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RUSSIAN SAUCE (another way)
Take four spoonfuls of grated horse-radish; two tea-spoonfuls of made mustard, a salt-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful of sugar, and as much vinegar as will just cover the ingredients. This is a good sauce for all kinds of cold meat, and when added to melted butter makes a good fish sauce.
A cold horseradish relish rather than a cooked sauce, and it comes together in five minutes. Two things in the text need translating: the spoon sizes, and what a Victorian cook meant by "melted butter".
- "Melted butter" is not melted butterIn nineteenth-century English cookery this is the standard flour-and-butter white sauce, roughly 1 oz butter, 1 oz flour and half a pint of water or fish stock. Stirring the horseradish mixture into plain liquid butter will give you a greasy split mess; stir it into a thickened sauce off the heat instead.
- Spoon sizesAn unqualified "spoonful" in Victorian receipts generally means a tablespoon, so "four spoonfuls" is likely about 1/4 cup of grated horseradish. A salt-spoonful is a quarter teaspoon. The vinegar is left unmeasured — add it a little at a time until the solids are just submerged, which will take roughly 2 to 3 tablespoons.
- Made mustard"Made" mustard is mustard powder already mixed with water or vinegar, i.e. any ordinary prepared mustard. English mustard is closest to what the book assumes; Dijon works and is milder.
- Fresh horseradish versus the jarThe recipe assumes a root grated on the spot. Jarred horseradish is already packed in vinegar, so drain it and cut the added vinegar back sharply or the sauce will be thin and sour. Grate fresh root at arm's length or in a food processor with the lid on — the volatile oils are far harsher on the eyes than onion.
- Vinegar choicePlain malt or cider vinegar suits the Victorian palate here. A wine vinegar is fine; anything sweetened or balsamic will fight the sugar already in the mixture.
- Let it stand, but not too longTwenty minutes at room temperature lets the salt and sugar draw out the horseradish. Beyond a few days in the fridge the heat fades noticeably, so make it in small batches.
- YieldAbout half a cup, enough for six to eight people alongside cold beef or tongue.
Horseradish has been the standing partner to boiled and cold beef in Britain since at least the seventeenth century, but attaching the name "Russian" to a sauce is often said to have been a Victorian habit more than a Russian one — it signalled the sharp, root-based relishes of northern and eastern Europe, where grated horseradish (khren) is served with cold meat, sausage and fish, often cut with beetroot or soured cream. Cassell's gives more than one version under the same title, which suggests the label was descriptive of a style rather than a fixed formula. Its place in this book is practical: a large Victorian household ate a great deal of cold meat from the previous day's joint, and a jar of something pungent on the sideboard was what made that palatable.