Red Currant or Raspberry Sauce (Good)

Instructions

1. Measure half a pint of sound red currants after they have been stripped from the stalks; wash them, should they be dusty, and drain all the water from them.
2. Have ready a syrup, made with three ounces of sugar in lumps, and the third of a pint of water, boiled gently together for five minutes.
3. Put in the currants, and stew them for ten minutes.
4. Strain off the juice, of which there will be nearly or quite half a pint, through a lawn sieve or folded muslin.
5. Heat it afresh, and pour it boiling to a small spoonful of arrow-root which has been very smoothly mixed with a tablespoonful of cold water, being careful to stir it briskly while the juice is being added.
6. Give the sauce a minute's boil to render it transparent, and mask the pudding with it (or, in other words, pour it equally over it, so as to cover the entire surface); or serve it in a tureen.
7. A few raspberries may be added in their season, to flavour this preparation; but if quite ripe, they must be thrown into the syrup without having been washed, two or three minutes after the currants have been put into it.
8. A delicious sauce may be made entirely from raspberries as above, allowing a larger proportion of the fruit, as it yields less juice than the currant.
9. The proportions directed in this receipt are quite sufficient for a pudding of moderate size, but they can easily be increased when required.