The Allinson Vegetarian Cookery Book/Sauces

Flesh-eaters have the gravy of meat to eat with their vegetables, and when they give up the use of flesh they are often at a loss for a good substitute. Sauces may be useful in more ways than one. When not too highly spiced or seasoned they help to prevent thirst, as they supply the system with fluid, and when made with the liquor in which vegetables have been boiled they retain many valuable salts which would otherwise have been lost. When foods are eaten in a natural condition no sauces are required, but when food is changed by cooking many persons require it to be made more appetising, as it is called. The use of sauces is thus seen to be an aid to help down plain and wholesome food, and being fluid they cause the food to be more thoroughly broken up and made into a porridgy mass before it is swallowed. From a health point of view artificial sauces are not good, but if made as I direct very little harm will result.

Brown Gravy, Fried Onion Sauce, or Herb Gravy must be used with great caution, or not at all by those who are troubled with heartburn, acidity, biliousness, or skin eruptions of any kind.

The water in which vegetables (except cabbage or potatoes) have been boiled is better for making sauces than ordinary water.

1 lb. of apples, 1 gill of water, 1-1/2 oz. of sugar (or more, according to taste), 1/2 a teaspoonful of mixed spice. Pare and core the apples, cut them up, and cook them with the water until quite mashed up, add sugar and spice. Rub the apples through a sieve, re-heat, and serve. Can also be served cold.

1/2 lb. of apricot jam, 1/2 a teaspoonful of Allinson cornflour. Dilute the jam with 1/2 pint of water, boil it up and pass it through a sieve; boil the sauce up, and thicken it with the cornflour. Serve hot or cold.

This is made as "Wheatmeal Sauce," but plenty of boiled and chopped onions are mixed in it. This goes well with any plain vegetables.

Put a tablespoonful of butter or olive oil into a frying-pan or saucepan, make it hot, dredge in a tablespoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, brown this, then add boiling water, with pepper and salt to taste. A little mushroom or walnut ketchup may be added it desired. Eat with vegetables or savouries.

1 oz. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 oz. of butter, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, a blade of mace, pepper and salt to taste. Melt the butter in a frying-pan over the fire, stir into it the meal, and keep on stirring until it is a brown colour. Stir in gradually enough boiling water to make the sauce of the thickness of cream. Add the lemon juice, the mace, and seasoning, and let the sauce simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the mace, and pour the sauce over the onions. If the sauce should be lumpy, strain it through a gravy-strainer.

2 tablespoonfuls of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 oz. of butter, 6 eschalots chopped fine, 3 bay leaves, 1/2 a lemon (peeled) cut in slices, pepper and salt to taste. Brown the meal with the butter; add water enough to make the sauce the thickness of cream; add the eschalots, lemon, bay leaves, and seasoning. Let all simmer 15 to 20 minutes; strain, return the sauce to the saucepan, and boil it up before serving.

Leave out the onions, otherwise make as "Wheatmeal Sauce." Add capers, and cook 10 minutes after adding them. This goes very well with plain boiled macaroni, or macaroni batter, or macaroni with turnips, &c.

1 bar of Allinson chocolate, 1/2 pint of milk, 1/2 teaspoonful of cornflour, 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla essence. Melt the chocolate over the fire with 1 tablespoonful of water, add the milk, and stir well; when it boils add the cornflour and vanilla. Boil the sauce up, and serve.

1/2 pint of both white and red currants, 2 ozs. of sugar, 1 gill of water, 1/2 a teaspoonful of cornflour. Cook the ingredients for 10 minutes, rub the fruit through a sieve, re-heat it, and thicken the sauce with the cornflour. Serve hot or cold.

3 English onions, 1 carrot, 1 good cooking apple, 1 teaspoonful of curry powder, 1/2 oz. of butter, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, salt to taste. Chop up the onions, carrot, and apple, and stew them in 3/4 pint of water until quite tender, adding the curry and salt. When quite soft rub the vegetables well through a sieve; brown the meal in the saucepan in the butter, add the sauce to this, and let it simmer for a few minutes; add a little more water if necessary.

1 onion, 1 even teaspoonful of curry, 1/2 pint of water, 1/2 oz. of butter, 1 teaspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, a little burnt sugar. Grate the onion into the water, add curry, butter, and salt, and let these ingredients cook a few minutes. Thicken the sauce with the meal, and colour with burnt sugar.

2 tablespoonfuls of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 oz. of butter (or oil), 1 teaspoonful of curry powder, 1 English onion chopped fine, 1 good tablespoonful of vinegar, a pinch of mint and sage, and salt to taste. Fry the onions in the butter until nearly brown, add the meal, and brown; add as much water as required to make the sauce the consistency of cream; add the curry, vinegar, and seasoning. Let the whole simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, strain the sauce, return to the saucepan, beat it up, and serve.

The same as "Egg Sauce," adding 1 tablespoonful of finely chopped capers before the egg is stirred in, and which should simmer a few minutes.

3/4 pint of half milk and water, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of Allinson cornflour, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 oz. of butter, pepper and salt. Boil the milk and water, add the butter and seasoning. Thicken the sauce with the cornflour; beat the egg up with the lemon juice. Let the sauce go off the boil; add gradually and gently the egg, taking care not to curdle it. Warm up the sauce again, but do not allow it to boil.

1/2 pint of milk and water, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of cornflour, a pinch of saffron, pepper and salt to taste. Boil the milk and water with the saffron, and see that the latter dissolves thoroughly. Add seasoning, and thicken with the cornflour; beat up the egg, and after having allowed the sauce to cool a little, add it gradually, taking care not to curdle the sauce. Heat it up, but do not let it boil. To easily dissolve the saffron, it should be dried in the oven and then powdered.

1 oz. of butter, 2 oz. each of carrot, turnip, onion, or eschalots, 1 tablespoonful of vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, pepper and salt to taste, a little thyme. Chop the vegetables up fine, and fry them in the butter, adding the thyme. When slightly browned add 3/4 pint of water, into which the meal has been rubbed smooth. Stir the sauce until it boils, then add the vinegar and seasoning. Let all simmer for 1/2 an hour, rub the sauce through a sieve, return it to the saucepan, boil up, and serve.

Chop fine an onion, fry, add Allinson fine wheatmeal, and make into a sauce like brown gravy.

Make like "Brown Gravy," and add mixed herbs a little before serving.

1/2 pint of water, 2 tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1/2 oz. butter, salt to taste. Boil the water, butter, and horseradish for a few minutes, add salt, and thicken the sauce with the meal rubbed smooth in a little cold water; cook for two minutes, and serve.

1/2 pint of oil, the yolk of 1 egg, the juice of a lemon, 1/2 teaspoonful each of mustard, pepper, and salt. Place the yolks in a basin, which should be quite cold; work them smooth with a wooden spoon, add the salt, pepper, and mustard, and mix all well. Stir in the oil very gradually, drop by drop; when the sauce begins to thicken stir in a little of the lemon juice, continue with the oil, and so on alternately until the sauce is finished. Be sure to make it in a cool place, also to stir one way only. It you follow directions the sauce may curdle; should this ever happen, do not waste the curdled sauce, but start afresh with a fresh yolk of egg, stirring in a little fresh oil first, and then adding the curdled mixture.

1/2 pint of milk, 2 eggs, sugar to taste, some essence of vanilla or any other flavouring, 1 teaspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal. Mix the milk, eggs, flour, and flavouring, and proceed as in "Orange Froth Sauce."

1 teacupful of vinegar, 1 teacupful of water, 1 tablespoonful of sugar, 1 heaped-up tablespoonful of finely chopped mint. Mix all the ingredients well, and let the sauce soak at least 1 hour before serving.

1 good teaspoonful of mustard, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1 oz. of butter, vinegar and salt to taste, 1 teaspoonful of sugar, 1/2 pint of water. Brown the wheatmeal with the butter in the saucepan, add the mustard, vinegar, sugar, and salt, let all simmer for a few minutes, and then serve.

Make a white sauce, stone and chop 8 Spanish olives, add them to the sauce, and let it cook a few minutes before serving.

1 large Spanish onion, 1/2 pint of milk, 1 gill of water, 4 oz. of butter, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, pepper and salt to taste. Chop the onions up fine, and cook them in the water until tender, add the milk, butter and seasoning. Smooth the meal with a little water, thicken the sauce, let it simmer for five minutes, and serve.

Make a sweet white sauce, and flavour it with 2 tablespoonfuls of orangeflower water.

The juice of 2 oranges, 2 eggs, sugar to taste, 1 teaspoonful of white flour (not cornflour), add to the orange juice enough water to make 1/2 pint of liquid; mix this well with the sugar, the eggs previously beaten, and the flour smoothed with a very little water; put the mixture over the fire in an enamelled saucepan, and whisk it well until quite frothy; do not allow the sauce to boil, as it would then be spoiled. Serve immediately.

2 oranges, 4 large lumps of sugar, 1/2 a teaspoonful of cornflour, some water. Rub the sugar on the rind of one of the oranges until all the yellow part is taken off; take the juice of both the oranges and add it to the sugar. Mix smooth the cornflour in 8 tablespoonfuls of water, add this to the juice when hot, and stir the sauce over the fire until thickened; serve at once.

This is made as "Wheatmeal Sauce," but some finely chopped parsley is added five minutes before serving.

1/2 pint of raspberries, 1 gill of water, 2 eggs, sugar to taste, 1 teaspoonful of white flour. Boil the raspberries in the water for 10 minutes, then strain through a cloth or fine hair sieve; add a little more water if the juice is not 1/2 pint; allow it to get cold, then add the eggs, flour, and sugar, and proceed as for "Orange Froth Sauce." This sauce can be made with any kind of fruit juice.

3 oz. of ratafias, 1/2 pint of milk; the yolk of 1 egg. Bruise the ratafias and put them in a stewpan with the milk; let it boil, remove from the fire, beat up the yolk of egg, and when the milk has cooled a little stir it in carefully; stir again over the fire until the sauce has thickened a little, but do not let it boil.

Make a sweet white sauce, and flavour with 2 tablespoonfuls of rosewater.

1 onion, 3 carrots, 1 oz. butter, a teaspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, a little nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste. Chop up the onion and fry it a nice brown; cut up the carrots into small dice, cook them gently in 1 pint of water with the onion and seasoning until quite soft; then rub the sauce through a sieve, return it to the saucepan, heat it up and thicken it with the meal, if necessary.

Make a white sauce, and add to it a handful of finely chopped sorrel; let it simmer a few minutes, and serve.

Make a sweet white sauce, and add 1/2 teaspoonful of mixed spice before serving.

1 lb. of mushrooms, 1 small onion, 1/2 oz. of butter, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, pepper and salt to taste, juice of 1/2 a lemon. Cook the mushrooms and onion, chopped fine, in 1/2 pint of water for 15 minutes; adding the butter and seasoning. Strain the sauce and return it to the saucepan, thicken it with the meal, add the lemon juice, let it simmer 2 or 3 minutes, and serve.

1/2 a canful of tinned tomatoes or 1 lb. of fresh ones, a tablespoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1/2 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste. If fresh tomatoes are used, slice them and set them to cook with a breakfastcupful of water. For tinned tomatoes a teacupful of water is sufficient. Let the tomatoes cook gently for 10 minutes, then rub them well through a strainer. Return the liquid to the saucepan, add the butter, pepper, and salt, and when it boils thicken the sauce with the meal, which should he smoothed well with a little cold water. Let the sauce simmer for a minute, and pour it into a warm sauce-boat.

Cut up fresh or tinned tomatoes, cook with water and finely chopped onions; when done rub through a sieve, boil up again, thicken with Allinson fine wheatmeal made into a paste with water. Add a little butter, pepper, and salt. Eat with vegetables or savoury dishes.

Mix milk and water together in equal proportions, add a grated onion, and boil; rub a little Allinson fine wheatmeal into a paste with cold water. Mix this with the boiling milk and water, and let it thicken; add a little pepper and salt to taste. Eat this with vegetables.

3/4 pint of milk, 1 dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, sugar to taste. Boil 1/2 pint of the milk with sugar, mix the meal smooth in the rest of the milk, add this to the boiling milk and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened, cook for 3 to 4 minutes, strain it through a gravy strainer, re-heat, and flavour with vanilla or almond essence.

1/2 pint of milk, a dessertspoonful of Allinson cornflour or potato flour, a little vanilla essence, 1 teaspoonful of sugar. Boil the milk, thicken it with the cornflour previously smoothed with a little water, add sugar and vanilla, boil up, and serve with the pudding.

3/4 pint of milk, 1 good dessertspoonful of Allinson fine wheatmeal, a small piece of butter, size of a nut, pepper and salt to taste. Bring part of the milk to the boil, mix the meal smooth with the rest, add the butter and seasoning, and thicken the sauce. Let it cook gently a few minutes after adding the meal, and serve.