Recipes by Susan Clark: Bread Sauce; Creamed Onions

Susan Clark's Bread Sauce

3 cups milk
Stale bread, crusts removed (shredded to make 3 cups)
1 medium-sized onion, peeled and quartered
1/10 teaspoon mace
Good pinch of cayenne
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3 tablespoons butter

Simmer quartered onion in milk until tender. Break bread into small pieces, put in top of double boiler; strain milk over bread crumbs. Cover and soak 1 hour. Beat mixture with fork until smooth. Add seasonings, place top on lower part of boiler filled with boiling water. Cook about 20 minutes (or until very thick and smooth). Stir often, taste to correct seasonings. Serve very hot with bread pudding (stuffing), roast chicken, capon, turkey, grouse, pheasant or partridge. Serves 4.

Thoughts: Susan's bread sauce is the most classic of English sauces and considered the supreme test of the English cook. Cream is often used to enrich sauce and add flavor. Vary seasonings according to fowl and-or dressing. For example, use sage if roast chicken is smothered with pork sausage or dressing flavored with pork sausage.

Susan Clark's Creamed Onions

2 dozen pearl onions, peeled
Boiling salted water
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup light cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
Good pinch of paprika
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Cover onions with boiling salted water in saucepan. Cook slowly, uncovered, until onions are tender when tested with a fork. Drain; set aside. Melt butter in saucepan, gradually stir in flour until smooth. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes until smooth. Stir in light cream gradually. Continue cooking, stirring constantly until sauce is smooth and thick. Add seasonings. Pour over cooked hot onions. Makes four servings.