MAITRE D'HOTEL SAUCE (HOT), to serve with Calf's Head, Boiled Eels, and different Fish

Ingredients

• 1 slice minced ham
• a few poultry-trimmings
• 2 shalots
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 bay-leaf
• 3/4 pint water
• 2 oz butter
• 1 dessertspoonful flour
• 1 heaped tablespoonful of chopped parsley
• salt
• pepper, and cayenne to taste
• the juice of 1/2 large lemon
• 1/4 teaspoonful pounded sugar

Instructions

1. Put at the bottom of a stewpan the minced ham, and over it the poultry-trimmings (if these are not at hand, veal should be substituted), with the shalots, garlic, and bay-leaf.
2. Pour in the water, and let the whole simmer gently for 1 hour, or until the liquor is reduced to a full 1/2 pint.
3. Then strain this gravy, put it in another saucepan, make a thickening of butter and flour in the above proportions, and stir it to the gravy over a nice clear fire, until it is perfectly smooth and rather thick, care being taken that the butter does not float on the surface.
4. Skim well, add the remaining ingredients, let the sauce gradually heat, but do not allow it to boil.
5. If this sauce is intended for an entrée, it is necessary to make it of a sufficient thickness, so that it may adhere to what it is meant to cover.