The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-19

NHE old story. which am sure I
 have told to you before on several
 occasions. constantly recurs to me
 of the Frenchman traveiing in Great
 Britain who lamented: Thirty seven religions have found in England and but one gravyl'''
 wonder what he would have said after atour of the average homes of the United Etatesi
 Perhaps we have moro sauces than he discovered among the English. Mint eauoe most of us take for granted with roast lamb; tomato sauoe has its place on many tables; drawn butter is tolerably familiar to the majority. Yet I have known numerous homes in which the only sauce or gravy which ever appeared was that made from the dripping from a roast Of meat and thickened with unbrowned hour-a thin, pale compound which soms persons of incomprehensibie taste chose to use to deluge mashed potatoes.
 Of course I am not counting the gravy which is made with fricasseed chicken and other stews. This can hardly be reckoned a sauce, since usually if is only the liquor in which the meat was cooked with such seasoning as this demanded and once in A while a trile of thickening.
 Sauces as they may be compounded by persons who take the pains to learn the few and simple rudiments of their prepa- ration and who appreciate the value of siich adjuncts in rendering plain meal appctizing are not sufficiently familiar to American housekeepers. The general cook or maid of all work shrinks from them as from something mysterious and asserts that they have no place in what She calls plain cooking.
 Yet they arc easily made and valuable as means of using left-overs and im- parting tempting flavor to simple foods. Those for which I give directions below are not hard to learn nor are they ex- pensive. Where butter is advocated good dripping may be substituted, and chicken Tat Is in many cases even better than butter. The dripping from roast beef. veal, etc, should always be saved and clarified and will save many a penny to the woman who has to watch her ex- penses closely. The cost of plain roast and broiled " is greater than that of ths less choice cuts of meat, and with the ad- 1ition of sa' qe the latter are as savory as the high D ;icAd pieces.
 III Huultion 10 the Sav0ry sauces give A few directions for sauces for buildings and other sweet dishes. Variety is agree- able here also, and a run on hard sauce of sugar and butter which seems to limit the abilities of many plain cooks, partakes of monotony. A little change will now and then be welcome.
 BROWN GRAVY.
 If I put brown gravy first it is because of the possibilities of the gravy served with roast and boiled meat and the fact that these are so seldom understood by even good housekeepers.
 To make this in the simplest fashion when you have a roast of beef the meat should be transferred to a hot plate and most of the fat left in the pan poured off into small bowl or dish Only about a tablespoonful should remain in the pan, and to this must be added a heaplng tablespoon of Drowned flour. Never uss the plain white flour: it makes most un- attractive gravy and the taste of it Is as unpleasing as the appearance.
 To brown the flour several tablespoon fuls should be put in a shallow tin and this set in the oven for few minutes,