SAUCES

CUCUMBER SAUCE—­Pare two good sized cucumbers and cut a generous piece from the stem end.  Grate on a coarse grater and drain through cheese cloth for half an hour.  Season the pulp with salt, pepper and vinegar to suit the taste.  Serve with broiled, baked or fried fish.

GHERKIN SAUCE—­Put a sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, a clove of garlic, two finely chopped shallots, and a cayenne pepper, and salt into a saucepan, with one breakfast cup of vinegar.  Place pan on fire and when contents have boiled for thirty minutes, add a breakfast cup of stock or good broth.  Strain it through a fine hair sieve and stir in one and one-half ounces of liquefied butter mixed with a little flour to thicken it.  Place it back in the saucepan and when it boils stir in it a teaspoonful or so of parsley very finely chopped, two or three ounces of pickle gherkins, and a little salt if required.

GIBLET SAUCE—­Put the giblets from any bird in the saucepan with sufficient stock or water to cover them and boil for three hours, adding an onion and a few peppercorns while cooking.  Take them out, and when they are quite tender strain the liquor into another pan and chop up the gizzards, livers, and other parts into small pieces.  Take a little of the thickening left at the bottom of the pan in which a chicken or goose has been braised, and after the fat has been taken off, mix it with the giblet liquor and boil until dissolved.  Strain the sauce, put in the pieces of giblet, and serve hot.

GOOSEBERRY SAUCE—­Pick one pound of green gooseberries and put them into a saucepan with sufficient water to keep them from burning, when soft mash them, grate in a little nutmeg and sweeten to taste with moist sugar.  This sauce may be served with roast pork or goose instead of apple sauce.  It may also be served with boiled mackerel.  A small piece of butter will make the sauce richer.

HALF-GLAZE SAUCE—­Put one pint of clear concentrated veal gravy in a saucepan, mix it with two wine-glassfuls of Madeira, a bunch of sweet herbs, and set both over the fire until boiling.  Mix two tablespoonfuls of potato flour to a smooth paste with a little cold water, then mix it with the broth and stir until thick.  Move the pan to the side of the fire and let the sauce boil gently until reduced to two-thirds of its original quantity.  Skim it well, pass it through a silk sieve, and it is ready for use.

HAM SAUCE—­After a ham is nearly all used up pick the small quantity of meat still remaining, from the bone, scrape away the uneatable parts and trim off any rusty bits from the meat, chop the bone very small and beat the meat almost to a paste.  Put the broken bones and meat together into a saucepan over a slow fire, pour over them one-quarter pint of broth, and stir about one-quarter of an hour, add to it a few sweet herbs, a seasoning of pepper and one-half pint of good beef stock.  Cover the saucepan and stir very gently until well flavored with herbs, then strain it.  A little of this added to any gravy is an improvement.