms, and truffle that were kept back; cover the saucepan, boil till reduced by one quarter, and pour it with the other sauce at the moment of serving. 188. SUPREME SAUCE.