Sauces are numerous, although less so than are soups, for each must have a real and distinct quality, to which it owes its existence, and is required to impart to some article of food for which additional flavour is desired. It may be said that there are but two chief foundation sauces, or "mother-sauces," as the French term them, a brown sauce termed Espagnole, and a white one named Veloute, or Allemande. Bechamel is reckoned as a "sauce mere" also by some, but it is merely a variety of Veloute with an addition of cream, making the sauce richer; while Allemande differs chiefly by the addition of of Gouffe before referred to. But it may, perhaps, be a little out of date in some details, although the leading principles must remain unchanged, and it is still an admirable guide to practice. For the purposes of the best English kitchens, "La Cuisine d'Aujourd'hui," by Urbain Dubois, E. Dentu, Paris, 1889, pp. 760, is a storehouse of trustworthy information, and it is well illustrated. Price 12 francs. But for a modern encyclopaedic work on the subject, including la haute cuisine, the following, by Dubois and Bernard conjointly, is beyond question the most complete: "Cuisine classique : Etudes raisonnees et demonstratives de l'Ecole Francaise;" deux grands volumes, 77 planches gravees; Dubois et Bernard. 14 edition. E. Dentu, Paris. Prix 40 francs.

Since the last edition of this work appeared, a useful epitome of the subject has been made in a small and handy volume which should be in the hands of any mistress who desires to understand it, and is an excellent guide for the cook who has not been practically or systematically taught. It is entitled, "A Book of Sauces," by Mrs. Beaty Pownall. Chapman & Hall: 1896.

Only two reallyfounda - tion sauces: " Espagnole " and " Veloute," or "Allemande." yolks of eggs and a little butter. These have been well called the Adam and Eve of cookery, whence most others have sprung.* For each of these there is a leason (liason), or thickening, in order to bind the elements together and give body to the sauce, known now more commonly as brown and white roux respectively. And here again one marks the presence of that potent quality before referred to, as the taste of the fire. For Espagnole demands not only a beef-stock but a proportion of smoked ham to insure the flavour in question; and its brown thickening is made by slowly heating flour until it is partially carbonized, and therefore browned by the fire being slowly heated, together with fine clarified butter, which becomes nut-brown in the process, and both impart a fine roasting flavour to the same. But the slightest burning of the butter is fatal, and is avoided only by making the process of heating a slow one, and carefully stirring the mixture in an enamelled saucepan constantly over a small gas ring - at any rate, not over a hot cinder fire.

* It appears to me quite unnecessary to recognize more than one brown "foundation sauce," viz. the Espagnole, in which the flavour of smoked ham is a necessary ingredient. A so-called "brown sauce" without it is only an ordinary glaze, a reduced consomme thickened with brown roux, and ranks only as a secondary variety of the above. The adoption of but one brown and one white leading foundation sauce will be appreciated by all practical cooks.

White and brown roux.

Flavour of the fire.