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Horse-radish Sauce
Ingredients.
One gill of whipped Cream.
Two ounces of grated Horse-radish.
Salt, Pepper, mixed Mustard.
One tablespoonful of White Vinegar.
Mix together and serve.
A cold cream sauce that comes together in a minute; the only real decisions are the strength of the horseradish and how stiff the cream is.
- A gillIn a British book of this period a gill is 5 fluid ounces, roughly 150 ml or a scant two-thirds of a US cup. Whether the gill is measured before or after whipping is not clear from the wording; if measured after whipping it would represent roughly half that volume of liquid cream.
- Mixed mustard"Mixed" means mustard powder already made up with water into a paste, i.e. prepared English mustard. A teaspoon is plenty against two ounces of horseradish. No quantity is given, so season by taste.
- Two ounces of grated horseradishThat is about 55 g of freshly grated root, which makes a fiercely hot sauce. Bottled grated horseradish in vinegar can stand in, but drain it and reduce the added vinegar accordingly.
- Grating the rootFresh horseradish releases volatile compounds that sting the eyes worse than onion. Grate it in a well-ventilated spot, or pulse it in a processor and let the lid settle before opening.
- Order of mixingCombine the horseradish, vinegar, mustard and seasoning first, then fold that into the whipped cream, which keeps the cream from being knocked about. The vinegar also arrests the reaction that generates the horseradish's pungency, holding it before it fades.
- TimingGrated horseradish is at its sharpest soon after grating and loses pungency as it stands. Make the sauce not long before serving; it is best eaten the same day.
- Whipping stageSoft peaks rather than stiff, which leaves room to fold in the horseradish and vinegar without working the cream further.
- YieldSomewhere between three-quarters of a cup and a cup and a half, depending on whether the gill is measured before or after whipping; a condiment quantity for a joint of roast beef, cold meats or smoked fish.
Horseradish reached the English table as a condiment for beef by the seventeenth century, and by the Victorian era the pairing was well established. The creamed version is often said to have grown out of a plainer one: the grated root steeped in vinegar was probably the older, blunter form, while folding it into whipped cream softened the heat enough to suit a sauce boat at a formal table and to sit beside cold meats and fish as well as hot. Mustard and vinegar in the same bowl are doing double duty, adding their own bite and holding the horseradish's pungency, which is generated only when the root's cells are broken and which dissipates quickly in the open air.