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Horseradish Sauce
Add 3 tablespoons prepared horseradish and 1/4 teaspoon salt to 1 cup cream, whipped.
A cold whipped-cream horseradish sauce of the sort served with boiled beef, roast beef or poached salmon. The whole trick is in the folding and the moisture content of the horseradish.
- Drain the horseradish firstPrepared horseradish is packed in vinegar brine, and that liquid will slacken whipped cream within minutes. Press the 3 tablespoons in a fine sieve or squeeze in a paper towel before folding in.
- Cream to useBecause the recipe specifies the cream is whipped, it must be heavy or whipping cream (roughly 30-40% fat). Half-and-half and light cream will not hold a peak.
- Whip to soft peaks, not stiffThe cup is measured before whipping, so expect about 2 cups of volume. Stop while the cream still slumps slightly, then fold the horseradish and salt in by hand with a spatula so it does not break to butter.
- Yield and servingAbout 2 cups once whipped. Serve it cold; heating whipped cream will cause it to separate, and heat also drives off the horseradish's pungency.
- TimingBest within an hour or two of making. It can sit covered in the refrigerator for a few hours, but expect some weeping and a brief refolding before it goes to the table.
- Adjusting sharpnessPrepared horseradish varies enormously in strength between brands and with age in the jar. Taste after folding and add a spoonful more if the heat has been muted, rather than trusting the figure blindly.
Horseradish beaten into cream is a long-standing way to tame a root that is punishing on its own: the fat blunts the volatile mustard oils that make grated horseradish sting the sinuses, and the same logic lies behind the German and Austrian Sahnekren and the horseradish creams served with boiled beef across Central Europe. Its appearance here as a three-line assembly reflects a period in which a jar of commercially prepared horseradish could be taken for granted, where earlier books had to begin by telling the cook to grate the root herself.