A Course of Lectures on the Principles of Domestic Economy and Cookery

from an hour to two hours, according to the tenderness of the meat in the beginning. When the meat is tender lay a clean towel in a colander, set over a bowl or an earthen jar, and pour the meat and broth directly into the colander. Let the broth run through the towel. If the meat has any particles of scum on it, wipe the pieces with a wet towel to remove the scum. You can, in making the stew, remove the scum as you would from clear soup, but in that case you have not quite so richly flavored a stew. The better way is to wipe off the little particles after you have taken up the meat. Now you have the meat cooked quite tender and the broth strained. Then you make the sauce. Any of the ladies who were at the lesson this morning and saw the white sauce made, will understand the principle upon which the sauce is made for the stew. Put a heaping tablespoonful of butter and a heaping tablespoonful of flour into a saucepan for the quantity of broth which you would be likely to have from about three pounds of meat; that would be broth enough to cover it. Stir the butter and flour until they are smoothly mixed; then begin to add the meat broth gradually until you have used enough of the broth to make the sauce like thick cream. If you find that you have not enough broth from the meat, add a little hot water, to make the sauce or gravy like thick cream; then put the meat into it. Season it palatably with salt and pepper, remembering that you already have some seasoning in it. Stir the meat in the saucepan over the fire until it is hot, and then serve it. That gives you a plain white stew of meat. You can transform that into a dish called in French cookery books _blanquette_, or white stew of meat, by adding to it just before you take it off the fire a tablespoonful of chopped parsley and