Navy Beans with Maître D’Hôtel Sauce

The remarkably simple maître d’hÔtel sauce was ubiquitous with plain vegetables and beans from the Victorian era onward. Butter, parsley, and lemon juice were some of the most common ingredients in cookery at this time, and country house kitchens like that at Downton regularly went through anything between three and fifteen pounds (1.4 and 6.8 kilograms) of butter a week (more at Christmas). Parsley was used as a green herb and fried as a garnish, and lemons were used both for flavor and in