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Lemon Sauce
1/2 cup sugar 3 level teaspoons cornstarch 1 cup boiling water 1/2 lemon 1 tablespoon butter Mix the sugar and cornstarch thoroughly in a saucepan; stir in the boiling water; add the butter and juice and grated rind of the lemon. Boil and stir until the mixture is transparent.
A basic cornstarch-thickened dessert sauce, of the kind poured hot over steamed or baked puddings. It comes together in about five minutes and needs only attention to the starch.
- The hinge: cook the starch out"Boil and stir until the mixture is transparent" is the whole technique. The sauce goes from cloudy to clear and glossy once the cornstarch has gelatinized, which takes roughly a minute at a full bubble. Pulling it early leaves a chalky, raw-starch taste.
- Mix dry before wetRubbing the cornstarch through the sugar first keeps it from clumping when the boiling water hits. This is the reason for the sugar-and-starch order, not thrift.
- Half a lemonExpect roughly 1 1/2 tablespoons of juice and about a teaspoon of zest from a medium lemon. Lemon size varies, so taste and hold back some juice if the sauce turns sharp.
- Add the acid at the endProlonged hard boiling with acid can slacken a starch-bound sauce. The recipe adds the juice and rind before boiling; if you want a firmer set, stir them in at the last moment instead.
- ButterOne tablespoon is for gloss and richness rather than structure. Whisking it in after the pan leaves the heat gives a smoother finish than boiling it through.
- Yield and servingMakes a generous cup, enough for four to six servings over cottage pudding, gingerbread, bread pudding or steamed suet pudding. Serve hot; it sets to a soft jelly as it cools and can be loosened with a spoonful of hot water.
Cornstarch-thickened sweet sauces became common in American home cooking in the second half of the nineteenth century, as commercially milled corn starch grew cheap and widely available. They sat alongside older pudding sauces built on eggs, wine or drawn butter, and had the advantage of cheapness and of being hard to curdle: sugar, starch, boiling water and a flavoring. Lemon was among the common flavorings, the rind and juice of a single fruit going a long way and the sharpness cutting the heaviness of steamed and boiled puddings.