Cassell's dictionary of cookery

thick substance which will have settled at the bottom. Pour the clear oiled butter into a clean stewpan, mix the dried and sifted flour thoroughly and gradually with it, and beat it over a gentle fire with a wooden spoon until it forms a thick mass. Continue to stir it patiently until it is lightly coloured. Draw it to the side of the fire, and throw in with it a slice of onion for flavouring, and do not cease to stir the mixture until it no longer bubbles. Take out the onion, pour the roux into an earthen jar, and let it get cold. It then will be ready for use. When wanted for thickening-, mix the roux with the sauce, and stir it till it boils. The sauce only attains its proper consistency after it has been stirred and boiled. This thickening may be mixed with either hot or cold liquor. If cold, stir it over the fire till it boils. If hot, moisten the roux gradually, and off the fire, with the sauce, then pour it into the remainder, and stir it over the fire till it boils. In order to cleanse sauce that has been thickened, that is, to remove the fat which has not become thoroughly incorporated with the gravy, draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and throw in a small quantity of lukewarm water. The fat, &c., will rise to the surface, and may be removed with a spoon. Time to brown the roux, about an hour. A dessertspoonful will thicken a pint of gravy. Thickening, Brown (M. Ude's way).— Put into a stewpan a piece of butter proportionate to the quantity of thickening intended to be prepared. Melt it gently ; take out the buttermilk, then put flour enough to make a paste. Fry it on a slow fire, and then put it again over very red ashes till it be of a nice colour. Observe, this is to be obtained only by slow degrees. When of a light brown pour it into an earthen pan, and preserve for use. It will keep a long time. Thickening of Egg. — Boil the sauce, and take it oif the fire for two minutes that it may partially cool. Beat the yolks of the eggs, and mix them with a spoonful of cold broth or water and a small portion of the hot sauce, Stir them briskly to the remainder of the sauce, and continue stirring over the fire until it is very hot. It must not boil or it will curdle. Thickening of Farinaceous Substances.— Occasionally arrowroot, ground rice, or flour without butter, is used to thicken soups and sauces. In this case put the thickening substance into a basin, moisten gradually with a little cold stock, water, or milk, and beat it with the back of a spoon until no lumps are to be found in it. With one hand pour this batter into the soup or sauce, which should be boiling quickly at the time, and with the other stir it briskly. Let it boil for a few minutes, and it will be ready for serving. Invalids and persons of delicate taste often object strongly to butter in their sauces. Thickening, Quickly made (for immediate use). — "When it is wished to thicken sauces, and brown thickening is not at hand, dissolve half an ounce of butter, and then mix smoothly with it a table-spoonful of flour. Stir it quickly over a gentle fire with a wooden spoon for three minutes, moisten gradually with a pint of stock or broth, let it boil three or four minutes, season properly, and it will be ready for use. Sufficient for a pint of sauce.