Instead of milk or water, you can use for melted b.u.t.ter, some of the water in which chicken or turkey was boiled, or some veal gravy.
CELERY SAUCE.--Split and cut up into short slips a bunch of celery, having taken off the green leaves from the tops. The celery must have been well washed, and laid an hour in cold water. Take a pint of milk, and cut up in it a quarter of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter that has been well dredged with flour. Set it over the fire in a sauce-pan, and add the celery gradually; also three or four blades of mace broken up. Boil all slowly together, till the celery is quite soft and tender, but not dissolved. The green tops of the celery, (strewed in, when it begins to simmer,) will improve the flavor. Celery sauce is served up with boiled turkey, boiled fowls, and with any sort of fresh fish, boiled or fried.
MINT SAUCE.--This is only used for roast lamb in the spring. When the lambs are grown into sheep, the mint is too old for sauce. But they harmonize very pleasantly when both are young.
Take a large bunch of fine fresh green mint, that has been washed well.
Strip the leaves from the stems, and mince them small. Put it into a pint bowl, and mix with it gradually some of the best cider vinegar.
This sauce must not be the least liquid, but as thick as horse-radish sauce or thicker. Make it very sweet, with the best brown sugar. Mix it well, and transfer to a small tureen, or a little deep dish with a tea-spoon in it. Serve it up always with roast lamb, putting a tea-spoonful on the rim of your plate.
A quart or more of mint sauce, made as above, but with a larger proportion of sugar and vinegar, will keep very well for several weeks, in a jar well corked.
HORSE-RADISH.--Wash clean some roots of horse-radish, wipe them dry, and sc.r.a.pe off the outside. Then grate the sticks of horse-radish with a large grater. Put some of the grated horse-radish into a large saucer, or small deep plate, and moisten it with good cider vinegar, but do not put so much vinegar as will render it liquid. Send it to table with roast beef or mutton.
CAULIFLOWER SAUCE.--Have ready some very rich good melted or drawn b.u.t.ter, made with milk and flavored with nutmeg. Thicken it with plenty of ready-boiled cauliflower, cut into little sprigs or blossoms. Give it one boil up after the cauliflower is in, and send it to table with any sort of boiled poultry. It will be found very nice. For a boiled turkey it is far superior to celery sauce, and well suited to dinner company.
BROCCOLI SAUCE.--Make some nice drawn b.u.t.ter with milk. Flavor it with powdered mace. Pound some spinach in a mortar to extract the juice.
Strain the spinach juice, and stir a small tea-cupful into the b.u.t.ter to give it a fine green color. Have ready some well-boiled broccoli. Divide one or two heads of the broccoli into tufts or sprigs. Put them into the melted b.u.t.ter, and when it comes to a boil, take it off, and transfer it to a sauce-boat. Serve it up with boiled poultry or fresh fish.
PARSLEY SAUCE.--Strip from the stalks the leaves of some fresh green parsley; allow plenty of it. Chop it slightly; and while the drawn b.u.t.ter is hot, stir into it the parsley, till the b.u.t.ter looks very green. Serve it up with boiled fowls, rabbits, or boiled fish. The appearance of parsley sauce will be much improved by stirring in some spinach juice. The whole will be then a fine green.
CRIMPED PARSLEY.--Pick the small sprigs of parsley from the large stalks. Wash it, and then throw it into clean cold water. After the meat or fish that it is to accompany has been fried and taken out of the pan, give the fat that remains a boil up, and lay the parsley into it. It will crimp and still continue green, if not kept frying too long. Take it out, drain it, and place it before the fire a few minutes, to dry it from the fat. Dish it laid on the top of the fish or steaks.
FENNEL SAUCE.--The fennel should be young and fresh. Take a large handful, or more, and having washed it clean, strip the leaves from the stems, and boil it till quite tender. Put it into a sieve, and press the water well from it. Mince it very small, and stir it into drawn b.u.t.ter.
It is served up with boiled fish.
Instead of melted b.u.t.ter, you may put the fennel into veal gravy, thickened with b.u.t.ter dredged with flour.
SAGE AND ONION SAUCE.--Take a bunch of fresh sage leaves. Wash and drain them. Pick them from the stems, and put them to boil in a small sauce-pan, with just water enough to cover them. Boil them fast about ten minutes. Take them out, and press them in a sieve to drain them dry.
Then mince or chop them small. Have ready two onions, boiled tender in another sauce-pan; chop them also, and mix them well with the minced sage. While warm, mix in a small bit of nice b.u.t.ter--season with pepper.
Put this sauce into a little tureen, and serve it up with roast goose, roast duck, or roast pork, that has been stuffed with potato, bread, or other stuffing. The sage and onion sauce is for those who prefer their flavor to any other seasoning for those dishes.
This sauce will be greatly improved if moistened with some of the gravy of the duck or goose.
FINE ONION SAUCE.--Peel some nice mild onions, and boil them in plenty of milk, skimming them well. When done, take them out of the milk, (saving it,) and slice them very thin, cutting the slices across, so as to make the pieces of onion very small. Return them to the sauce-pan of milk, (adding some fresh b.u.t.ter dredged with flour;) season them with powdered mace or nutmeg, and give the onions another boil, till they are soft enough to mash, and to thicken the milk all through. Eat this sauce with steaks, cutlets, rabbits, or chickens.
PLAIN ONION SAUCE.--Peel some very small onions, and boil them whole in milk, (seasoned slightly with pepper and salt,) and put in some bits of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour. Let them boil till tender all through, but not till they loose their shape. Eat them with any sort of boiled meat.
NASTURTION SAUCE.--This is eaten with boiled mutton; is superior to caper sauce, and costs almost nothing, if you have nasturtions in your garden. Gather the green seeds as soon as they are full grown, and throw them (without the stems) into a jar of cider vinegar. They require no cooking, but keep a muslin bag of spice in the jar, (mace and nutmeg broken small, and a little piece of root ginger.) To use them for sauce, make some nice drawn b.u.t.ter, and as it simmers throw in plenty of nasturtions from the jar. The seeds, when gathered, should be full grown, but by no means hard; and the color a fine green. If there is the slightest brown tinge, the nasturtion seeds are too old, and should be kept for planting.
MUSHROOM SAUCE.--Have ready some excellent drawn b.u.t.ter, and thicken it with small b.u.t.ton mushrooms that have been pickled. Or, take freshly-gathered mushrooms of good size, rub off the outer skin with a clean flannel, and cut off the stems close to the flaps. Wash the mushrooms in a cullender. Have ready some bits of fresh b.u.t.ter dredged all over with flour. Lay them among the mushrooms, (which, if very large, should be quartered,) and put them into a stew-pan. Cover the pan, and let them stew till the mushrooms are all tender. When you take off the lid to try them, replace it immediately, keeping in as much of the aroma as possible. If fresh, they will yield a great deal of juice.
When done, transfer them to a sauce-tureen, and serve them up with any nice dish of meat or poultry.
The best mushrooms are found in pure open air or rather high ground, and where there is no swamp or woodland. On the upper side of their top they are not white, but of a pale grayish tint; the under side is invariably light red, pinkish, or pale salmon color, which in a few hours, or after being gathered, turns brown. The false mushrooms are poisonous. They are entirely white above and below. The fungi that grow in forests or marshes can never be mistaken for real mushrooms. They are of various colors, chiefly bright yellow and red, and originate in foul air. By boiling a silver tea-spoon with your mushrooms, you may test their goodness. If the silver turns black, throw the mushrooms away. An onion will also blacken from the same cause. Mushrooms should be cooked as soon as possible. If kept two or three days, worms will be found in them. Never give mushrooms to children. Even in their best state they are not wholesome. The taste for mushrooms is an acquired one, and it is best not to acquire it.
TOMATO SAUCE.--Scald some large ripe tomatos, to make them peel easily.
Then quarter them, and press them through a sieve to divest them of their seeds. Put the juice into a stew-pan, adding some bits of fresh b.u.t.ter dredged with flour; add finely grated bread-crumbs, and season with a little pepper, and, if liked, a little onion boiled and minced.
Set the pan over a moderate fire, and let the tomatos simmer slowly till it comes to a boil. Continue the boiling ten minutes longer. Serve it up in a sauce-tureen. It will be mellowed and improved by stirring in (as soon as it comes to a boil) a table-spoonful or a lump of white sugar.
TARRAGON SAUCE.--Put into a sauce-pan a large half pint of any nice gravy that is at hand. After it has boiled five minutes, have ready a handful of fresh green tarragon leaves, minced, and moistened with plenty of cider vinegar. Add this to the gravy, and let it simmer five minutes. Then take it out, and serve it up with any kind of boiled poultry.
TO MAKE GRAVY.--Take two pounds of the lean of veal, or of very nice beef. Cut it into small bits, and lay it in a sauce-pan with only as much water as will cover it. Stew it slowly, (skimming it well) till the meat is all rags. Then strain the gravy, and thicken it with some bits of fresh b.u.t.ter dredged all over with browned flour, and give it another simmer. You may flavor it with any seasoning you like.
For made gravies, you can use any small pieces of fresh meat that has never been cooked, and the feet of calves and pigs. Boil in it also such vegetables as you like, cut small. Strain out every thing before it goes to table. For gravies, use nothing that has been cooked before. They will not add to its goodness, but only render it flat and washy.
White gravy is made with fresh veal boiled in milk; and after straining, thickened arrow-root, or rice flour, mixed with fresh b.u.t.ter, if real cream cannot be obtained.
MUSHROOM CATCHUP.--Let the mushrooms be large and freshly-gathered, for they soon become worm-eaten if not speedily salted. They should be well examined. Cut off the stalks of four quarts of nice mushrooms. Put the flaps into a deep earthen pan, and break them up with your hands. Strew among them half a pound of salt, reserving the largest portion of it for the top. Let them stand for three days, stirring them gently every morning. The fourth day, put them into a sieve, and draw off the liquor without pressing the mushrooms. When all the liquor has drained through, measure it, allowing to each quart a tea-spoon of cayenne, a dozen blades of mace, and a nutmeg broken up. Put the whole into a porcelain kettle, and boil it slowly till reduced one half. Then pour it into a clean white-ware pitcher, cover it with a folded napkin, and keep it in a cool dry place till next day. Then, through a funnel, pour it gently from the sediment into small bottles. Finish with a tea-spoonful of sweet oil on the top of each. Cork the bottles tightly, and seal the corks.
The next time you make catchup, proceed as above with the new mushrooms, and other ingredients; and, when it is done, strain it, and put it into a clean kettle. Then add to it a quart of _last year"s_ mushroom catchup, and boil it a quarter of an hour. Then bottle it as above.
This double catchup is very fine.
WALNUT CATCHUP.--Take two hundred walnuts or b.u.t.ter-nuts, while the green sh.e.l.l is still so soft that you can pierce it with the head of a pin. Bruise them to small pieces, in a marble mortar. Transfer them to a broad stone-ware pan, and stew among them six handfuls of salt. Stir them three times a day, for ten days or two weeks. Then squeeze and strain them through a cloth, pressing them very dry, till no more juice comes out. Boil up the liquor with two quarts of cider vinegar, half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of whole pepper, half an ounce of nutmegs broken up, and two roots of ginger cut small, and half a dozen shalots or small onions, peeled and cut up, and a large bunch of sweet herbs.
Let the whole boil for half an hour. Then pour off the liquor into a large pitcher, leaving out the bunch of sweet herbs. Pour off the liquor (through a funnel,) into small bottles, having first put into the bottom of each bottle a portion of the spice. Fill the bottle up to the top with the catchup, finishing with a tea-spoonful of salad oil, which will greatly a.s.sist in keeping the catchup good. Cork the bottles very closely, and seal the corks.
TOMATO CATCHUP.--Take a peck of large ripe tomatos. In the middle States they are in perfection the last of August. Late in the autumn they are comparatively insipid and watery. Cut a slit down the side of every tomato. Put them into a large preserving kettle without any water. Their own juice is sufficient. On no account boil tomatos in bra.s.s or copper, their acid acting on those metals produces verdigris, and renders them poisonous. Boil them till they are quite soft, and easily mashed, stirring them up frequently from the bottom. Press and mash them through a hair sieve, till all the pulp has run out into the pan below, leaving in the sieve only the skins and seeds. Season the liquid with a little salt, some cayenne, and plenty of powdered nutmeg and mace. Mix it well, and when cold put up the catchup in small jars, the covers pasted all round with bands of white paper. This catchup, when done, should be very thick and smooth.
LEMON CATCHUP.--Take six fine large ripe lemons, and roll them under your hand to increase the quant.i.ty of juice. Grate off all the yellow rind, and squeeze the juice into a pitcher, removing all the seeds.
Prepare two ounces of finely sc.r.a.ped horse-radish, and two ounces of minced shalots, or very small onions. Put them into a pint of boiling vinegar, in which half an ounce of bruised ginger and a quarter of an ounce of mace have been simmered for five minutes. Add to this the lemon-juice and the grated peel, and two grated nutmegs. Boil all together for half an hour, and then transfer it with all the ingredients to a gla.s.s jar with a lid. Paste a band of strong white paper round the lower part of the lid. Set it in a dry cool place, and leave it undisturbed for three months. Then, through a funnel, pour off the liquid into small bottles, putting a tea-spoonful of salad oil at the top of each. Cork and seal them.
CUc.u.mBER CATCHUP.--For a small quant.i.ty of this catchup, take twelve fine full-grown cuc.u.mbers, and lay them an hour in cold water. Then pare them, and grate them down into a deep dish. Grate also two small onions, and mix them with the grated cuc.u.mber. Season the mixture to your taste with pepper, salt, and vinegar, making it of the consistence of very thick marmalade or jam. When thoroughly amalgamated, transfer it to a gla.s.s jar. Cover it closely, tying over it a piece of bladder, so as to render it perfectly air-tight.
It will be found very nice, (when fresh cuc.u.mbers are not in season,) to eat with beef or mutton. And if properly made, and securely covered, will keep well. It should be grated very fine, and the vinegar must be of very excellent quality--real cider vinegar.
CAMP CATCHUP.--Take a pint or quart of strong ale or porter, and a pint of white wine; half a dozen shalots, or very small onions, peeled and minced; half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of nutmeg, broken up; and two large roots or races of ginger, sliced. Put all together, over a moderate fire, into a porcelain-lined kettle, and boil it slowly till one-third of the liquid is wasted. Next day transfer it to small bottles, putting a portion of the seasoning in the bottom of each, and filling them to the top with the liquid. Finish with a tea-spoonful of salad oil at the top. Cork the bottles with good corks, and seal them.
In a dry place this catchup will keep for years.