Puree of Peas

A plain béchamel-bound pea purée, of the sort that stood in for a vegetable side or a soup base before food mills and blenders. The instructions are terse but complete once you know what "dredge through a sieve" means.

• Dredge through a sieveThis means press the cooked peas through a fine sieve with the back of a spoon or a wooden pestle, forcing the pulp through and leaving the skins behind. A food mill with a fine plate does the same job faster; a blender or processor will purée the skins in as well, giving a coarser, slightly gritty result.
• Quantity of peasThe original leans on "the previous recipe" and gives no weight. The small amount of sauce here would suit something on the order of 2 lb of peas in the pod, or about 2 cups shelled, giving perhaps four modest servings -- but this is an editorial estimate, not a figure the recipe supplies.
• The half-and-half"3/4 cupful of 1/2 milk and 1/2 cream" means three-quarters of a cup total, made up of equal parts milk and cream. Modern half-and-half is a reasonable substitute, though a mixture made with today's heavy cream will come out richer.
• Cook the flourStir the flour into the melted butter and let it bubble a minute or two before any liquid goes in, otherwise the purée carries a raw, pasty taste. Add the milk and cream gradually and off the boil to keep it smooth.
• ConsistencyCombine the hot sauce with the hot pea pulp; if the mixture is stiffer than you want, thin it with a little more milk or with the pea cooking water. "Beat until very light" simply means whisk it vigorously over low heat until it is glossy and aerated.
• Boiling the peasFresh young peas need 3 to 8 minutes in salted water depending on size, not the long boil older books often assume. Frozen peas work well here and need only a few minutes.
• SeasoningSalt and pepper are all the original allows. A little sugar, a scrape of nutmeg, or a few mint leaves cooked with the peas are period-appropriate and lift a purée that can otherwise taste flat.