37*2 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



grease, and let the whole simmer for two hours. Then strain it through 

 a hair sieve. This may he called sauce- stock, or a foundation for a 

 number of sauces. You can thicken it with flour and a little milk ; you 

 can add to it a puree of Tomatos, or of Turnips, or Carrots, or Celery, and 

 call it by the name of the flavouring vegetable ; and you can give it a 

 distinct flavour by adding a little of any of the numerous bottled sauces 

 sold by grocers; a little sugar, or lemon -juice, or any of the spices will 

 also give it a distinct flavour. In some suitable cases half a wineglass 

 of Marsala will give the sauce an agreeable flavour. 



A person who has, in his or her brain, the cooking instinct, will be 

 able to invent a number of sauces at pleasure ; the thing to be kept 

 always in mind is to obtain an enjoyable flavour of which the diners may 

 be able to say " How nice ! " If the meat used for the sauce is browned 

 in a saucepan with butter, and some burnt sugar colouring is added, 

 you can make a brown sauce ; if these are omitted you can make 

 a white sauce. Butter and cream or the beaten yolk of an egg added, off 

 the fire, if properly blended, will improve all sauces. All these things, 

 however, are matters of taste, and can be left to the fancy of the person 

 in charge of the kitchen operations. 



This paper is intended only to give a few hints of the ways in which 

 vegetables can be cooked, in order to make a little appetising variety from 

 the plain boiled. I think a capital way of utilising vegetables for food — 

 more especially those which have not a decided flavour of their own — is 

 by the process called au gratin, in which grated cheese enters as a 

 principal ingredient. The name au gratin would appear to mean 

 "browned in an oven;" or, as the Italians would say, "browned with 

 fire beneath and above ; " or again, as we should say in India, " browned 

 in a Dutch oven, which has fire below and above."* I give here recipes 

 for a few vegetables cooked in this way ; then the cook can substitute any 

 other vegetable in season, and make any other variations in flavour 

 by ;i judicious use of spices and grocer's sauces. The cook should be 

 allowed to try this mode of cooking, so that he or she may regulate any 

 modification according to the impression that the dish may make on his 

 or her brain through the gustatory nerves. The cook should also utilise 

 any criticisms which the diners may make. The object is to make a dish 

 palatable to all who may have to eat it. 



Sprouting Broccoli au gratin. — Select a number of small Sprouts, 

 about 3 inches long ; wash and steam them till tender ; when cool, place a 

 layer of them in a buttered pudding-dish ; pour over them some thickened 

 white sauce, dust them with pepper and salt and some grated cheese (a 

 mixture of Parmesan and Gruyere) ; add another layer of Sprouts, and 

 repeat the ingredients, and so on until the dish is full. Finish it by 

 pouring some melted butter and spreading a layer of cheese over the 

 whole. I Jake i n a hot oven till the surface is nicely browned. To be 

 served as a second course. 



Jerusalem Artichokes au gratin. — These are very nice worked up thus : 

 Peel and steam some Jerusalem Artichokes (this tuber takes a good deal 

 of cooking to make it tender throughout). When done, let them cool; 



♦ The Fr< ncli vol) fjrnliucr means "to hake hrown," but the phrase "au gratin" 

 koala DAVC translated literally "covered with raspings of crust of bread."— Ed. 



