SHALOT OR ONION SAUCE (Sauce Ravigote)

Take a handful of sweet herbs and the same quantity of shalots or little onions, and cut them up small. Put them into a sauce-pan, with some vinegar, salt, pepper, and sufficient broth or warm water to cover them. Let them boil gently for a quarter of an hour. Take the sauce from the fire and set it on the stove, or on the hearth, and stir in (till it melts) a piece of butter rolled in flour, or a spoonful of olive oil.