Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

For a pint and a half of sauce, use a lobster weighing two and a half pounds. Make the lobster butter as directed on page 478. Cut the tender est part of the claws into dice. Chop the remainder of the lobster meat, and put it into a stewpan with one quart of water ; simmer for one hour. Put four table-spoonfuls of butter into a stew-pan on the fire, and when hot, add three generous table-spoonfuls of flour, and stir until smooth and frothy. Then add, gradually, the lobster liquor, stirring all the while. Stir until the mixture boils ; add a teaspoonful and a half of salt, half a saltspoonful of cayenne, a table-spoonful of lemon juice, and the lobster butter. Cook for five minutes. Put the lobster dice into a small saucepan ; strain the sauce on it, and place on the fire. Boil up once, and serve. This sauce may be served with any kind of boiled fish. Shrimp Sauce. After beating a cupful of butter to a cream, add two table-spoonfuls of flour, and beat until light and smooth ; then add two table-spoonfuls of essence of anchovy and one table-spoonful of lemon juice. Pour upon this mixture a pint of boiling water. Heat the sauce to the boiling-point without actually allowing it to boil ; then add half a pint of fresh or canned shrimp, with the tails cut in two, and a grain of cayenne. Let the sauce get very hot, and use at once. Use two dozen shrimp, and proceed as for lobster sauce, using half a dozen of the shrimp to cut into dice and add last. Anchovy Sauce. Put four table-spoonfuls of butter into a stew-pan, and place on the fire. When the butter is melted, add three table-spoonfuls of flour. Stir until smooth and frothy. Cool a little, and then add, gradually, one pint of white stock or water. Stir until this boils ; then add onefourth of a saltspoonful each of white and cayenne pepper, the anchovy butter, a table-spoonful of lemon juice, and salt enough to season the sauce. As the anchovy butter is salted, one must taste the sauce to ascertain how much salt to use. This sauce may be used with all kinds of fish dishes. Anchovy Butter. Pour the brine from a bottle of anchovies, and soak the fish for two hours in cold water. Drain and wipe them. Remove the bones, and place the fish in a mortar, with two table-spoonfuls of butter. Pound to a smooth paste, and rub through a fine sieve. Work three table-spoonfuls of butter and a grain of cayenne into the strained mixture. If the butter is to be used on toast, a teaspoonful of lemon juice may be added. This butter may be used in various kinds of fish sauces. Shrimp Butter. Use five table-spoonfuls of butter, one dozen shrimp, the shells of the shrimp, and a grain of cayenne. Put the shells and three table-spoonfuls of butter into the mortar, and pound to a powder. Put this into a small saucepan, and place this in another containing boiling water. Cook for one hour. Press the mixture through a piece of cheese-cloth into a bowl of ice-water. It will form in little cakes on the water ; skim these off. Put the meat of the shrimp and the two remaining spoonfuls of butter into the mortar, and pound to a paste. Add the red butter, which was obtained by pounding and cooking the shells and butter together. Pound a little longer, and then rub the mixture through a fine sieve.