Sauces Continued..........

DISHES USING WHITE SAUCE AS A BASE:

Bacon Gravy over Boiled Potatoes- slice bacon in thin pieces, fry and set aside, use drippings for fat in white sauce, add bacon bits back in when sauce has thickened.
Sausage Gravy over Baking Powder Biscuits- add browned sausage and maybe some onion.
Welsh Rarebit- white sauce or cheese sauce over toast.
Buck Rarebit- white sauce over toast and egg.
Macaroni and Cheese- add your choice of cheeses, cooked macaroni and serve as is or top with buttered bread crumbs and bake 20-30 min.
Creamed Peas and Baby Red Potatoes- just add some cooked peas and baby potatoes…it’s to die for!
Chicken Pot Pie- add cooked veggies, cubed cooked chicken and pour into a pie shell, add pastry top and bake.
Chicken a la King- add sautéed onions and green peppers, cubed cooked chicken and pimentos and serve over rice.
Chocolate Gravy over Biscuits- a southern breakfast favorite, add sugar and cocoa.
Potato Soup- add potatoes, carrots, onion, and cheese whiz.
Chowders- corn chowder, clam chowder, etc.
Beef Stroganoff- brown beef slices or hamburger and onion, remove from pan and use drippings to make the sauce, return beef and add some sour cream. May use beef stock for part of the liquid. May also add mushrooms.
Swiss Steak- tenderize round steak pieces by pounding in flour, brown in oil, remove browned meat and use drippings to make sauce, return steak, simmer. Serve over noodles.
Enchiladas- add sour cream and green chilies, maybe some cilantro, chopped olives or whatever you like to white sauce. Mix in some cubed cooked chicken into part of this sauce and place a small amount in center of each flour tortilla, roll, and place side by side in baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over the top and bake.




This section is from the book "The American Woman's Cook Book", by Ruth Berolzheimer.
Thickening Power Of Flour Or Corn-Starch
This is one of the most important things for a good cook to know. If the cook can tell how much flour or corn-starch to use to make sauces or pastes of any desired thickness, and knows how to mix and cook these sauces and pastes to make them smooth, velvety and fine in flavor, he or she has learned one of the hardest cooking lessons and is in possession of information that will help in making a great variety of dishes.
With Each Cup Of Liquid:
1/2 tablespoon flour or Makes a very thin sauce, which may be used in making thin cream soups.

1/2 teaspoon corn-starch
1 tablespoon flour or Makes a thin sauce, which may be used in making cream soups of aver-age thickness.
1 teaspoon corn-starch
2 tablespoons flour or Makes a medium sauce, which may be used for creamed meats or vegetables, scalloped dishes, gravies or other sauces where a medium thickness is desired. It has about the thickness of heavy cream.
2 teaspoons corn-starch
3 tablespoons flour or Makes a thick sauce, which may be used for creamed meats or vegetables, scalloped dishes, gravies or sauces where a thick sauce is desired. A sauce containing this amount of flour has considerable body and spreads rather than runs.
1 tablespoon corn-starch
4 tablespoons flour or Makes a paste when cold. This sauce may be used in making mixtures for croquettes, soufflés, blanc mange’s and similar puddings.

4 teaspoons corn-starch
When the Liquid Used is Milk, use a little more milk or a little less starch than for a water sauce, because milk already contains about 12 per cent, solids.
When the Liquid Used is Acid, as vinegar, a fruit-juice or tomatoes, the hot acid acts on the starch and gradually changes it, just as dry heat does, to dextrin. Dextrin has not the thickening power of starch. Therefore, when an acid liquid is to be thickened, more of the thickening agent may be needed, and the time for cooking may be shortened. No statement can be made as to exact differences because acids differ greatly in strength.
Corn-starch Requires Longer Cooking Than Flour, and a quickly cooked corn-starch mixture always has a raw taste.
If a Sauce is Too Thick, it can be thinned without trouble by adding more liquid.
If a Sauce is Too Thin, it must be thickened by adding more of the thickening agent and by recooking it. A starchy sauce or a cream soup is always thinner when hot than when cold. Even the amount of cooling which occurs in transferring a starchy sauce, gravy or soup from the cooking utensil to the serving dish perceptibly thickens it. This must be taken into account in making creamed dishes of various kinds.
If a Sauce is Lumpy, because proper precautions have not been taken in mixing and cooking the thickening agent with the liquid, the sauce should be strained; but such a sauce never has the creamy, smooth texture of a well-made one.

This section is from the book "The American Woman's Cook Book", by Ruth Berolzheimer.
Methods Of Combining Flour Or Corn-Starch With Liquids
When Little or No Fat is Used - Heat three-fourths of the liquid. Stir the remainder of the liquid gradually into the thickening agent. If sugar is used it may be mixed with the thickening agent before the liquid is stirred in or added to the sauce after the thickening is completed. Stir into the thickening agent at first only enough of the cold liquid to make a thick batter. Beat this batter until smooth and free from lumps, then add the rest of the cold liquid. The mixture should be about as thick as medium cream. Beat this gradually into the hot liquid and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened. If fat is used, it may be added at this time. After thickening, the sauce may be cooked in a covered double boiler with occasional stirring.
When Amount of Fat Equals or Exceeds Amount of Thickening Agent - Melt the fat, add the flour or corn-starch and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly blended. This is called a roux. Stir in the liquid, a little at first, then immediately enough to thin the roux perceptibly and finally the remainder. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick. Complete cooking in a double boiler, stirring occasionally.
Or
Heat the liquid; cream together the fat and thickening agent; add this modification of roux to the hot liquid and stir constantly while the fat melts and the particles of flour or cornstarch are being spread through the liquid and cooked. Complete cooking in a double boiler, stirring occasionally.

This section is from the book "The American Woman's Cook Book", by Ruth Berolzheimer.
Dishes That Have A Sauce Foundation
A variety of dishes can be made by a person who is familiar with the thickening power of flour and corn-starch and with methods of combining them into sauces. There are two foundation sauces:
A White Sauce is one made from milk or white stock or part of each, thickened with plain flour or corn-starch.
A Brown Sauce is one made from milk or water or brown stock and thickened with browned flour or part browned and part plain flour or corn-starch.
The following typical dishes have a sauce foundation:
Cheese Sauce - To each cup white sauce of desired consistency, add 1/4 cup shaved, grated or crumbled cheese and stir until cheese is melted.
Cream Soups, Purees and Bisques - To each cup of very thin or thin white sauce, add 2 cups of vegetable, meat or fish pulp.
Creamed Dishes - To each cup of medium or medium to thick white sauce, add 1 to 1 1/2 cups vegetables, meat, fish or hard-cooked eggs cut in pieces.
Scalloped Dishes - To each cup of medium to thick white sauce, add 1 to 2 cups cooked vegetables, meat, fish, hard-cooked eggs, cooked macaroni or rice; put into a baking dish, sprinkle with buttered crumbs and bake until brown.
Croquette Mixtures - The foundation of most croquettes is white sauce or brown sauce. When this type of croquette is made, to each cup of very thick sauce use 1 to 2 cups of finely divided cooked meat, fish, hard-cooked eggs or vegetables. When the mixture is cold, it will easily shape into croquettes.
Soufflé Mixtures - Many soufflés are made from a foundation of thick or very thick white sauce to which is added some seasoning or flavor such as cheese, vanilla, sugar, or some chopped food and raw egg-yolk. Beaten egg-white is folded in and the mixture is ready to pour into a baking-dish. All soufflés are baked with the containing dish standing in hot water. With knowledge of white sauce and egg cookery, soufflés are very simple to make. No attempt is being made to give at this point complete directions for making soufflés, but only to show how knowledge of one part of cooking will help in the making of many dishes and will make the whole problem of cooking simpler and more interesting. The most common soufflés having a white sauce foundation are:
Cheese Soufflé - To each cup of thick to very thick white sauce, add 3/4 cup grated cheese, 2 egg-yolks and seasoning. Cook until the cheese is melted. Then fold in the beaten egg-whites, and the soufflé is ready to bake.
Meat or Fish Soufflé - To each cup thick to very thick white sauce add 1 cup minced meat or vegetable, 3 egg-yolks, and the beaten whites of 3 eggs and bake for thirty minutes at 375° F.
Chocolate Soufflé - To each cup thick white sauce, add 2 ounces grated chocolate, 1/3 cup sugar, and 3 egg-yolks; cook until the chocolate is melted. Fold in the beaten whites of 3 eggs and bake for thirty minutes at 375° F.
Vanilla Soufflé - To each cup very thick white sauce, add 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 2 to 3 egg-yolks. Fold in beaten whites of 2 to 3 eggs and bake for thirty minutes at 375° F.