Modern cookery for private families

of them at little cost, when they are not required for other uses. To deepen the colour of gravies, the thick mushroom _pressings_ of Chapter VII., or a little soy (when its flavour is admissible), or cavice [TN: illegible], or Harvey’s sauce, may be added to it; and for some dishes, a glass of claret, or of port wine. Vermicelli, or rasped cocoa-nut, lightly, and _very_ gently browned in a small quantity of butter, will both thicken and enrich them, if about an ounce of either to the pint of gravy be stewed gently in it, from half an hour to an hour, and then strained out. All the ingredients indicated at page 4, for giving consistency to soups, will answer equally for gravies, which should not, however, be too much thickened, particularly with the unwholesome mixture of flour and butter, so commonly used for the purpose. Arrow-root or rice-flour, or common flour gradually browned in a slow oven, are much better suited to a delicate stomach. No particle of fat should ever be perceptible upon them when they are sent to table; and when it cannot be removed by skimming, they should be allowed to become sufficiently cold for it to congeal, and be taken off at once without trouble. It may be cleared from such as have not been thickened by passing them through a closely woven cloth, which has previously been laid into, and well wrung from, some cold water. JEWISH SMOKED BEEF. (_Extremely useful for giving flavour to soup and gravy._) This beef, of which we have more fully spoken in Chapter XXXIV.[TN: chapter missing], imparts a remarkably fine flavour to soup or gravy; but great care must be taken in using it to cut _quite away_ all the external parts which have been discoloured in the drying: the whole of the surface, indeed, should be rather thickly pared off, or it will give a _smoky_ taste to the gravy. An ounce or two of the lean thus cleared from the outsides and from all skin and fat, and divided first into thick slices, and then