The Book Of Sauces

PREFACE Since sauces accompany practically every dish, whether it be savory fish or meat or a sweet, it follows that sauce-making constitutes a most important branch in cookery. An apol- ogy is therefore nardly needed for the publication of a volume devoted entirely to the art of preparing sauces. It was, I believe, the great maitre-chef Careme who put a premium on any original crea- tion in cookery. To him it mattered little if people criticised adversely new dishes which he introduced. He had such confidence in his ability to create something artistic as well as original that he could afford to wait while his rivals endeavored to spoil the reputation of his Hollandaise or Salmis. Today an innovation in cookery is subjected to practically the same fire of criticism. One season it is the introduction of a new Entree or Hors-doeuvre, the next the culinary world sits in judgment on a certain sauce which becomes fashionable as an adjunct to a famous Entree or Entremet. Whilst disclaiming originality of the many standard sauces which are treated in this book, all of which are to be found in most of the complete cookery manuals, a large number of compound and auxiliary sauces combining en- tirely new creations have been included in this book. It is hoped that this collection of sauce recipes, which is claimed to be the largest and most complete ever published in one volume, will meet the wants of professional cooks as well as amateurs, and thus fulfill a useful mission. With the exception of standard and stock sauces, the ingredients given with each recipe are based to be sufficient for a full service of six or seven persons. The History of Sauce Making. Sauces, according to the famous maftres, chefs and culinary artists of the past, Careme and Soyer, are to cookery what grammer is to language, and melody is to musicM whilst that intel- lectual causeur, the Marquis de Cussy, goes so far as to call the artist in sauces an enlightened chemist the creative genius of the high-class cuisine. When the practice first began of roasting food particularly meat on the spit, broiling it on the gridiron, and boiling it in large cauldrons, sauces and gravies did not come into the reckon- ing as yet, the instinctive desire for them being satisfied instead by various aromatic herbs and saline from which is derived salsa, the word from which our sauce comes adjuncts to the meal. It is, in fact, only the very choicest morsels of meat, and these only when prepared by the most skilful hands, which, when roasted, fried, or grilled are found savory without sauce, for these contain sufficient juice to prevent them from being dry and insipid. The Englishman even of the present day scorns the sauces of German cookery but is glad to make the acquaintance of a good French sauce served with roast, baked, or fried meat, or with plain boiled vegetables. That there is a standing need for liquid adjuncts for food is indisputable. The modern English method furnishes a very good illustration of the way in which the typical sauce, brought to perfection by the French, has passed through various stages to the lofty eminence it now holds. The ancient Greeks and Romans certainly did prepare sauces, but theirs, as certain others of to-day, not only had no methodical relation to the dishes they accompanied, but were often glaringly unsuited thereto. For instance, the following two sauces, one for meat and the other fOIL mushrooms, are recommended by Apicius, the great Roman gastronomer of Tiberius time...