Mint Sauce
Two tablespoonfuls of green mint, chopped fine; a tablespoonful of brown sugar (or more, according to taste); and not far from a tumblerful of vinegar.
A three-ingredient sauce whose only difficulty is the vagueness of its measures and the strength of its vinegar. Modern malt vinegar is considerably sharper than much of what a Victorian kitchen kept in the cruet.
- A tumblerfulAn ordinary Victorian drinking tumbler held roughly 8 to 10 fl oz, so figure on a cup or a little more. The recipe's own 'not far from' leaves the quantity loose, and the result is a thin, pourable sauce rather than a paste.
- The vinegar is the variableUndiluted malt vinegar at that volume will overwhelm two tablespoons of mint. Cut it with water, or use a milder cider or white wine vinegar, and taste before it goes near the lamb.
- Dissolve the sugar firstBrown sugar will not dissolve in cold vinegar quickly. Warm a few spoonfuls of the vinegar, stir the sugar into it until clear, then add the rest cold and the mint last so it keeps its colour.
- Chopping the mintChop by hand with a sharp knife; a food processor bruises the leaves and turns the sauce muddy and bitter. A pinch of the sugar on the board helps grip the leaves.
- Standing timeThe sauce wants at least half an hour, and is better after two, for the mint to give up its oil into the vinegar. It does not improve past the same day — the green goes drab.
- YieldAbout a cup, enough for six to eight servings alongside roast lamb. Serve it at room temperature in a small jug, not chilled.
Mint sauce with lamb is an English peculiarity that has puzzled continental cooks for centuries. The pairing is often traced to the medieval and early modern taste for sharp, sweetened herb sauces served with roast meat, of which verjuice and vinegar sauces were the common stock; mint simply outlasted its rivals in Britain. There is also a persistent tradition, more repeated than documented, that mint was encouraged as a lamb accompaniment to make older or stronger mutton palatable.