Make a drawn-butter or white sauce; add a few drops of lemon or a table-spoonful of capers, or, if neither be at hand, a few drops of vinegar; add oysters strained from their liquor, and let them just come to a boil in the sauce.
This sauce is much better made with part cream, _i. e._, used when making the drawn-butter sauce, instead of all water. In this case, do not add the lemon-juice or vinegar. Some make the white sauce of the oyster liquor, instead of water.
This sauce may be served in a sauce-boat, but it is nicer to pour it over the fish, boiled turkey, or chicken.
PARSLEY SAUCE (_for Boiled Fish or Fowls_).
To half a pint of hot drawn-butter sauce add two table-spoonfuls of chopped parsley. The appearance of the sauce is improved by coloring it with a little spinach-green (see page 87).
CAULIFLOWER SAUCE (_for Boiled Poultry_).
Add boiled cauliflowers, cut into little flowerets, to a drawn-butter sauce made with part cream.
To half a pint of drawn-butter sauce add the inside of a lemon, chopped (seeds taken out), and the chicken liver boiled and mashed fine.
CHICKEN SAUCE (_to serve with Boiled or Stewed Fowls_).
Put butter the size of an egg into a bright saucepan, and when it bubbles add a table-spoonful of flour; cook it, and add a pint, or rather less, of boiling water; when smooth, take it from the fire, and add the beaten yolks of two or three eggs, and a few drops of lemon-juice, pepper, and salt. Or, Stock can be used instead of boiling water, when two or three small slices of onion are placed in the butter after it begins to bubble, and then allowed to cook yellow; after the flour is cooked, stock is added instead of water, and when smooth, it is taken from the fire, a few drops of lemon-juice, pepper, and salt are added, and the sauce is strained through the gravy-strainer or sieve, to remove the pieces of onion.
MAÎTRE-D’HÔTEL BUTTER (_for Beefsteak, Broiled Meat, or Fish_).
Mix butter the size of an egg, the juice of half a lemon, and two or three sprigs of parsley, chopped very fine; pepper and salt all together. Spread this over any broiled meat or fish when hot; then put the dish into the oven a few moments, to allow the butter to penetrate the meat.