Raisin Sauce

A quick stovetop sauce built on molasses and raisins, thickened at the end with cornstarch. The only step that can go wrong is the starch.

• "Diluted corn starch"This means a tablespoon of cornstarch stirred smooth into a little cold water before it goes in. Added dry it will seize into lumps that never disperse.
• Add the starch off the boilPull the pan back so the mixture is at a bare simmer, stir the slurry in, then return it to heat for a minute or two until it thickens and clears. Prolonged hard boiling after thickening breaks cornstarch down and the sauce thins again.
• MolassesUse unsulphured baking molasses rather than blackstrap, which is markedly more bitter and will overwhelm the raisins.
• "Fine seeded chopped raisins"Seeded meant the seeds had been removed, usually from large muscat-type raisins, by hand or with a seeding machine. Modern seedless raisins need only chopping; a cup and a half chopped is roughly 8 oz.
• CupfulAn ordinary 8 oz cup. The proportions here are forgiving, so small variation does no harm.
• Consistency"Creamy" means coating a spoon thickly, not stiff. It sets further as it cools, so stop while it still pours.
• Yield and servingSomething over two cups. A sauce of this kind was ladled over plain cake and boiled or steamed puddings.