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Spanish Sauce, Highly Flavoured

Dissolve a thick slice of fresh butter in a saucepan, and throw into it a quarter of a pound of lean ham cut into dice, four sliced shallots, a dozen mushrooms cleaned and cut small, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, a dozen peppercorns, half a blade of mace, and three cloves. Stir these ingredients over a gentle fire till a red tinge appears round the inside of the saucepan. Add gradually a pint of clear stock, and simmer the sauce gently for three-quarters of an hour. Carefully remove the scum as it rises. Strain the sauce, add cayenne and salt if necessary, and thicken with a little brown thickening. Let it simmer again, that it may throw up the fat, and carefully remove this till no more appears. A few minutes before the sauce is to be served stir into it a wine-glassful of sherry or Madeira. Time, altogether, about an hour and a quarter. Probable cost, 2s. per pint.