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- Dec 4, 2011
Recipes for celery sauce--and other sauces made similarly--were common. Ones appeared in the Kentucky Housewife, page 169, Mrs. Lee's The Cook's Own Book, page 184, and many others, but the one below is from the Virginia Housewife.
Celery Sauce. Wash and pare a large bunch of celery very clean, cut it into little bits, and boil it softly till it is tender; add half a pint of cream, some mace, nutmeg, and a small piece of butter rolled in flour, then boil it gently. This is a good sauce for roasted or boiled fowls, turkeys, partridges, or any other game.
Sauces were often sent to the table to be added to meats, vegetables and desserts, or added by the cook.
Mace was a common period spice made from the outer husk of the nutmeg. It's readily available today already ground, but a little harder to find in its whole form as "blades." Mrs. Randolph doesn't specify that it must be ground fresh from the blade.
Rolling butter in flour minimizes lumping of the flour, as the butter dispersed it while melting. The goal of adding the flour is to thicken the sauce. When it gets the right consistency, it's done.
Celery Sauce. Wash and pare a large bunch of celery very clean, cut it into little bits, and boil it softly till it is tender; add half a pint of cream, some mace, nutmeg, and a small piece of butter rolled in flour, then boil it gently. This is a good sauce for roasted or boiled fowls, turkeys, partridges, or any other game.
Sauces were often sent to the table to be added to meats, vegetables and desserts, or added by the cook.
Mace was a common period spice made from the outer husk of the nutmeg. It's readily available today already ground, but a little harder to find in its whole form as "blades." Mrs. Randolph doesn't specify that it must be ground fresh from the blade.
Rolling butter in flour minimizes lumping of the flour, as the butter dispersed it while melting. The goal of adding the flour is to thicken the sauce. When it gets the right consistency, it's done.
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