SAUCES, CATSUPS P PICKLES

Sauces Note—Not the least in importance in the art of

cookery are sauces. Many an excellent piece of meat or fowls are spoiled by using a bad, inappropriate or indifferent sauce; while, on the other hand, good sauces add much to the delicacy of food preparations. In nothing is there a wider or a better field for the display of the talent or taste of the cook than in their skillful production or adaptability. Contrary to an erroneous but prevailing opinion, good sauces or gravies are quite easily and inexpensively produced. They should all be de- cided in character, and whether sweet, piquant, savory or plain, should maintain their name by their flavor.

The basis of most sauces or gravies is the same as for soups— the " stock kettle " (see note on Soups, page 81).

Being usually served in smaller quantities than soups, and as they should be served very hot, they require the special care of the cook. Those sauces formed in part of cream or eggs should be well stirred from the time they are added, and while kept very hot, to prevent curdling, should never be allowed to boil. As a rule they should be added last, or just before serving. Stir soups, sauces or catsups with a wooden spoon, never a metal one.

501. Anchovy Sauce— Add two teaspoons of anchovy paste or essence— kept by all first-class grocers— to white sauce, No. 515, or drawn butter, No. 507. It should be served with or upon 'boiled fish, especially boiled cod.

502. Apple Sauce— Made plain, simply stewing and sweeten- ing, adding a little cinnamon or nutmeg, or both; is usually served with roast pork or goose.

503. Caper or Nasturtion Sauce — For Boiled Mutton — Chop the capers a very little, unless quite small; make half a pint drawn butter, to which add the capers, with a large spoon of the juice from the bottle in which they are sold; let it just simmer, and serve in a tureen. Nasturtions much resemble capers in taste, though larger, and may be used, and, in fact, are preferred by many. They are grown on a climbing vine, and are cultivated for their blossom and for pickling. When used as capers they should be chopped more. If neither capers or nasturtions are at hand some pickled gherkins, chopped up, form a very good substitute in the sauce.

504. Chili Sauce— Take twelve large ripe tomatoes, four ripe or' three green peppers, two onions, two tablespoons salt, two of sugar, one of cinnamon, three cups vinegar; peel tomatoes and onions; chop them separately very fine; add the peppers chopped with the other ingredients, and boil one and a-half hours. A quart, of canned toma toes may be used instead of the ripe ones, when out of season

505. Chili Sauce — Use twenty-six medium-sized ripe tomatoes, two onions, four peppers — one green — chopped fine, two cups vinegar, two tablespoons salt, twelve tablespoons brown sugar, two of ginger, two of ground cinnamon, one of cloves, one of allspice, one nutmeg; boil gently about two hours; for larger quantities use same proportions.

506. Cranberry Sauce — After removing all imperfect or soft berries, wash thoroughly; place for about two minutes in scalding water; skim out or drain, and to every pound of fruit add three- quarters of a pound granulated sugar, a half pint water, and stew over a moderate fire. Be careful to cover, but don't stir the fruit, occasionally shaking the pan if in danger of burning. The berries will thus retain their shape and add to their appearance. Boil from five to seven minutes; remove from fire; turn into a deep dish, and set aside to cool. If to be kept, they can be put up in air-tight jars.

507. Drawn Butter — Into a half tablespoon of flour rub a small cup of butter; beat it very thoroughly until smooth; add a little salt if the butter does not afford enough, and pour on it half a pint boiling water, stirring fast; do not let it boil, or it will be oily, and conse- quently spoiled. It will be less likely to burn if prepared in a custard kettle or water bath. This resembles the white sauce, No. 515, and may be made 'to form the nucleus for a great variety of sauces for fish, poultry or boiled meats by the addition of different herbs; first throw them into boiling water, cut fine, and add.

508. Green Tomato Sauce — Cut up a pint of green toma- toes; take three gills black mustard seed, three tablespoons dry mus- tard, two and a-half of black pepper, one and a-half allspice, four of salt, two of -celery seed, one quart each of chopped onions and sugar, and two and a-half quarts good vinegar, a little red pepper to taste; beat the spices and boil all together until well done.

509. Lemon Sauce — Cut three slices of lemon into very small dice, and put them into drawn butter; let it come just to boiling point, and pour over boiled fowls.

510. Lobster Sauce — Chop the meat from the claws and tail of a good sized lobster into pieces, but not too small, and half an hour before dinner make half a pint drawn butter or white sauce and mix.

511. Mayonnaise Sauce — In hot weather it may be neces- sary to place the bowl over ice in preparing it; in a two-quart bowl mix one even teaspoon ground mustard, one of salt and one and a-half of vine- gar; beat in the yelk of a raw eggy then add very gradually half a pint pure olive oil or clarified butter, beating briskly all the time; the mix- ture will become a very thick batter; flavor with vinegar or fresh lemon juice; when closely covered it will keep for some weeks in a cold place.

512. Mint Sauce — The mint usually employed is spearmint, although peppermint for convenience is sometimes used. Take fresh, young mint, strip leaves from stems, wash, drain on a sieve or dry them on a cloth; chop very fine, put in a sauce-tureen, and to three neaped

tablespoons mint add two of powdered sugar; let remain a few minutes well mixed together, and pour over it gradually six tablespoons of good vinegar; the sauce may be strained after it has stood for two or three hours, pressing it well; it should be made an hour or two before dinner that the flavor may be-well extracted; is considered almost indispensible with roast lamb.

513. Oyster Sauce — From half a pint of oysters carefully remove all bits of shell, and set over the fire in a pint of boiling water and let it boil three minutes; skim well and stir in a half cup butter, beaten to a cream, with two tablespoons flour; let it come to a.- boil. Is served with boiled turkey.

514. Oyster Sauce — Make a white sauce, No. 515; boil the oysters slightly, and mix thoroughly with the same.

515. White Sauce — Put two ounces of butter in a small sauce-pan, set it on the fire, stir a little, and as soon as melted remove to a slower fire; add a tablespoon of flour, stir continually till thor- oughly mixed, and gently pour in a pint of boiling water, stirring con- tinually; when it begins to thicken take off the fire; add the yelk of an Gggy beaten with a teaspoon of cold water; mix it well with the sauce; season with salt and pepper, and it is done.

516. Orange Hard Sauce — Select a thin-skinned orange, care- fully peel it in six even parts towards the stem end, preserving it whole; extract the juice and mix it with a light, moist (extra C) sugar sufficient to

, form into a ball nearly the size of the orange originally, which place in the peel and serve. A lemon sauce may be prepared the same way.

517. A Sweet Sauce for Puddings — In half a pmt of melted butter with milk stir three tablespoons powdered or granulated sugar, a little grated lemon-rind, nutmeg or powdered cinnamon; other flavor- ing fancied may be added to the milk in preparing the butter; is served with rice, batter or bread puddings.

518. Sour Sauce— Mix one and a-half cups sugar and half a tablespoon flour in a little water; add two tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice, a quarter of a nutmeg grated and a pinch of salt; pour over it one and -a-half pints boiling water, and boil ten minutes; just before taking up add a tablespoon of butter.

519. A Sauce for Fritters— See under Fritters No. 90.

Note. — In making any kind of catsup use a granite or porcelain kettle; never in mettle, or it will not only discolor but affect its flavor. Always select perfect fruit, vegetables or other materials, and keep in stone or glass bottles or jars; never use tin cans with any expectation that it will not spoil, or preserve its original taste. It will be less apt to mould if the bottles or jars are not filled quite to the top. Some fill up with hot vinegar. Should there be a skim of mould over the top when opened, remove every particle and the catsup will be uninjured. When, however, there appears white specks through it, it is irretrievably spoiled.

After opening, if too thick, add vinegar sufficient to thin; or, if in danger of souring before it is all used, scalding will prevent it.

520. Mushroom Catsup — Use the larger kind, known as umbrella or " flaps." They must be very fresh and not gathered in very wet weather, or the catsup will be less apt to keep. Wash and cut them in two to four pieces, and place them in a wide flat jar or crock in layers, sprinkling each layer with salt, and let them stand for twenty- four hours; take them out and press out the juice, when bottle and cork; put the mushrooms back again, and in another twenty-four hours pressnhem again, bottle and cork; repeat this for the third time, and then mix together all the juice extracted; add to it pepper, allspice, one or more cloves, according to quantity, pounded together; boil the whole, and skim as long as any scum rises; bottle when cool; put in each bottle two cloves and a pepper-corn. Cork and seal, put in a dry place, and it will keep for years.

521. Tomato Catsup — Take one bushel of solid ripe to- matoes; clean them with a wet cloth, cut off any unripe, part about the stem end, or any warts or blemish; put them in a granite or porce- lain-lined kettle, or a genuine bell-metal one, never let them come in contact with iron; pour over them about three pints of water; add ten or twelve onions or shallots, cut fine; boil until soft; some take about two hours; strain through a coarse sieve, pour the liquid back again into the boiling kettle, and add half a gallon of good cider vine- gar; then take two ounces ground spice, two ounces ground black pepper, two ounces mustard (seed or ground, as preferred), one ounce ground cloves, two grated nutmegs, two pounds light brown sugar, and one pint of salt; mix these ingredients well together and put in the boiler, boiling two hours, stirring continually to prevent burning; cayenne pepper to be added to taste if wished hot. When cool, fill bottles or jars. Cork and seal with wax, so as to exclude the air (see note for directions regarding preservation of catsup). Keep in a cool, dry place.

Note — For pickles use the best cider or white wine vinegar, when the latter can be procured, and not an acid vinegar, so called. It can not be too strong, as it is weakened when scalded to pour over the pickles. Unscalded vinegar does not keep well with pickles.

Never use a metal vessel in pickling; it should be either the new granite ware or porcelain, and keep in stone or glass, in the cellar or other cool, dark place. They should be examined frequently, and soft ones removed; if white specks appear in the vinegar drain it off and scald, add a half tea-cup of sugar to each gallon and pour again over the pickles; a few bits of horse-radish or a few cloves in the vinegar will aid in maintaining its life.

All vegetables or fruit for pickling, except for sweet pickles, should be sound, but not quite ripe. Do not scald cucumbers, but soak them in salt and water. Boiled beets can be pickled whole, first removing the skin, to be sliced when required. Vegetables that require to be boiled or

scalded before pickling will be whiter if a little lemon or green grape juice is added to the water, as cabbage, cauliflower, melons, mangoes, white beets or onions. Care should be used not t© scald too much, or they will be soft and tasteless. For green vegetables put a little soda in the water to preserve the color. Always have the vegetables or fruit perfectly cold before pouring over the vinegar, which should be in all cases very hot. A good average of spices to a quart of pickles is an even teaspoon of each of allspice, pepper corns, half each of mustard seed or horse- radish finely chopped, a tablespoon of stick cinnamon broken, and a piece of Jamaica ginger an inch long.

522. Pickled Cucumbers — The small green ones, termed gherkins, are the best to use. Clean them well in cold water with a brush, removing all prickles, and soak in a strong rock-salt brine for about three days; take them out and put into wide-mouthed bottles or jars, with a few cloves of garlic, pepper-corns, cloves, rock-salt, and a bunch of seasonings, composed of bay leaves, tarragon, or other flavor- ing herbs, to taste, all tied in a Swiss muslin bag; fill each jar with vinegar as soon as it boils, and when they are perfectly cold cover them air-tight. They should be looked at every, two or three days for first three weeks, and should the pickles or vinegar turn white, throw away the vinegar and spices, and add new hot vinegar and fresh spices; cover when cold as before. Small white onions may be pickled with the cucumbers if desired.

523. Pickled Onions — Select small silver-skinned onions; re- move with a knife all the outer skins, so that each onion will be per- fectly white and clean; soak them in strong brine three days, drain. Place in a jar first a layer of onions three inches deep, then sprinkle with a mixture of the following: Two teaspoons each chopped horse- radish and cloves, four tablespoons cinnamon bark and half a teaspoon cayenne pepper to each gallon of pickles; then another layer of onions, and repeat until jar is filled; bring vinegar to boiling point; add brown sugar in the proportion of a quart to a gallon,and pour hot over the onions.

524. Piccalilli — One large white cabbage, fifty small cucum- bers (gherkins), five quarts small string beans, eight small carrots, one dozen sticks celery, five red peppers, three green peppers, two heads cauliflower; chop fine, soak over night in salt and water; wash well, drain thoroughly, and pour over them hot vinegar spiced with mace, cinnamon and allspice; turn off vinegar and scald; place in common well covered jars, or seal in cans while hot.

525. Sweet Pickles — They may be made of any fruit that can be preserved, including the rinds of ripe watermelons and cucumbers. The syrup is made in the proportions of three pints of sugar to a quart of vinegar. Use the best vinegar and " C " coffee or best brown sugar. The spices to be used are principally stick cinnamon and whole cloves; the latter stuck in the fruit if desired highly spiced.

526. Sweet Pickle for Fruit — For each seven pounds of fruit take four pounds light brown sugar, one pint vinegar, half an ounce cloves and the same of cinnamon; boil all but the fruit two mornings in succession, and pour over the fruit; the third morning boil all together.

H. WICHERT,

77, 79, 81 & 83 W.Lake Street,

MANUFACTURER

Olivet Salad Oils.

PREPARER OF

HORSE RADISH,

Genuine Tomato Catsup

Table Sauces.