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Tomato Sauce III
1/4 cup butter Sprig of parsley 1 slice carrot 1 cup stewed and strained tomatoes 1 slice onion Bit of bay leaf 1 cup Brown Stock Sprig of thyme Salt and pepper 1/4 cup flour Brown the butter with carrot, onion, bay leaf, thyme, and parsley; remove seasonings, add flour, stir until well browned, then add tomatoes and stock. Bring to boiling-point, and strain.
A classic brown roux-based tomato sauce — an espagnole with tomato rather than a fresh tomato sauce. It takes about 20 minutes and yields roughly 1 3/4 cups.
- The hinge: brown the flour properlyMuch of the colour and flavour comes from cooking the butter and then the flour to a genuine nut-brown, which takes several minutes of near-constant stirring over moderate heat. Stop short of that and the sauce tastes pasty; push past it and the burnt flour turns bitter and loses thickening power.
- Brown StockBeef, or beef and veal, browned before simmering; the capitalisation points to a Brown Stock recipe elsewhere in the same book. A good unsalted beef stock, or a demi-glace diluted to stock strength, stands in; avoid heavily salted cubes, since the sauce is strained and seasoned separately.
- Stewed and strained tomatoesTomatoes cooked down and pushed through a sieve to remove skin and seed; canned tomatoes were also in common household use by this period. A cup of canned crushed tomatoes or passata put through a fine strainer gives the same thing.
- The aromatics are flavouring onlyThe single slices of carrot and onion, the sprigs and the bit of bay leaf are steeped in the butter and then lifted out before the flour goes in. They are not meant to remain in the finished sauce, which is strained again at the end.
- Butter and flour by volumeA quarter cup of butter is 4 tablespoons or about 2 oz; a quarter cup of flour is about 1 1/4 oz. Equal volumes give a fairly firm sauce — thin with a little extra stock if you want it to nap rather than coat.
- Watch for lumps at the liquid stageAdd the tomatoes and stock a little at a time, whisking, and let each addition come together before the next. Cold liquid into a hot dark roux seizes readily.
- ServingSuits broiled or pan-fried meats, cutlets and croquettes; the recipe itself does not say. Salt and pepper are listed among the ingredients and can be adjusted after straining.