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Creamed Mushrooms
Trim and rub off a half pint of button mushrooms. Rub together 2 tablespoonfuls of butter and 1 of flour; cook this in a saucepan until smooth, but not colored; put in the mushrooms, add half a teaspoonful of salt, 1/4 teaspoonful of white pepper, and 1/2 a teaspoonful of powdered sugar, 1/2 a teaspoonful of very finely minced parsley. Cook ten minutes, stirring often. Beat the yolks of 2 eggs, add 1/4 cupful of cream, and add gradually to the mushrooms, stirring all the time. Cook two minutes and serve on a hot platter garnished with small potato croquettes, or on hot rounds of buttered toast.
A small mushroom fricassee thickened first with a butter-and-flour roux and finished with an egg-and-cream liaison. The finish is the hinge: once the yolks go in, the pan must stay below a simmer.
- Never boil after the yolksAdd the yolk-and-cream mixture off the heat, then return the pan to the lowest setting for the final two minutes. If it reaches a simmer the yolks will scramble and the sauce will break into grains.
- Half a pint of mushroomsThis is a volume measure: one cup of whole buttons, perhaps 3 ounces by weight. Enough for two as a side dish, or one on toast.
- "Trim and rub off"Period cooks peeled the caps of cultivated buttons by rubbing the skin away with a cloth and a little salt. Modern mushrooms are cleaner; wipe them with a damp cloth, trim the stem ends, and leave the skin on.
- The sauce has no added liquidThe roux is thinned only by the water the mushrooms give off, which will be a few tablespoons at most. Expect something very thick after ten minutes; loosen it with a spoonful or two of milk or light stock before the yolks go in.
- Powdered sugarIn books of this period the term usually means finely ground granulated sugar rather than today's cornstarch-laden confectioners' sugar. Half a teaspoon of ordinary sugar does the same job of rounding out the mushrooms.
- Cook the roux, don't brown itTwo to three minutes over moderate heat is enough to lose the raw flour taste. Any color at all changes the character of what is meant to be a pale white sauce.
- White pepper for a reasonIt was chosen so no dark flecks show in a white sauce. Black pepper will do the job of seasoning, though it both looks different and tastes different.
- ServingToast rounds are the practical option. Have them buttered and hot before the yolks go into the pan, since the sauce will not stand for long and must not be reheated.