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Pepper, Salt, and Cayenne (Mince finely two peeled)
Mince finely two peeled shalots, put them in a stewpan with the strained juice of a lemon, the thin rind of a lemon, and that of an orange cut into fine Julienne strips (shreds). Add half a gill of water, and cook for ten minutes, then strain and return to the stewpan, adding a dessertspoonful of mixed mustard, half a gill of Marsala wine, half a gill of port wine, a pinch of ground ginger, two tablespoonfuls of red currant jelly, the juice of a lemon and an orange, and two tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Season with pepper and salt, also a pinch of cayenne. Boil up, strain, and serve cold with any kind of game or duck.
This is a Cumberland-style sauce, mistitled here by an indexing accident that caught the seasoning line rather than the dish name. Nothing in it is difficult, but the measurements are imperial and the ingredient names Victorian.
- Gills and spoonsAn imperial gill is 5 fl oz, so half a gill is 2 1/2 fl oz — about 1/3 cup less a spoonful. A Victorian dessertspoon is roughly 2 teaspoons.
- ShalotsModern shallots. Two of the small French kind, finely minced; if yours are the large banana type, one is plenty or the sauce turns oniony.
- Mixed mustardPrepared mustard made up from powder — English mustard paste is the closest thing on a shelf today. Not a grainy or sweetened mustard, which would muddy the finish.
- Count the citrusLemon juice is called for twice: once in the initial infusion and again at the end. You need two lemons and one orange in all, plus the pared rind of one of each.
- Julienne the rind thinlyPare only the coloured zest, no white pith, and cut it into hair-fine shreds. The first ten-minute simmer softens it; the recipe strains and discards the solids, though some later versions of this sauce keep the blanched shreds in the finished sauce for texture.
- The hinge: do not reduce itThe final mixture is only brought to the boil to melt the jelly and marry the wines. Prolonged boiling drives off the port and Marsala aromatics and leaves something closer to a glaze; it should stay pourable when cold.
- Red currant jellyGenuine redcurrant jelly, not cranberry sauce or a set preserve with fruit in it. It supplies both the sweetness and the light body — the sauce is never thickened with flour or starch.
- Serving and keepingYields around a pint and a half in cups (roughly 1 1/2 cups), enough for six to eight portions of the game or duck the recipe names. It sharpens as it sits and will keep for a week or two covered in the refrigerator.
Sauces of this pattern — port or Marsala, redcurrant jelly, mustard, shredded citrus rind and vinegar, served cold — became fixtures of late Victorian and Edwardian game cookery, and are generally grouped under the name Cumberland sauce, traditionally said to honour the Duke of Cumberland, though the attribution is not documented and the name appears in print only in the later nineteenth century. The logic is older than the label: sweet-sour fruit and spice with roast meat runs straight back to medieval English cookery, where sugar, vinegar and ginger were standard partners for venison and wildfowl. What marks this version as high-class cookery of its moment is the fortified wine, the fussy julienne of rind and the double straining, all of which assume a kitchen with staff and time. Its place among the cold sauces reflects how such food was eaten: game and duck went to the sideboard or the supper table, and the sauce had to hold its own at room temperature.