[Modern cookery, in all its branches

This thickening may be made in a wellfinned stewpan even better than in a frying-pan, and if simmered over a coal fire it should be placed high above it, and well guarded from smoke. WHITE ROUX, OR FRENCH THICKENING. Proceed exactly as for the preceding receipt, but dredge in the flour as soon as the butter is in full simmer, and be careful not to allow the thickening to take the slightest colour: this is used for white gravies or sauces. SAUCE TOURNEE, OR PALE THICKENED GRAVY. Sauce tournee is nothing more than rich pale gravy made with veal or poultry (see Consomme , Chapter IY.) and thickened with deli- cate white roux, The French give it a flavouring of mushrooms and green onions, by boiling some of each in it for about half an hour before the sauce is served: it must then be strained, previously to being dished. Either first dissolve an ounce of butter, and then dredge gradually to it three-quarters of an ounce of flour, and proceed as for the preceding receipt ; or blend the flour and butter perfectly with a knife before they are thrown into the stewpan, and keep them stirred without ceasing over a clear and gentle fire until they have simmered for some minutes, then place the stewpan high over the fire, and shake it constantly until the roux has lost the raw taste of the flour ; next, stir very gradually to it a pint of the gravy, which should be boiling. Set it by the side of the stove for a few minutes skim it thoroughly, and serve it without delay. Butter, 1 oz. ; flour, f oz. ; strong pale gravy, seasoned with mushrooms and green onions, 1 pint. Obs. 3. — With the addition of three or four yolks of very fresh eggs, mixed with a seasoning of mace, cayenne, and lemon -juice, this becomes German sauce , now much used for fricassees, and other dishes ; and minced parsley (boiled) and chili vinegar, each in sufficient quantity to flavour it agreeably, convert it into a good fish sauce. BECHAMEL. This is a fine French white sauce, now very much served at good English tables. It may be made in various ways, and more or less expensively ; but it should always be thick, smooth, and rich, though delicate in flavour. The most ready mode of preparing it is to take an equal portion of very strong, pale veal gravy, and of good cream (a pint of each for example), and then, by rapid boiling over a very clear fire, to reduce the gravy nearly half ; next, to mix with part of the cream a tablespoonful of fine dry flour, to pour it to the remainder, when it boils, and to keep the whole stirred for five minutes or more over a slow fire, for if placed upon a fierce one it would be liable to burn ; then to add the gravy, to stir and mix the sauce perfectly, and to simmer it for a few minutes longer. All the flavour should be given by the gravy, in which French cooks boil a handful of mushrooms, a few green onions, and some branches of parsley before it is reduced : but a good bechamel may be made without them, with a strong consomme (see pale veal gravy, page 98) well reduced. Strong pale veal gravy (flavoured with mushrooms or not), 1 pint : reduced half. Rich cream, 1 pint ; flour, 1 tablespoonful ; 5 minutes. With gravy, 4 or 5 minutes. Obs. — Veloute , which is a rather thinner sauce or gravy, is made by simply well reducing the cream and stock separately, and then mixing them together without any thickening