Introductory Remarks

The difference between good and bad cookery can scarcely be more strikingly shown than in the manner in which sauces are prepared and served. If well made, appropriate to the dishes they accompany, and sent to table with them as hot as possible, they not only give a heightened relish to a dinner, but they prove that both skill and taste have been exerted in its arrangements. When coarsely or carelessly prepared, on the contrary, as they too often are, they greatly discredit the cook, and are anything but acceptable to the eaters. Melted butter, the most common of all—the “one sauce of England,” as it is called by foreigners, and which forms in reality the basis of a large number of those which are served in this country—is often so ill prepared, being either oiled or lumpy, or composed principally of flour and water, that it says but little for the state of cookery amongst us. We trust that the receipts in the present chapter are so far clearly given, that if strictly followed they will materially assist the learner in preparing tolerably palatable sauces at the least. The cut at the commencement of the chapter exhibits a vessel called a bain marie, in which saucepans are placed when it is necessary to keep their contents hot without allowing them to boil: it is extremely useful when dinners are delayed after they are ready to serve.