Thickening or Liaison d'Enf

Ingredients

• the yolks of three or four eggs
• a tablespoonful of cold water
• a small lump of butter not quite as large as a walnut
• two or three tablespoonfuls of the sauce or soup

Method

1. 1

   Stir the yolks with cold water, add butter and stir in the sauce or soup.

2. 2

   Once smooth, pour it into the sauce off the heat, then return to heat and stir until it thickens slightly without boiling.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cookery (1897) by Marguerite Ninet, page 9. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

a tablespoonful of cold water ; add a small lump of butter not quite as largo as a walnut, and into this stir two or three table- spoonfuls of the sauce or soup for which the thickening is intended. When the ingredients are all thoroughly incorporated, and the mixture is quite smooth like crearn, pour it (off the lire) into the 30 COOKERY. sauce ; then put it over the tire again, stirring all the time, just to allow it to thicken slightly, without actually boiling. Brown Thickening , or Eovx Brun — This can be made at leisure, and put by for use as desired. The principal ingredients are flour and butter ; put a piece of the latter into a small saucepan, and when it is hot add the flour and stir over a bright fire with a wooden spoon until the mixture assumes a golden brown colour ; add to this the required quantity of good clear stock, draw it off the fire, and let it simmer at the side for an hour or so, then strain and bottle for further use. Butter Thickening, or Liaison au Beurre. — This is represented by a small quantity of butter which must be added to certain soups, sauces, and * vegetables just before serving, and it is over this apparently simple operation that many cooks go wrong, because they insist on putting in the butter too soon. If this is done, the particular character- istic flavour which the butter is intended to impart is entirely lost. The saucepan should be finally removed from the fire, and then only must the butter be thrown in and promptly stirred, so as to amalgamate quickly with the substance it is to thicken ; to the same species of thickening belongs a cream and butter mixture used for certain sauces and soups to which these ingredients combined lend a peculiarly mellow flavour. These standard and other household sauces should STOCKS AND SAUCES. 31 form part of the reserve material of every careful cook. For some reason or other, however, they often prove a serious stumbling-block to the inex- perienced, to say nothing of the fact that they are not always easy to prepare in small quantities and at a moment’s notice ; it can be done, as I will show further on, but before giving the simplest recipes I can suggest, I must bring before my readers a wonderful addition to culinary articles, viz., the foundation sauces of the great French chef and philanthropist, Monsieur Charles Driessens ; after many years of study and research, he has succeeded in solidifying the three principal sauces so much used in French cookery, so that they are now within the reach of everybody, and by their means all kinds of entries and dainty dishes can be prepared at slight cost, and even less trouble. They are put up in glass jars, and will keep good a considerable length of time after being opened if they are stored in a dry place. They can be obtained from Messrs. Gosenza and Co., 95, Wigmore Street, W., or ordered through any good grocer. The above firm have secured the monopoly of this article for the United Kingdom and the Colonies. There are three of these sauces — the dark, which represents the well-known Italienne, the brown or espnynole, and the pale or allemande. A small and excellent collection of recipes by Monsieur Driessens himself has been translated, and is presented in the form of a most useful pamphlet with every bottle of C00KEEY. 32 sauce. These should prove invaluable in every house- hold where good cooking and variety are appreciated ; they only need mixing with a given quantity of water, and their mode of preparation is so prompt and simple that they are specially adapted for emergency dishes. The above-mentioned sauces can, if desired, still he made at home in this simplified form : Espagnole (Brown). — Put into a saucepan a small piece of butter about the size of a walnut with some lean remains of almost any kind of meat, such as ham, veal, chicken, game, etc., a couple of large onions studded with cloves, one carrot, a turnip, a few sprigs of parsley, pepper and salt to taste ; let this all simmer slowly over a moderate fire till the contents begin to colour, which will be in about an hour and a half. At this point add a tablespoonful of Hour, a tumblerful of stock, and some parsley, and let the whole boil gently on the side of the fire for four hours. Remove the fat, strain and put aside till required for adding to other sauces. Allan and e. — Put into a small saucepan the yolks of three or four eggs

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.