SAVOURY SAUCES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 123, 31 October 1941, Page 45

SAVOURY SAUCES

T is generally taken for granted l that the ordinary everyday busy housewife doesn’t "go in for sauces"-or not much, at any rate. A nice rich brown gravy with the roast joint or the fried sausages is probably the extent of what is expected of her. "A good plain dinner is what Father likes," she says, and that is probably what Father says, too. Yet when they take a holiday and have a week in town at a good hotel, they do enjoy the meals with all the "Frills and fixings," and say what marvellous food it is, and what a change, and so on. Actually, however, it is just the same old fish and mutton and veal-perhaps not even as good a quality as they have at home either, where the butcher studies each customer’s little preferences, and sees that she gets her favourite bit of "undercut" or nicely scored loin of pork. Partly, of course, it is the delight of not having to prepare and cook the meal which lends the glamour; but partly, also, the tasty and piquant sauces Which camouflage the different dishes, and make them taste, and look, like something quite new and strange. Nor are these grand-looking sauces

necessarily expensive; not at all! But they have three main purposes-to add flavour, to make.cheaper foods into dishes that taste and look expensive, and to make a small serving more substantial. And really, they are very little trouble to make, and it is fun to surprise the family sometimes. For instance(1) Serve little potato cakes (only left-over mashed potato mixed with a little flour and chopped parsley, and a beaten egg, and fried nicely brown!) with a good white sauce to which some minced ham has been added, (2) Serve small fillets of groper .or schnapper nicely steamed, with a good white sauce containing plenty of chopped hard boiled egg. (3) Serve poached eggs on toast with a mock Hollanddise Sauce. You will develop scores of ideas as you go on, and will exchange them with each other in this page, I hope, Here are some to start with. The best and easiest way to make these sauces is to use a double saucepan. Melt the butter in the inner saucepan over direct heat, stir in the flour and seasoning, and milk or other liquid and so on, and then stand the pan in

the outer saucepan of boiling water, put the lid on, and leave it to cook, It will not need any more watching. If you haven’t a proper double saucepan, just stand your little pan in ‘any larger one of boiling water. White Sauce (foundation recipe) To 2 tablespoons butter, use 2 tablespoons flour (wholemeal is good). 1% cups milk, a pinch of salt; and a shake of white pepper. Melt the butter and stir in the flour and seasoning, removing the pan from the heat as you do so. Then gradually stir in the milk, continually stirring. Bring to the, boil and cook till nicely thick. Variations Thick White Sauce.--Use more butter and flour, but the same quantity of milk. Piquant Sauce-Make white sauce, but when cooked, add the yolk of an egg beaten up with a tablespoon of vinegar. Parsley Sauce--Add two or three tablespoons of finely chopped parsley to Foundation Sauce, Cheese Sauce.-Add half a cup or more of grated cheese; 4% teaspoon of: dry mustard; a few drops of Worcester Sauce, and a teaspoon of lemon: juice to’ the Foundation Sauce. Crayfish Sauce.-Add chopped cray-| fish-rr tinned shrimps or lobster if! you can get it-to the Foundation Sauce r ;

Curry Sauce Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add ¥2 cup of minced onion, and cook pale brown. Stir in a good teaspoon of curry powder (or more according to taste) and let it cook with the butter and onion a minute or so before adding 2 tablespoons of flour, stirring till all is dissolved. Then very gradually add sufficient milk to make the required thickness, about 114 cups. It is correct to strain the onion out before pouring the sauce over your hardboiled eggs, or fish, or whatever you are using; but many people prefer to keep the onion in. Mock Hollandaise Sauce This is the one suggested to pour over poached eggs on toast. Melt 12 cup of butter, add just a shake of flourabout a teaspoonful, and season with salt and pepper. Add gradually 3 eggs yolks, one at a time, and working them carefully in. Then beat in a tablespoon of lemon juice, add finally half a cup of boiling water. Cook the sauce in a double saucepan over hot water until thick and smooth. Some people prefer to add the lemon juice to the melted butter, and then pour this into the egg yolks, beating all the time; finally adding the boiling water and cooking over hot water, beating well. Barbecue Sauce (American) This is» fine -with roast or grilled meat.‘ It is’ used to baste veal ot pork chops, or joints of chicken, while they are grilling; and is generally made in the frying pan. Take’ % lb. butter; 1% (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) cups water, 3 tablespoons Worcester Sauce, 2 tablespoons tomato sauce; 2 tablespoons lemon juice, a teaspoon of sugar and pepper and salt to taste. Mix all the ingredients together and simmer about eight minutes. Tomato Jelly Sauce This is good to transform ham or tongue when eaten hot. It is very quickly made. Mix together equal quantities of butter and sugar; ‘say 2 tablespoons of each; add 3 times the quantity of tomato sauce (6 tablespoons) and half a cup of a tart jelly, such as quince. Heat all together, and beat up well. Brown Sauce (foundation recipe) When flour is browned, it does not thicken so well, so more is needed. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a little saucepan, add 5 tablespoons of flour, and stir until the flour browns. Then add gradually 114 cups of water or stock, stirring all the time. Pepper and salt to taste. Cook over hot water in the usual way, for about 5 minutes, Variations (1) Orange Sauce for Duck or Lamb. -Add the juice of an orange, 2 teaspoons of grated rind, 2 or 3 tablespoons of cooking sherry, and a dash of cayenne, to the Foundation Brown Sauce. Do not let it boil. Arrange orange sections down the body of the duck, like buttons; and garnish with shredded lettuce, ‘

(2) Spanish Sauce-Add about a tablespoon each of chopped celery, carrot, onion and ham to the Foundation Recipe, and half a cup of tomato sauce. (3) Currant Jelly Sauce-Add a dessertspoon of lemon juice and half a cup of currant jelly to the Foundation. Heat until the jelly is melted and blended. An easily made and delightful sauce, * (4) Sauce Piquante--Add a _ tablespoon of lemon juice, a tablespoon each of minced onion, capers, and any sharp pickle. A dash of cayenne gives a final touch.