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Neapolitan Sauce
Take one ounce of lean ham, mince it finely, and put it into a small stewpan with a quarter of a pint of thickened brown sauce, four table-spoonfuls of stock, a glassful of claret, one table-spoonful of Harvey's sauce, two table-spoonfuls of red currant jelly, one table-spoonful of grated horse-radish, two shallots, a bay-leaf, half a tea-spoonful of powdered thyme, one clove, an inch of mace, and a dozen peppercorns. Simmer gently for twenty minutes; strain, and serve. Probable cost, 8d. Sufficient for six or seven persons.
A Victorian game sauce rather than anything tomato-based: sweet, sharp and aromatic, built on a spoonful or two of finished espagnole. It makes only a small quantity, meant to be spooned beside venison or hare rather than poured over pasta.
- Thickened brown sauceThis means espagnole or a well-reduced brown stock thickened with a brown roux. A quarter of an imperial pint is 5 fl oz, a little under two-thirds of a US cup; the four tablespoons of stock bring it to roughly seven-eighths of a cup of liquid base.
- A glassful of claretClaret is red Bordeaux, and a wine glass in this period runs 2 to 3 fl oz. Any dry, moderately tannic red works; avoid anything oaky or jammy, as the currant jelly already supplies the sweetness.
- Harvey's sauceA commercial bottled condiment of the period, anchovy-based with soy, vinegar, garlic and spice. It is no longer widely sold; Worcestershire sauce is the closest surviving relative and can be used measure for measure.
- An inch of maceA piece of blade mace, the lacy outer covering of nutmeg, not the ground powder. If only ground mace is available use a scant pinch, since it will not be strained out and turns bitter in quantity.
- Horse-radishFresh grated root, not the creamed jarred kind. Its heat is volatile and largely cooks off in twenty minutes, leaving a pungent bass note rather than a bite; grate it directly into the pan.
- The hingeSimmer gently and keep it barely trembling. A hard boil drives off the wine's aromatics and reduces the small volume to a sticky glaze before the ham and shallot have given up their flavour.
- StrainingEverything solid is discarded, so there is no need to mince the ham as finely as the text asks or to peel the shallots beyond halving them. Press the debris firmly in the sieve to recover the liquid it holds.
- YieldPerhaps a cup of finished sauce after straining, depending on how much reduces away. Six or seven servings is realistic only as a condiment beside roast game, venison, hare or duck, at a tablespoon or so each.
Despite the name, this belongs to the family of sweet-sharp brown sauces the nineteenth century built for game, of which Cumberland and poivrade are the better-known survivors: red currant jelly for sweetness, wine and a bottled sauce for acidity and salt, horse-radish and spice for pungency, all carried on espagnole. A sauce napolitaine along these lines appears in the French classical repertoire as well, and the Neapolitan attribution is generally treated as conventional rather than documented; there is nothing recognisably southern Italian about ham, claret and currant jelly. What the recipe does record precisely is the economy of a well-run Victorian kitchen, where a quarter-pint of yesterday's brown sauce, an ounce of ham trimming and a glass of wine were turned into a dish for seven at a stated cost of eightpence. Cassell's habit of pricing every receipt was aimed squarely at the household with a cook and a budget to answer for.