Cassell's dictionary of cookery

The method is simply to melt sufiicient butter and flour together in a .saucer, place the saucer in the oven, and occasionally stir it ; the flom- soon becomes baked, which avoids the gruelly taste ; next, the flour soon becomes of a light fawn colour at the top, and after the saucer has been stirred a few times the whole quantity will assume the colour required. Indeed, some persons make brown thickening in large qiiantities m a pie-dish, and place it in the oven, taking it out at times, and stirring it. The stewpan is, however, we think, a far preferable method. We have in sj^eaking of gravies confined our attention almost entirely to the thickening, which, as we have pointed out, is the chief point on which cooks break down. Of coui'se, the exact consistency to which gravy must be brought is another important point which must be left entu-ely to the cook's judgment. The advantage of havmg brown thickening ready is that only small quantities need be added at a time. The cook, consequently, has only to exercise a little patience, i.e., to stir the thickening well in, see that it is all dissolved and that the gravy boils gently, to avoid the common but unpardonable faidt of having the gravy too thick. Good brown gi'avy should be of the consistency of cream at the outside, and never thicker, if indeed so thick. It would be almost impossible to describe all the various methods of flavouring gravies in order to suit them to the dishes with which they are served, but we may mention here that there is perhaps no method of bringing out and at the same time adding to the flavour of good gravy equal to that of adding at the last moment a good slice of raw lean ham ; and when we say lean we mean a slice absolutely destitute of fat. Another very good addition to gravy iz part of the pulp of a fresh ripe tomato, especially when the gravy is intended for some dish with which tomato sauce would not be inaj)plicable, such as roast fowl. When a fresh tomato cannot be obtained, a spoonful of tomato sauce will answer just as well. We would, however, particularly caution cooks against the indiscrimi- nate use of Worcester' sauce, as this particular sauce is so powerful that when used for gi'avy, unless added with the greatest caution, it is apt to overpower the flavour of everything else. Again, the stewpan or small saucepan used for warming up the gVa'vy can be iiibbed with a bead of garlic when the flavour of this latter some- what strong flavouring is not objected to. PRINCIPLES STOCK. STOCK. In describing the general principles upon which aU good cooking depends, it -will be seen that we have dwelt at some length on thickening, and have described the proper method of making brown thickening, or brown roux, and white thickening, or white roux. We will next proceed to discuss the proper method of preparing stock, and the two chief stock sauces, viz., white sauce and brown sauce, which i-equii-e in their composition the white roux and brown roux, respectively. It may possibly be thought that a description of the proper method of making stock should have preceded the description of the thickening ; bear in mind, however, that in preparing any dinner, the thickening should be made before the stock, and also, that whereas there is but one method to be pursued in making thickening, there are necessarily many different ways of preparing stock.