82. =How to Cook Macaroni.=--This is one of the most wholesome and economical of foods, and can be varied so as to give a succession of palatable dishes at a very small cost. The imported macaroni can be bought at Italian stores for about fifteen cents a pound; and that quant.i.ty when boiled yields nearly three times its bulk, if it has been manufactured for any length of time. In cooking it is generally combined with meat gravy, tomato sauce, and cheese; Gruyere and Parmesan cheese, which are the kinds most used by foreign cooks, can be readily obtained at any large grocery, the price of the former being about thirty-five cents per pound, and the latter varying from forty to eighty cents, according to the commercial spirit of the vendor; the trade price quoted on grocers" trade lists being thirty-eight cents per pound, for prime quality. This cheese is of a greenish color, a little salt in taste and flavored with delicate herbs; the nearest domestic variety is sage-cheese, which may be used when Parmesan can not be obtained. If in heating Parmesan cheese it appears oily, it is from the lack of moisture, and this can be supplied by adding a few tablespoonfuls of broth, and stirring it over the fire for a minute. When more macaroni has been boiled than is used, it can be kept perfectly good by laying it in fresh water, which must be changed every day. There are several forms of Italian paste, but the composition is almost identical, all being made from the interior part of the finest wheat grown on the Mediterranean sh.o.r.es: the largest tubes, about the size of a lead pencil, are called _macaroni_; the second variety, as large as a common pipe-stem, is termed _mazzini_; and the smallest is _spaghetti_, or threads; _vermicelli_ comes to market in the form of small coils or hanks of fine yellowish threads; and _Italian paste_ appears in small letters, and various fanciful shapes. Macaroni is generally known as a rather luxurious dish among the wealthy; but it should become one of the chief foods of the people, for it contains more gluten, or the nutritious portion of wheat, than bread.
83. =Macaroni with Bechamel Sauce.=--Heat three quarts of water, containing three tablespoonfuls of salt, to the boiling point; boil half a pound of _macaroni_ in it until it is tender enough to pierce easily with the finger nail; then drain it in a colander, and wash it well in cold water; while it is boiling make a _Bechamel_, or white sauce, as in receipt No. 84: put just enough of it with the _macaroni_ to moisten it, heat it thoroughly; shake it up well with two forks to make the cheese fibrous, put it on a hot dish, sprinkle with half an ounce of grated Parmesan cheese, and serve it hot.
84. =Bechamel Sauce, with Parmesan Cheese.=--Stir together over the fire two ounces of b.u.t.ter, and two ounces of flour, until they are perfectly blended, boiling one pint of milk meantime; when the b.u.t.ter and flour are smooth, pour the boiling milk into them, stir in two ounces of grated Parmesan gradually and melt it thoroughly, stirring constantly until the sauce is smooth; if cream is used instead of milk, and the Parmesan cheese omitted, the same is called _Cream Bechamel_.
85. =Macaroni Milanaise style.=--Have ready some tomato sauce, made according to receipt No. 52, or use some fresh tomatoes pa.s.sed through a sieve with a wooden spoon, and highly seasoned; and two ounces of grated Parmesan cheese; put half a pound of imported Italian _macaroni_ in three quarts of boiling water, with two tablespoonfuls of salt, one saltspoonful of pepper in coa.r.s.e pieces, called _mignonette_ pepper, and a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter; boil rapidly for about twenty minutes, or until you can easily pierce it with the finger nail, then drain it in a colander, run plenty of cold water from the faucet through it, and lay it in a pan of cold water until you are ready to use it. Put into a sauce-pan one gill of tomato sauce, one ounce of b.u.t.ter, and one gill of Spanish sauce, or any rich meat gravy free from fat, and stir until they are smoothly blended: put a half inch layer of _macaroni_ on the bottom of a dish, moisten it with four tablespoonfuls of the sauce, sprinkle over it half an ounce of the grated cheese; make three other layers like this, using all the _macaroni_, cheese, and sauce, and brown the _macaroni_ in a hot oven for about five minutes; serve it hot.
86. =Macaroni with Tomato Sauce.=--Boil half a pound of _spaghetti_ or _macaroni_ as directed in receipt No. 83, and lay it in cold water. Make a tomato sauce as follows, and dress the _macaroni_ with it, using only enough to moisten it, and sprinkling the top with half an ounce of grated cheese; serve it hot.
87. =Tomato Sauce.=--Boil together, for one hour, half a can of tomatoes, or six large, fresh ones, one gill of broth of any kind, one sprig of thyme, one sprig of parsley, three whole cloves, three peppercorns, and half an ounce of onion sliced; rub them through a sieve with a wooden spoon, and set the sauce to keep hot; mix together over the fire one ounce of b.u.t.ter, and half an ounce of flour, and when smooth, incorporate with the tomato sauce.
88. =Timbale of Macaroni.= (_A sweet dish._)--Boil half a pound of _macaroni_ of the largest size, in boiling water and salt for fifteen minutes; drain it in a colander, wash it well, lay by one quarter of it, and put the rest into a sauce-pan with one ounce of b.u.t.ter, one pint of milk or cream, four ounces of sugar, one teaspoonful of vanilla flavoring, and a saltspoonful of salt; simmer it gently while you line a well b.u.t.tered three pint plain mould with the best pieces you have reserved, coiling them regularly in the bottom and up the sides of the mould; put what you do not use among that in the sauce-pan, and as soon as it is tender fill the mould with it, and set it in a hot oven for fifteen minutes; then turn it out on a dish, dust it with powdered sugar, and serve it hot, with a pudding sauce.
89. =Vanilla Cream Sauce.=--Put three ounces of powdered sugar into a sauce-pan with one ounce of corn starch, and one gill of cold water; mix them smooth off the fire; then put the sauce-pan on the fire and pour in half a pint of boiling milk, stirring smooth with an egg-whip for about ten minutes, when the sauce will be thoroughly cooked; flavor it with one teaspoonful of vanilla, and serve with pudding at once.
CHAPTER VI.
LARGE ROASTS.
Since roast or rather baked meats so often play the chief part in American dinners, a few directions will be useful in connection with their cooking. The object in cooking meat is to prepare it for easy mastication and complete digestion; and it should be accomplished with the least possible waste of the valuable juices of the meat. The roasting of meat before the fire is not often possible in ordinary kitchens, but with a well managed oven the same result can be attained.
If meat is placed before a slow fire, or in a cool oven, the little heat that reaches it serves only to draw out its juices, and with them its nutritious elements. The alb.u.men of its cut surfaces coagulates at the temperature of a bright, clear fire, or a hot oven, and thus seals up the juices so that only a part of them escape, and those are collected in the form of a rich brown, highly flavored crust, upon the surface of well roasted meat. A good temperature for baking meat is from 320 to 400 Fahr. If the meat is put into a very hot oven for a few moments to harden the outside, the heat can subsequently be moderated, and the cooking finished more slowly, so that the meat will be sufficiently well done, but not burned. Meats should be roasted about twenty minutes to a pound, to be moderately well done; the fire should be clear, and steady, in order that an equal heat may reach the joint and keep its interior steam at the proper degree of heat; after the right length of time has elapsed, care being taken meantime that the meat does not burn, it may be tested by pressing it with the fingers; if it is rare it will spring back when the pressure is removed; if it is moderately well done the resistance to pressure will be very slight; and if it is thoroughly cooked it will remain heavy under the fingers; never test it by cutting into it with a knife, or puncturing it with a fork, for in this way you waste the rich juices. If you wish to froth roast meat, dredge a little flour over its surface, and brown it a few moments before serving it. If it is to be glazed, brush it with clear stock concentrated to a paste by rapid boiling, or dust a little powdered sugar over it, and in both cases return it to the oven to set the glaze.
90. =Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding.=--Have three ribs of prime beef prepared by the butcher for roasting, all the bones being taken out if it is desirable to carve a clean slice off the top; secure it in place with stout twine; do not use skewers, as the unnecessary holes they make permit the meat-juices to escape; lay it in the dripping pan on a bed of the following vegetables, cut in small pieces; one small onion, half a carrot, half a turnip, three sprigs of parsley, one sprig of thyme, and three bay leaves; _do not put any water in the dripping pan_; its temperature can not rise to a degree equal in heat to that of the fat outside of the beef, and can not a.s.sist in its cooking, but serves only to lower the temperature of the meat, where it touches it, and consequently to soften the surface and extract the juices; _do not season it until the surface is partly carbonized by the heat_, as salt applied to the cut fibre draws out their juices. If you use a roasting oven before the fire, the meat should be similarly prepared by tying in place, and it should be put on the spit carefully; sufficient drippings for basting will flow from it, and it should be seasoned when half done; when entirely done, which will be in fifteen minutes to each pound of meat, the joint should be kept hot until served, but should be served as soon as possible to be good. When gravy is made, half a pint of hot water should be added to the dripping pan, after the vegetables have been removed, and the gravy should be boiled briskly for a few minutes, until it is thick enough, and seasoned to suit the palate of the family; some persons thicken it with a teaspoonful of flour, which should be mixed with two tablespoonfuls of cold water before it is stirred into the gravy.
91. =Yorkshire Pudding.=--Put seven ounces of flour into a bowl with one teaspoonful of salt; mix it smoothly with enough milk, say half a pint, to make a smooth, stiff batter; then gradually add enough more milk to amount in all to one pint and a half, and three eggs well beaten; mix it thoroughly with an egg-whip, pour it into a well b.u.t.tered baking pan, bake it in the oven one hour and a half, if it is to be served with baked beef; or if it is to accompany beef roasted before the fire, one hour in the oven, and then half an hour under the meat on the spit, to catch the gravy which flows from the joint. To serve it cut it into pieces two or three inches square before taking it from the pan, and send it to the table on a hot dish covered with a napkin, with the roast beef.
92. =Roast Loin of Veal.=--Take out the chine, or back-bone, from a loin of veal weighing about six pounds, being careful to leave the piece of meat as whole as possible; chop up the bones and put them in a dripping pan with two ounces of carrot, one ounce of turnip, and quarter of an ounce of parsley; stuff the veal with a forcemeat made as in receipt No. 93, roll it up neatly, tie it firmly with stout cord, lay it on the vegetables in the pan, and roast it one hour and a half. When done take it from the pan, and keep it hot while you prepare the gravy by putting half a pint of hot water in the pan, boiling it up once, and straining it; or if desirable thicken it with a teaspoonful of flour smoothly dissolved in two tablespoonfuls of cold water and stirred with the gravy.
93. =Stuffing for Veal.=--Cut two ounces of salt pork in quarter inch dice, and fry it brown in half an ounce of b.u.t.ter, with one ounce of chopped onion; while these ingredients are frying, soak eight ounces of stale bread in tepid water, and then wring it dry in a napkin; add it to the onion when it is brown, with one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, half a saltspoonful of powdered thyme, and the same quant.i.ty of dried and powdered celery, and white pepper, and one teaspoonful of salt; mix all these over the fire until they are scalding hot, and cleave from the pan; then stir in one raw egg, and use it with the veal.
94. =Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce.=--Choose a plump, fat fore-quarter of lamb, which is quite as finely flavored and less expensive than the hind-quarter; secure it in shape with stout cord, lay it in a dripping pan with one sprig of parsley, three sprigs of mint, and one ounce of carrot sliced; put it into a quick oven, and roast it fifteen minutes to each pound; when half done season it with salt and pepper, and baste it occasionally with the drippings flowing from it. When done serve it with a gravy-boat full of mint sauce.
95. =Mint Sauce cold.=--Melt four ounces of brown sugar in a sauce boat with half a pint of vinegar, add three tablespoonfuls of chopped mint, and serve cold with roast lamb.
96. =Hot Mint Sauce.=--Put one pint of vinegar into a sauce-pan with four ounces of white sugar, and reduce by rapid boiling to half a pint, stirring to prevent burning; add a gill of cold water, and boil for five minutes; then add three tablespoonfuls of chopped mint, and serve with lamb.
97. =Roast Pork with Apple Sauce.=--Neatly trim a loin of fresh pork weighing about six pounds; put it into a dripping pan on three bay leaves, quarter of an ounce of parsley, one ounce of onion, and the same quant.i.ty of carrot sliced, and roast it about twenty minutes to each pound; when half done, season it with salt and pepper; when brown, serve it with a border of Parisian potatoes, prepared according to receipt No. 2, and send it to the table with a bowl of apple sauce.
98. =Apple Sauce.=--Pare and slice one quart of good tart apples; put them into a sauce-pan with half a pint of cold water; stir them often enough to prevent burning, and simmer them until tender, about twenty minutes will be long enough; then rub them through a sieve with a wooden spoon, add a saltspoonful of powdered cloves, and four ounces of sugar, or less according to the taste; serve in a bowl, with the roast pork.
99. =Roast Turkey with Cranberry Sauce.=--Choose a fat tender turkey weighing about six or seven pounds; pluck it, carefully remove the pin-feathers, singe the bird over the flame of an alcohol lamp, or a few drops of alcohol poured on a plate and lighted; wipe it with a damp towel and see that it is properly drawn by slitting the skin at the back of the neck, and taking out the crop without tearing the skin of the breast; loosen the heart, liver, and lungs, by introducing the fore-finger at the neck, and then draw them, with the entrails, from the vent. Unless you have broken the gall, or the entrails, in drawing the bird _do not wash it_, for this greatly impairs the flavor, and partly destroys the nourishing qualities of the flesh. Twist the tips of the wings back under the shoulders, stuff the bird with forcemeat made according to receipt No. 100; bend the legs as far up toward the breast as possible, secure the thigh bones in that position by a trussing cord or skewer; then bring the legs down, and fasten them close to the vent.
Pound the breast bone down, first laying a towel over it. Lay a thin slice of salt pork over the breast to baste it until sufficient drippings run from the bird; baste it frequently, browning it on all sides by turning it about in the pan; use a clean towel to turn it with, _but do not run a fork into it or you will waste its juices_: when it is half done season it with two teaspoonfuls of salt and one saltspoonful of powdered herbs, made according to directions in Chapter first; when it has cooked about twenty minutes to each pound, dish it, and keep it hot while you make a gravy by adding half a pint of water to the drippings in the pan, first taking off a little of the superfluous fat, and thickening it if desired with a teaspoonful of flour mixed with two tablespoonfuls of cold water; serve the turkey hot with a gravy-boat full of gravy and a dish of cranberry sauce made according to receipt No. 101. The same directions for drawing, trussing, and roasting will apply to other poultry and game.
100. =Forcemeat for Roast Poultry.=--Steep eight ounces of stale bread in tepid water for five minutes, and wring it dry in a clean towel; meantime chop fine four ounces each of fresh veal and pork, or use instead, eight ounces of good sausage meat; grate eight ounces of good rather dry cheese; fry one ounce of onion in one ounce of b.u.t.ter to a light yellow color; add the bread, meat, and cheese, season with a saltspoonful of powdered herbs, made according to directions in Chapter first, a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and two whole eggs; mix well and use.
101. =Cranberry Sauce.=--Carefully pick and wash one quart of cranberries; put them over the fire in a sauce-pan with half a pint of cold water; bring them to a boil, and boil them gently for fifteen minutes, stirring them occasionally to prevent burning; then add four ounces of white sugar, and boil them slowly until they are soft enough to pa.s.s through a sieve with a wooden spoon; the sauce is then ready to serve.
102. =Roast Chicken with d.u.c.h.esse Potatoes.=--Prepare and roast a pair of chickens as directed in receipt No. 99; or for the stuffing named in that receipt subst.i.tute No. 93; meantime boil one quart of potatoes, for mashing, and make twelve heart-shaped _croutons_ or pieces of bread fried in hot fat: lay the d.u.c.h.esse potatoes around the chickens when it is dished, and the _croutons_ in an outer circle, with the points outward.
103. =d.u.c.h.esse Potatoes.=--Mash one quart of hot boiled potatoes through a fine colander with the potato masher; mix with them one ounce of b.u.t.ter, one level teaspoonful of salt, half a saltspoonful of white pepper, quarter of a saltspoonful of grated nutmeg, and the yolks of two raw eggs; pour the potato out on a plate, and then form it with a knife into small cakes, two inches long and one inch wide; lay them on a b.u.t.tered tin, brush them over the top with an egg beaten up with a teaspoonful of cold water, and color them golden brown in a moderate oven.
104. =Roast Duck with Watercresses.=--Prepare and roast a pair of ducks as directed in receipt No. 99, and serve them with a border of a few watercresses, and a salad bowl containing the rest of a quart, prepared as in receipt No. 105.
105. =Romaine Sauce for Watercresses.=--Grate half an ounce of onion, and use two tablespoonfuls of vinegar to wash it off the grater; to these add a saltspoonful of sugar, a tablespoonful of lemon juice, three tablespoonfuls of olive oil, six capers chopped fine, as much cayenne as can be taken up on the point of a very small pen-knife blade, a level saltspoonful of salt, and quarter of a saltspoonful of pepper; mix well, and use for dressing watercresses, or any other green salad. A few cold boiled potatoes sliced and mixed with this dressing, and a head of lettuce, makes a very nice potato salad.
106. =Roast Goose with Onion Sauce.=--Prepare a goose as directed in receipt No. 99; stuff it with onion stuffing made according to receipt No. 107; serve it with a gravy boat full of onion sauce made according to receipt No. 108.
107. =Sage and Onion Stuffing.=--Pare six ounces of onion, and bring them to a boil in three different waters; soak eight ounces of stale bread in tepid water, and wring it dry in a towel; scald ten sage leaves; when the onions are tender, which will be in about half an hour, chop them with the sage leaves, add them to the bread, with one ounce of b.u.t.ter, the yolks of two raw eggs, one level teaspoonful of salt, and half a saltspoonful of pepper; mix and use.
108. =Onion Sauce.=--Prepare six ounces of onions as in receipt No. 107; chop them fine, pa.s.s them through a sieve with a wooden spoon, and put them into half a pint of boiling milk, with one ounce of b.u.t.ter, one saltspoonful of salt, and one quarter of a saltspoonful of pepper.
109. =Roast Wild Duck.=--Prepare a pair of ducks as directed in receipt No. 99; do not stuff them, but tie over the b.r.e.a.s.t.s slices of pork or bacon; roast fifteen minutes to the pound; serve with gravy in a boat and quarters of lemon on the same dish.
110. =Roast Partridge.=--Prepare a pair of partridges as in receipt No.
99, but do not stuff them; tie over the b.r.e.a.s.t.s slices of pork or bacon, and roast about twenty-five minutes; serve with bread sauce.
111. =Bread Sauce.=--Peel and slice an onion weighing full an ounce, simmer it half an hour in one pint of milk, strain it, and to the milk add two ounces of stale bread, broken in small pieces, one ounce of b.u.t.ter, one saltspoonful of salt, and quarter of a saltspoonful of nutmeg and pepper mixed; strain, pa.s.sing through a sieve with a spoon, and serve hot.
CHAPTER VII.
BOILED DISHES.
Boiling is the most economical way of cooking, if properly done; there are several important points to be considered in this connection. We have already said that the best method of cooking meat is that which preserves all its nourishing juices; if in addition to this we can prepare it in such a way as to present a large available surface to the action of the digestive juices, we would seem to have reached culinary perfection. Judicious boiling accomplishes this: and we cannot do better than to follow Liebig"s plan to first plunge the meat into boiling water, and boil it five minutes to coagulate the alb.u.men to a sufficient depth to form a crust upon the surface, and thus confine the juices, and then add enough cold water to reduce the temperature to 158 Fahr., if the meat is to be rare, or to 165 Fahr., if it is to be well done; and to maintain this gentle heat until the meat is tender. There is comparatively little waste in boiling, from the fact that fat melts less quickly than in broiling or roasting, and the covering of the pot r.e.t.a.r.ds evaporation, while the water absorbed by the meat adds to its bulk to a certain extent without detracting from its quality. A strainer or plate should be placed in the bottom of the pot to prevent burning; the pot should be skimmed clear as soon as it boils, and the subsequent simmering should be gentle and steady; there should always be sufficient water to cover the meat in order to keep it plump. Less body of heat is required to boil in copper or iron pots, than in those made of tin, especially if the latter have polished surfaces which throw off the heat. The pot-liquor from boiled meat should always be strained into an earthen jar and left to cool; the fat can then be taken off for kitchen use, and the liquor utilized as the basis for some kind of soup.
112. =Leg of Mutton with Caper Sauce.=--Put a leg of mutton, weighing about six pounds, on the fire in enough boiling hot water to cover it; boil it for five minutes, skimming it as often as any sc.u.m rises, then pour in enough cold water to reduce the heat to about 160 Fahr., season with a tablespoonful of salt, and simmer the meat at that heat until it is tender, allowing about twenty minutes cooking to each pound of meat; if turnips are to be served with it as a garnish, choose them of equal size, pare them smoothly, and boil them with the mutton; if the vegetables are cooked first take them up without breaking, and set them back off the fire, in a little of the mutton stock, to keep hot. Just before dishing the meat, make a caper sauce, as directed in receipt No.
113; serve the mutton on a hot dish, with the turnips laid around it, and send the sauce in a gravy-boat to the table with it.
113. =Caper Sauce.=--Put one ounce of b.u.t.ter and one ounce of flour in a sauce-pan over the fire, and stir until smoothly melted; gradually pour in half a pint of boiling water, season with one teaspoonful of salt, and quarter of a saltspoonful of white pepper, and stir until the sauce coats the spoon when you lift it out; take it from the fire, and stir in two ounces of b.u.t.ter, and two tablespoonfuls of small capers, and serve at once. _Do not permit the sauce to boil after you have added the b.u.t.ter, as it may turn rancid._
114. =Boiled Ham with Madeira Sauce.=--Choose a ham by running a thin bladed knife close to the bone, and if the odor which follows the cut is sweet the ham is good; soak it in cold water for twenty-four hours, changing the water once; sc.r.a.pe it well, and trim off any ragged parts; put it in enough cold water to cover it, with an onion weighing about one ounce, stuck with six cloves, and a bouquet made according to directions in Chapter first, and boil it four hours. Take it from the fire and let it cool in the pot-liquor. Then take it up carefully, remove the skin, dust it with sifted bread or cracker crumbs, and brown it in the oven. Serve it either hot or cold; if hot send it to the table with a gravy boat full of Madeira sauce.
115. =Madeira Sauce.=--Put over the fire in a thick sauce-pan one pint of Spanish sauce made according to receipt No. 44, or the same quant.i.ty of any rich brown gravy, season with salt and pepper to taste; the seasoning must depend on the flavor of the gravy; when scalding hot add half a pint of Madeira wine, and stir till the sauce is thick enough to coat the spoon; then strain through a fine sieve, and serve hot.
116. =Beef a la Mode Jardiniere.=--Daube a seven pound piece of round of beef, by inserting, with the grain, pieces of larding pork, cut as long as the meat is thick, and about half an inch square, setting the strips of pork about two inches apart; this can be done either with a large larding needle, called a _sonde_, or by first making a hole with the carving-knife steel, and then thrusting the pork in with the fingers; lay the beef in a deep bowl containing the _marinade_, or pickle, given in receipt No. 117, and let it stand from two to ten days in a cool place, turning it over every day. Then put it into a deep pot just large enough to hold it, together with the _marinade_, and turn it occasionally over the fire until it is nicely browned; cover it with hot stock or water, and simmer it gently four hours. When it has been cooking three hours cut about four ounces each of carrots and turnips in the shape of olives; pare two dozen b.u.t.ton onions; and cut one pint of string beans in pieces one inch long; put all these vegetables on the fire in cold water, in separate vessels, each containing a teaspoonful of salt, and half a saltspoonful of sugar, and let them boil till tender; then lay them in cold water to keep them white, until ready to use them. When the meat is tender, take it up, and keep it warm; strain the sauce in which it has cooked, and stir it over the fire until it is thick enough to coat the spoon; drain the vegetables, and let them scald up in the sauce, and pour all over the beef.
117. =Marinade.=--Cut in slices, four ounces each of carrot and onion, two ounces of turnip, and one ounce of leeks; chop a quarter of an ounce each of parsley and celery, if in season; slice one lemon; add to these one level tablespoonful of salt, one saltspoonful of pepper, six cloves, four allspice, one inch of stick cinnamon, two blades of mace, one gill of oil and one of vinegar, half a pint of red wine, and one pint of water. Mix all these ingredients thoroughly, and use the _marinade_ for beef, game, or poultry, always keeping it in a cool place.
118. =Boiled Fowl with Oyster Sauce.=--Prepare a pair of fowls in accordance with receipt No. 99, but do not stuff them; put them into boiling water enough to cover them, with a level tablespoonful of salt to each quart of water; skim until clear, and boil slowly until tender, about fifteen minutes to a pound; when nearly done, make an oyster sauce, as directed in receipt No. 119, and serve it on the same dish with the fowls, sprinkling them with a teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
119. =Oyster Sauce.=--Blanch one quart of oysters by bringing them to a boil in their own liquor; drain them, saving the liquor; wash them in cold water, and set them away from the fire until you are ready to use them; stir one ounce of b.u.t.ter and one ounce of flour together over the fire until they form a smooth paste, strain into them enough of the oyster liquor and that the chicken was boiled in to make a sauce as thick as melted b.u.t.ter; season with a teaspoonful of salt, quarter of a saltspoonful of white pepper, and the same of grated nutmeg; put in the oysters, and serve.