The _ragoûts of the last century_ had infinitely more ingredients than we use now; the praise given to _Will. Rabisha_ for his Cookery, 12mo. 1673, is
"To fry and fricassee, his way's most neat, For he compounds a thousand sorts of meat."
To become a perfect mistress of the art of cleverly extracting and combining flavours,[105-*] besides the gift of a good taste, requires all the experience and skill of the most accomplished professor, and, especially, an intimate acquaintance with the palate she is working for.
Send your sauces to table as hot as possible.
Nothing can be more unsightly than the surface of a sauce in a frozen state, or garnished with grease on the top. The best way to get rid of this, is to pass it through a tamis or napkin previously soaked in cold water; the coldness of the napkin will coagulate the fat, and only suffer the pure gravy to pass through: if any particles of fat remain, take them off by applying filtering paper, as blotting paper is applied to writing.
Let your sauces boil up after you put in wine, anchovy, or thickening, that their flavours may be well blended with the other ingredients;[105-+] and keep in mind that the "_chef-d'oeuvre_" of COOKERY is, to entertain the mouth without offending the stomach.
N.B. Although I have endeavoured to give the particular quantity of each ingredient used in the following sauces, as they are generally made; still the cook's judgment must direct her to lessen or increase either of the ingredients, according to the taste of those she works for, and will always be on the alert to ascertain what are the favourite _accompaniments_ desired with each dish. See _Advice to Cooks_, page 50.
When you open a bottle of _catchup_ (No. 439), _essence of anchovy_ (No. 433), &c., throw away the old cork, and stop it closely with a new cork that will fit it very tight. Use only the best superfine velvet taper-corks.
Economy in corks is extremely unwise: in order to save a mere trifle in the price of the cork, you run the risk of losing the valuable article it is intended to preserve.
It is a _vulgar error_ that a bottle must be well stopped, when the cork is forced down even with the mouth of it; it is rather a sign that the cork is too small, and it should be redrawn and a larger one put in.