Chapter 20 (Mrs. Dixon and Bettina’s Experiment)

Introduction

It’s D-Day—time for Mrs. Dixon to assume the role of homemaker AND spring the fact that she’s leased a house for a year on her husband.

Her plan of attack:

Step 1. Lure Mr. Dixon to the new house with an ominously vague phone call

Step 2. Ply him with hot coffee and muffins

Step 3. Reveal to him that the house he’s now sitting in is theirs for the next twelve months

Quite a risky revelation for an early 20^th century woman to make—but with Cerano de Bettina lurking in the new kitchen everything is bound to work out!

Part 1

The Menu

Spanish Buns

White Sauce

What an odd choice of dishes—particularly on a day that, in Bettina’s world, is already full of surprises. Frankly I have no idea what the connection between buns and white sauce is…perhaps Mr. Dixon is supposed to dunk the first in the second to help get it down?

Spanish Buns

Well, we’ve seen these before, haven’t we? Mrs. Dixon certainly has and in fact wants to install Bettina in her new kitchen to conduct a crash course on how to make them.

I myself have mixed feeling about these buns/muffins—primarily because they require fresh currants, which are almost impossible to find in our area. Last time I resorted to rehydrated dried fruit, and the results weren’t terribly impressive. Despite a long soak in boiling water the currants were somehow reduced to crunchy specks during the baking process—not exactly appetizing.

But I’m willing to try again and this time will soak the fruit overnight. Will it help? I have no idea.

As always a large number of ingredients for a supposedly simple dish…

…and of course the sifter to give my hand a real workout.

So far so good. The batter looks perfect.

Add the currants, fill the muffin tray, and poke it into the oven.

Done, and they seem OK. No tunnels this time!

We’re currently in the midst of a heat wave, so I’m going to seal these in a self-locking container to keep them fresh for dinner.

Now for the icing. Simple enough: milk (should be cream, but as I forgot to buy any and milk will have to suffice), powdered sugar, and vanilla

My, this looks thin. It’s either caused by substituting milk instead of cream or the terrible heat in the kitchen…maybe both.

White Sauce [X4]

Four, count ‘em, FOUR different white sauces to make on this very hot day. I’m not pleased, Bettina.

The prep for all four is exactly the same—only the ratio of butter to flour varies from sauce to sauce.

White sauce #1 (for soup)

Melt the butter (in this version 1 tablespoon)

Add flour (1 tablespoon) plus ¼ teaspoon salt

Mix until smooth and then add milk (1 cup)

“Bring to a boil, stirring constantly”

Finished [fanfare of trumpets]

White Sauce #2 (for creamed vegetables and fish)

Melt the butter (2 tablespoons), add flour (2 tablespoons) and salt, mix, add milk, and bring to a boil.

This sauce looks very similar to the last, but it’s definitely thicker.

White Sauce #3 (“for oyster or other patties”)

Melt the butter (now up to 3 tablespoons), add flour (also 3) and salt, milk, and boil. *yawn*

For some reason this sauce lumped up on me numerous times. I had to keep taking it off the heat and beating it smooth with a whisk.

White Sauce #4 (for croquettes, also known as a “binding” white sauce--edible glue, in other words)

Now this sauce is different. The higher ration of flour (4 tablespoons) to butter (3 tablespoons) makes it a cinch to burn

Much better.

This isn’t glue but spackle--probably could use it to plug nail holes in the walls.

The four sauces

The “run” test. Sauces 1 through 4, left to right

Done. Halleluiah.

Now what am I going to do with four cups of sauce (besides hiding it in the back of the fridge)?

How It Looked

I didn’t get a final snap of the sauces as they never made it to the table, but here’s a mugshot of the Spanish buns.