aise any fat, &c. that is not thoroughly incorporated with
the gravy, which you must carefully remove as it comes to the top. This
is called cleansing, or finishing the sauce.

*.* Half an ounce of butter, and a table-spoonful of flour, are about
the proportion for a pint of sauce to make it as thick as cream.

N.B. The fat skimmings off the top of the broth pot are sometimes
substituted for butter (see No. 240); some cooks merely thicken their
soups and sauces with flour, as we have directed in No. 245, or potato
farina, No. 448.

_Clarified Butter._--(No. 259.)

Put the butter in a nice, clean stew-pan, over a very clear, slow fire;
watch it, and when it is melted, carefully skim off the buttermilk, &c.
which will swim on the top; let it stand a minute or two for the
impurities to sink to the bottom; then pour the clear butter through a
sieve into a clean basin, leaving the sediment at the bottom of the
stew-pan.

_Obs._ Butter thus purified will be as sweet as marrow, a very useful
covering for potted meats, &c., and for frying fish equal to the finest
Florence oil; for which purpose it is commonly used by Catholics, and
those whose religious tenets will not allow them to eat viands fried in
animal oil.

_Burnt Butter._--(No. 260.)

Put two ounces of fresh butter into a small frying-pan; when it becomes
a dark brown colour, add to it a table-spoonful and a half of good
vinegar, and a little pepper and salt.

_Obs._ This is used as sauce for boiled fish, or poached eggs.

_Oiled Butter._--(No. 260*.)

Put two ounces of fresh butter into a saucepan; set it at a distance
from the fire, so that it may melt gradually, till it comes to an oil;
and pour it off quietly from the dregs.

_Obs._ This will supply the place of olive oil; and by some is preferred
to it either for salads or frying.

_Parsley and Butter._--(No. 261.)

Wash some parsley very clean, and pick it carefully leaf by leaf; put a
tea-spoonful of salt into half a pint of boiling water: boil the parsley
about ten minutes; drain it on a sieve; mince it quite fine, and then
bruise it to a pulp.

The delicacy and excellence of this elegant and innocent relish depends
upon the parsley being minced very fine: put it into a sauce-boat, and
mix with it, by degrees, about half a pint of good melted butter (No.
256); only do not put so much flour to it, as the parsley will add to
its thickness: never pour parsley and butter over boiled things