DOMESTIC ESPAGNOLE.
Now it need not be said that the occasions on which the mistress of a small or moderate establishment would go to the extent of ordering a preparation as troublesome and expensive as that I have just described, merely as a basis of a couple of sauces for a little dinner-party, would be exceedingly rare. Indeed, if the truth be confessed, the great fundamental sauces are only really called into play at restaurants, clubs, hotels, and establishments conducted on an extensive scale—places, that is to say, where the demand for such things is large and frequent, and stocks for sauces kept up as a matter of necessity. Nevertheless, I think it advisable for all to study the principles of the composition in order that they may perceive what elements are needed—no matter on what reduced scale the work may be conducted—in order to hit off a tasty brown sauce. They are briefly these:—A good decoction of meat and vegetables enriched with glaze, thickened, reduced somewhat by simmering, and carefully skimmed free from fat. If therefore we make as good a household meat broth as we can with scraps, trimmings, and some stock from the soup-kettle, flavour this with vegetables, and to one pint add an ounce of good glaze, then thicken, simmer, skim, and strain, we shall have a very reliable domestic espagnole for our fundamental brown sauce.
Glaze can be procured so easily, and in such good quality, that we need not extract it in the manner described in my more elaborate recipe.