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MONTPELLIER BUTTER (Beurre de Montpellier)

Take equal quantities (about a handful of each) of tarragon, chervil, and pimpernel, together with a small quantity of chives, and place them in boiling water to blanch. Then remove them, allow them to cool, and drain off all the water adhering to them. Then dry them on a cloth, and compress them to remove all moisture. Now place them in a mortar, with a clove of garlic, a handful of capers, the yolks of eight eggs boiled hard, the same number of anchovies, and some gherkins. Beat them together for five minutes, and then add one pound of good butter; season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and again beat them up together until perfectly mixed, a wine-glassful of the finest olive-oil being added during the process. When well mixed, pour on it, by little and little, a quart of vinaigre a l'estragon (vinegar flavoured with tarragon). Colour the preparation with the green colouring prepared from spinach-leaves. When the whole is thoroughly mixed, remove it from the mortar, and place it in a suitable vessel for sending to table.