GARLIC SAUCE

2 cloves garlic
1 tbs. butter, softened
1/2 pint liquid: either melted butter OR beef stock OR garlic vinegar

Pound two cloves of garlic with a piece of fresh butter, about as big as a nutmeg; rub it through a double-hair sieve, and stir it into half a pint of melted butter, or beef gravy, or make it with garlic vinegar.

From The Cook's Oracle by William Kitchiner, New York, 1832

Comment: This is a triple-threat sauce depending on which of Dr. Kitchiner's options you use to finish it. The butter-butter option would seem intended for seafood; the garlic-beef gravy choice for a steak or a dish made with the previous day's leftover meat; and the garlic-vinegar would go well in a salad dressing. We like Dr. K's work largely because he confirms our belief that one can never have too much garlic, nor too many uses to which it can be applied. Except ice cream. That would probably not be good. Put that into the exception-to-every-rule file.

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