Home › The Principles of Cookery › Sauce, Mirepoix, or Essence of Vegetables, for Flavouring

Sauce, Mirepoix, or Essence of Vegetables, for Flavouring

When stock is already prepared for sauce, and it requires flavouring, proceed as follows. Take a sliced carrot, a sliced onion, two sticks of celery cut small, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, and a bay-leaf, together with a shallot and an inch or two of raw ham or baconrind, if these are at hand. Dissolve a slice of fresh butter in a saucepan, and stir the above ingredients briskly in the butter over a sharp fire until they become brightly browned. Pour in as much stock as will cover them, and simmer gently. Add pepper and a little spice, if required. A glass of wine may be stirred in or not. When the preparation is pleasantly and rather strongly flavoured, strain it off for use. A larger quantity may be made than is needed for present use. If put in a cool place, it will keep for some days in cool weather. Time to simmer the flavouring, twenty to thirty minutes.