Part 4

Like the white sauces, the family of brown ones is very large, but I have given those which require special directions. Others are simply Spanish sauce with the addition of the ingredient which gives its name to it, as brown oyster sauce is simply Spanish sauce with oysters, celery sauce, mushroom sauce, and so on. It should always be remembered that the consistency must be preserved; that is to say, except when special mention is made of the sauce being thinner, it should “mask the spoon,” and if the addition made to it is of a kind to dilute it, as mushrooms and part of their liquor, it must be rapidly boiled down to the original thickness. In the same way, when ingredients have to be simmered in the sauce--and this is very often the case--then a wineglassful or half one of broth or stock should be allowed for the wasting.

In the next chapter we will make acquaintance with the miscellaneous sauces which are not built on the foundation of either white or brown sauce. These are chiefly cold sauces, although served with hot dishes at times, as Tartare, Remoulade, etc.

COLD SAUCES.

Cold dishes, which are such a pleasing feature of foreign cookery, are much neglected with us, at least in private kitchens, or they are limited to two or three articles served in mayonnaise, or a galantine, yet the dishes which the French call chaudfroids are both delicious and ornamental, and it only requires a little taste, care, and perfect sauce to convert the ordinary cold chicken, turkey, or game into an elaborate and choice dish.

Among cold sauces, of course mayonnaise, both green, red, and yellow, reigns supreme; indeed, of late years it has become almost hackneyed. Yet no work on choice eating would be complete without the different forms of mayonnaise.

Mayonnaise is one of those sauces in which everything depends on care, and very little on skill, and yet some women have quite a reputation for making it among their friends who often declare how unsuccessful their own efforts have been, and that to succeed is a gift. It is not as a novelty, therefore, that the manner of making it is given here, but that those who believe they have not the “magic fingers” may take courage and try again.

First of all let me explain what seems to puzzle many. I have been frequently asked, “How much oil can I use to two eggs?” the answer is, “As much as you choose;” or, again, “How many eggs ought I to take to a quart of oil?” again the answer is, “One, two, three, or four.” The egg is only a foundation, and mayonnaise will “come” no better with two yolks than one, although some chefs consider it keeps better when two eggs are used to a pint of oil.

A cool room is always insisted on for making the sauce, but to the amateur I say, oil, eggs, and bowl also, should be put in the ice-box until well chilled, and even then mishaps may come from using a warm spoon from a hot kitchen drawer or closet; that, therefore, must be cool also. Of course it is often successfully made with only the usual precaution of a cool room, but with everything well chilled it is hard to fail.

If very little of the sauce is wanted, one yolk of egg will be better than two. Separate the yolks very carefully, allowing not a speck of white to remain; remove also the germ which is attached to the yolk. Stir the yolk at least a minute before beginning to add oil; then arrange your bottle or a sharp-spouted pitcher in your left hand so that it rests on the edge of the bowl, and you can keep up a pretty steady drop, drop, into the egg, while you stir with your right steadily. The oil must be added drop by drop, but this does not mean a drop every two or three minutes; you may add a drop to every one or two circuits of the spoon. The reason for adding it slowly is that each drop may form an emulsion with the egg before more goes in. After two or three minutes look carefully at the mixture; if it has not begun to look pale and opaque, but retains a dark, oily appearance, stir it steadily for two minutes, and then add oil slowly, drop by drop, stirring all the time. If it has not now begun to thicken, it probably will not; but the materials are not lost. Put the yolk of another egg into a cool bowl, and begin again using the egg and oil you have already mixed, in place of fresh oil. When this is all used, proceed with the oil (it is hoped, however, that the work will have proceeded without the necessity for beginning afresh). When the mayonnaise becomes quite thick, use a few drops of vinegar to thin it; then more oil, until sufficient sauce is made. Then white pepper and salt should be added for seasoning. The vinegar used should be very strong, so that very little of it will be sufficient to give the necessary acidity, without making it too thin. This is especially the case when the sauce is required to mask salad. It should for this purpose be set on ice until firm, but in all cases be kept cold. The best mayonnaise, left in a warm kitchen, would separate and become oily. The stirring must be steady and constant, and the task must not be left until completed.

Mayonnaise is the basis of several other sauces, so that in accomplishing it a great deal is done.

Green mayonnaise is made by dropping a bunch of parsley into boiling water, and in a minute or two, when it becomes intensely green, take it up, pound it in a mortar, and then through a sieve. Use as much pulp as will color the sauce a delicate green.

Red mayonnaise, used for cardinal salad and other purposes, is made by pounding lobster coral very fine and stirring it in. It must not be forgotten that anything added to mayonnaise must be ice-cold.

Aspic mayonnaise is another form of the sauce, used in dressing cold dishes, and while more delicious than the usual sauce, will keep its form for hours after the dish is dressed. It is absolutely necessary to prepare it on ice. Put half a pint of stiff aspic jelly into a bowl set in cracked ice, whisk it with an egg-beater until it is a white froth (usually the motion will melt it, but to save labor it may be set in lukewarm water to soften, then beaten, but no oil must be added until it is again ice-cold froth); then beat in very gradually a quarter of a pint of olive oil and a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, proceeding with the same care as for the usual mayonnaise; add a saltspoonful of salt, a pinch of pepper, and the same of powdered sugar.

Norwegian sauce is preferred by many to Tartare for some purposes, and is made by adding freshly grated horseradish to mayonnaise in the proportion of two tablespoonfuls to half a pint.

Tartare sauce is mayonnaise with the addition of mustard, chives, pickles, and tarragon, chopped. As usually served, it has only mustard and capers or chopped cucumber, but for those to whom a slight flavor of onion is not disagreeable, chives should be added. To half a pint of mayonnaise use a teaspoonful of dry mustard mixed with two of tarragon vinegar, then stir into the sauce. To this add a tablespoonful either of capers or chopped pickled cucumber; this is the usual Tartare sauce; but the French recipe is a tablespoonful of very finely chopped chives, a teaspoonful each of fresh tarragon and chervil in place of the pickles.

Cold cucumber sauce is mayonnaise with an equal quantity of grated cucumber, drained, pressed, and stirred into it, with a saltspoonful of salt and a few drops of very strong vinegar.

Horseradish sauce is a very good sauce for hot or cold beef, roast or boiled. Grate three tablespoonfuls of horseradish fine, put to it a teaspoonful of sugar, one of salt, and one of vinegar, or a tablespoonful of Chablis wine; let them soak an hour or two, and the last thing before serving stir in four tablespoonfuls of cream that is whipped very solid. A half-teaspoonful of dry mustard is sometimes mixed with the horseradish, but that is a matter of taste. When the sauce is to be served hot, two yolks of egg and two tablespoonfuls of water must be substituted for cream, which would curdle. The water, horseradish, etc., must first come to the boiling-point, then the eggs added gradually, and just allowed to thicken, not to boil.

Mint Sauce.--Take only the young, tender leaves, not a bit of stem, and chop very fine indeed. To two tablespoonfuls add a tablespoonful and a half of brown sugar and three of vinegar. It should be quite thick, not as we so often see it--vinegar with a few bits of mint floating around.

Mint Jelly for masking cold lamb or cutlets.--Take two tablespoonfuls of Spanish sauce, and dissolve in it a good teaspoonful of gelatine softened in cold stock, a tablespoonful of aspic, and one of thick mint sauce. If no aspic is ready, it is not worth while to make for the small quantity needed; a teaspoonful of glaze, two of gelatine, and half a wineglass of Sauterne may be dissolved together to take its place. No gelatine will be needed with the Spanish sauce in this case.

Sweet sauces will be left until the desserts are treated of.

VI.

SOUPS.

It is not proposed to give the soups to be found readily in most cooking-books in these pages, but only those less known or of peculiar excellence.

It is supposed that the reader understands the making of good beef or veal stock, and perhaps the usual way of clearing it. But since cooking has been studied scientifically, improvements on methods have been introduced; one of these is the clearing of soup with albumen of meat instead of egg. The advantages of this method are that the soup is strengthened and the flavor improved, while clearing with whites of eggs in the usual way, though greatly improving the appearance, tends to lessen the flavor of soup.

To clear Consommé with Beef.--Consommé is reduced stock, or stock made of extra strength. Carefully remove all fat from three pints of it when cold. It will, of course, be a stiff jelly. Chop fine an onion, a carrot, and a turnip. Chop half a pound of lean beef from which all fat is removed; this is best put through a chopping-machine, as it must be very fine. Put the consommé, meat, and vegetables into a saucepan. Stir them briskly till just on the boiling-point. Remove the spoon, let the soup boil up well one minute. It should now be clear. Take a clean cloth, fix it on a soup stand or in a colander, pour boiling water through it, to warm it thoroughly; throw the water away, and pour the soup gently through the cloth twice; do not press or stir it. It will be beautifully clear and of excellent color. It is now ready to serve for a variety of soups, named according to what is served in them.

Consommé à la Rachel.--This is consommé to which is added tiny quenelles made in eggspoons, and colored red, green, and black. Quenelle meat is made from the uncooked breast of chicken or game, the backs of hares or rabbits (or it may be made for certain purposes of fish or very white veal), first chopped, and then pounded in a mortar until it is a perfectly smooth paste. Mere chopped meat is not what is required; it must be fine enough to go through a sieve. For Consommé à la Rachel, however, the breast of chicken is necessary. Take four ounces of chicken, free from skin and sinew; pound it until quite smooth; the more it is pounded the better it is. Mix with it thick cream, a scant saltspoonful of salt, very little pepper, and half a beaten egg, until it is a softish paste, yet firm enough to mould; mix thoroughly. Now try a little by poaching in a teaspoon; that is, fill a teaspoon with the mixture, pressing it in form, then drop it into boiling water for three minutes. Open the quenelle and taste it; if it is creamy, light, and well flavored, it is right, but if there is the least toughness, add a little more cream to the mixture. Notice also the seasoning; if more salt is needed, add it carefully, and try again, till you have the quenelle mixture just right, that is to say, creamy, light, very tender, yet keeping its form. At present quenelles as entrées or for soups form such an important part of fine cooking that it is worth while to get the mixture perfect for other purposes than the present.

Having your quenelle meat ready, proceed to vary it as follows, allowing one quenelle of each color to each guest: For the green quenelles use sufficient pounded tarragon to color one third the meat delicately. For the second use sufficient lobster coral pounded to redden it. The third must be made dark with pounded truffles. Great care must be taken to keep the three portions separate, so that one color may not injure the other. To form them use two very small coffeespoons or eggspoons, as the quenelles should not be larger than small olives; butter the spoons slightly, and when formed drop each for one or two minutes into boiling pale-colored stock. Drop them, as they are done, into cold water, in which they must be kept until you are ready to use them. When the soup is to be served, drain them, lay the number required in the tureen, and pour the boiling consommé on them. They will not require heating in the soup. It may be observed that raw spinach pounded and rubbed through a sieve, and boiled red beet, may be used to color the meat green and red, and the rest left white. The consommé is then called Consommé d’Orleans.

Consommé aux Œufs filés.--Put one quart of cleared consommé to boil. Mix one egg, one dessertspoonful of flour, one tablespoonful of milk, a pinch between forefinger and thumb of salt, and a dust of pepper, into a batter, rub a nutmeg once back and forth over the grater, and stir. When the soup boils, pass this batter through a fine strainer into it. It should look like threads.