Suppose you want to thicken some good stock-say No. 3 - to make some brown gravy. Take a tin, and place in it equal weights of butter and flour, or, perhaps, rather more of the latter. Put it in the oven, and, when the butter has melted, stir the flour well in, and mix it thoroughly together with a spoon. Let it bake till it gets a little brown on the top, then stir again, and continue baking and stirring till the mixture is of a nice, rather light-coloured, chocolate colour. This is brown thickening.

Then take a spoonful of this, and put it in the gravy, which should be boiling. Stir it up, and let it dissolve. This will thicken the gravy. Add gradually, so as not to get the gravy too thick.

The common mistake of cooks with thick soups and gravies is that they make them too thick. Throughout this book we shall use the expressions "as thick as milk,' " as thick as cream," "as thick as double-cream." I am speaking of good country milk, not London milk. Gravy - i.e., ordinary brown gravy for a roast fowl or roast turkey - should look the colour of chocolate, and be barely much thicker than milk - certainly not so thick as cream. The difference in the flavour of gravy thickened with brown thickening and plain flour and butter is the same difference as the crust of a fruit-pie before it is baked and afterwards - one nauseous, the other delicious. In fact, in both cases it is the question of butter and flour cooked in the one case and not in the other.

Whenever you use brown thickening, you must skim the gravy. (See Stock No. 4, or Greasy Stock).

White thickening is butter and flour baked, but taken out of the oven before it has turned colour. White thickening is used for all kinds of white soups and white sauces. These need not be skimmed, as the butter need not be removed.

Brown thickening will keep good for months; and, if you are in the habit of having thick soups and gravies often, it is a great saving of time and trouble to make it in some large quantity. When done, it can be put by in, say, some empty marmalade pots, and then you will have it by you at any moment, as it is very inconvenient constantly going to the oven. If necessary, you can make some small quantity in a frying-pan, but you must take care it does not burn; and, besides, you will have to keep scraping the bottom constantly. Therefore the frying-pan must be very clean.

The best method to make brown thickening to keep is to get an enamelled saucepan or stewpan (an enamelled one is best), and put in it, say, half a pound of butter to clarify: i.e., dissolve the butter till it is like oil; skim off the white scum, and pour the oiled butter into a clean basin, all except the milky dregs at the bottom. This is now clarified butter. Next, take rather more than half a pound of flour, thoroughly dried and carefully sifted. It is best to dry it in front of the fire on an old newspaper. Add the flour to the butter, which must be poured back into the clean saucepan or stewpan, and stand the stewpan on the fire, stirring the flour and butter to prevent its burning. A wooden spoon is best. You will want a tolerable amount of heat. Have ready on a plate a large slice of onion.

Keep stirring the mixture till the whole has turned a nice bright fawn colour. As soon as it begins to change colour, you must stir, if possible, more industriously than ever. When it is the colour we say, take the stewpan off the fire, and keep stirring for a minute, and then throw in the slice of onion, which will help to check the heat, besides imparting a nice flavour. You will find that the butter and flour will go on cooking for some time after you have taken the saucepan or stew-pan off the fire. Go on stirring till the mixture ceases to "frizzle." Take out the slice of onion, and put the brown thickening, in a hot state, into a jar. It will keep good for months, and, when cold, will cut and look like chocolate. If possible, always have some in the house. A spoonful of this, with a little stock No. 3, will make a rich brown gravy in two or three minutes.

Recollect always that the sauce will never get thicker till it has boiled.

It is cheaper to make brown thickening in large quantities than to thicken with a little butter and flour, made just when it is wanted. Cooks rarely guess the exact quantity, but, to make sure, make too much, use what they want, and alas ! too often throw the rest away.