Dr. Allinson's cookery book Part 14

POTATOES (TOASTED).

Cut cold boiled potatoes into slices, brush them over with oiled b.u.t.ter, place them on a gridiron (if not handy, in a wire salad basket), and put it over a clear fire. Brown the slices on both sides.

SAUCES

Flesh-eaters have the gravy of meat to eat with their vegetables, and when they give up the use of flesh they are often at a loss for a good subst.i.tute. Sauces may be useful in more ways than one. When not too highly spiced or seasoned they help to prevent thirst, as they supply the system with fluid, and when made with the liquor in which vegetables have been boiled they retain many valuable salts which would otherwise have been lost. When foods are eaten in a natural condition no sauces are required, but when food is changed by cooking many persons require it to be made more appetising, as it is called.

The use of sauces is thus seen to be an aid to help down plain and wholesome food, and being fluid they cause the food to be more thoroughly broken up and made into a porridgy ma.s.s before it is swallowed. From a health point of view artificial sauces are not good, but if made as I direct very little harm will result.

Brown Gravy, Fried Onion Sauce, or Herb Gravy must be used with great caution, or not at all by those who are troubled with heartburn, acidity, biliousness, or skin eruptions of any kind.

The water in which vegetables (except cabbage or potatoes) have been boiled is better for making sauces than ordinary water.

APPLE SAUCE.

1 lb. of apples, 1 gill of water, 1-1/2 oz. of sugar (or more, according to taste), 1/2 a teaspoonful of mixed spice. Pare and core the apples, cut them up, and cook them with the water until quite mashed up, add sugar and spice. Rub the apples through a sieve, re-heat, and serve. Can also be served cold.

APRICOT SAUCE.

1/2 lb. of apricot jam, 1/2 a teaspoonful of Allinson cornflour.

Dilute the jam with 1/2 pint of water, boil it up and pa.s.s it through a sieve; boil the sauce up, and thicken it with the cornflour. Serve hot or cold.

BOILED ONION SAUCE.

This is made as "Wheatmeal Sauce," but plenty of boiled and chopped onions are mixed in it. This goes well with any plain vegetables.

BROWN GRAVY.

Put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter or olive oil into a frying-pan or saucepan, make it hot, dredge in a tablespoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, brown this, then add boiling water, with pepper and salt to taste. A little mushroom or walnut ketchup may be added it desired.

Eat with vegetables or savouries.

BROWN SAUCE (1).

1 oz. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, a blade of mace, pepper and salt to taste. Melt the b.u.t.ter in a frying-pan over the fire, stir into it the meal, and keep on stirring until it is a brown colour. Stir in gradually enough boiling water to make the sauce of the thickness of cream. Add the lemon juice, the mace, and seasoning, and let the sauce simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the mace, and pour the sauce over the onions. If the sauce should be lumpy, strain it through a gravy-strainer.

BROWN SAUCE (2).

2 tablespoonfuls of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 6 eschalots chopped fine, 3 bay leaves, 1/2 a lemon (peeled) cut in slices, pepper and salt to taste. Brown the meal with the b.u.t.ter; add water enough to make the sauce the thickness of cream; add the eschalots, lemon, bay leaves, and seasoning. Let all simmer 15 to 20 minutes; strain, return the sauce to the saucepan, and boil it up before serving.

CAPER SAUCE.

Leave out the onions, otherwise make as "Wheatmeal Sauce." Add capers, and cook 10 minutes after adding them. This goes very well with plain boiled macaroni, or macaroni batter, or macaroni with turnips, &c.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE.

1 bar of Allinson chocolate, 1/2 pint of milk, 1/2 teaspoonful of cornflour, 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla essence. Melt the chocolate over the fire with 1 tablespoonful of water, add the milk, and stir well; when it boils add the cornflour and vanilla. Boil the sauce up, and serve.

CURRANT SAUCE (RED & WHITE).

1/2 pint of both white and red currants, 2 ozs. of sugar, 1 gill of water, 1/2 a teaspoonful of cornflour. Cook the ingredients for 10 minutes, rub the fruit through a sieve, re-heat it, and thicken the sauce with the cornflour. Serve hot or cold.

CURRY SAUCE (1).

3 English onions, 1 carrot, 1 good cooking apple, 1 teaspoonful of curry powder, 1/2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, salt to taste. Chop up the onions, carrot, and apple, and stew them in 3/4 pint of water until quite tender, adding the curry and salt. When quite soft rub the vegetables well through a sieve; brown the meal in the saucepan in the b.u.t.ter, add the sauce to this, and let it simmer for a few minutes; add a little more water if necessary.

CURRY SAUCE (2).

1 onion, 1 even teaspoonful of curry, 1/2 pint of water, 1/2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1 teaspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, a little burnt sugar. Grate the onion into the water, add curry, b.u.t.ter, and salt, and let these ingredients cook a few minutes. Thicken the sauce with the meal, and colour with burnt sugar.

CURRY SAUCE (BROWN).

2 tablespoonfuls of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter (or oil), 1 teaspoonful of curry powder, 1 English onion chopped fine, 1 good tablespoonful of vinegar, a pinch of mint and sage, and salt to taste.

Fry the onions in the b.u.t.ter until nearly brown, add the meal, and brown; add as much water as required to make the sauce the consistency of cream; add the curry, vinegar, and seasoning. Let the whole simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, strain the sauce, return to the saucepan, beat it up, and serve.

EGG CAPER SAUCE.

The same as "Egg Sauce," adding 1 tablespoonful of finely chopped capers before the egg is stirred in, and which should simmer a few minutes.

EGG SAUCE.

3/4 pint of half milk and water, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of Allinson cornflour, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt.

Boil the milk and water, add the b.u.t.ter and seasoning. Thicken the sauce with the cornflour; beat the egg up with the lemon juice. Let the sauce go off the boil; add gradually and gently the egg, taking care not to curdle it. Warm up the sauce again, but do not allow it to boil.

EGG SAUCE WITH SAFFRON.

1/2 pint of milk and water, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of cornflour, a pinch of saffron, pepper and salt to taste. Boil the milk and water with the saffron, and see that the latter dissolves thoroughly. Add seasoning, and thicken with the cornflour; beat up the egg, and after having allowed the sauce to cool a little, add it gradually, taking care not to curdle the sauce. Heat it up, but do not let it boil. To easily dissolve the saffron, it should be dried in the oven and then powdered.

FRENCH SAUCE.

1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 2 oz. each of carrot, turnip, onion, or eschalots, 1 tablespoonful of vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, pepper and salt to taste, a little thyme. Chop the vegetables up fine, and fry them in the b.u.t.ter, adding the thyme. When slightly browned add 3/4 pint of water, into which the meal has been rubbed smooth. Stir the sauce until it boils, then add the vinegar and seasoning. Let all simmer for 1/2 an hour, rub the sauce through a sieve, return it to the saucepan, boil up, and serve.