Arrowroot Sauce for Puddings

A thin, clear wine sauce thickened with arrowroot rather than flour or egg — the Victorian answer to a pouring sauce for boiled and baked puddings. It comes together in about five minutes and wants to be made just before serving.

• The hinge: add the slurry off the boilDon't hold it at a rolling boil -- Arrowroot sets below boiling point and thins again if boiled hard or held at the boil. The recipe has you boil the sweetened wine and then make the arrowroot with it; give it only enough heat afterwards to clear and coat a spoon.
• A large tea-cupfulVictorian tea cups ran small; a "large" one is roughly 6–8 fl oz (175–240 ml). Take it as three-quarters of a cup to a cup of wine.
• Arrowroot quantityA small teaspoon of arrowroot to a cupful of liquid gives a light, barely-clinging sauce, which is the intention. For something closer to a modern custard-thick pouring sauce use two level teaspoons.
• Raisin wineA homemade fermented raisin wine, common enough in country households and generally sweeter and rougher than sherry, though it varied by maker. A medium or cream sherry, a Madeira, or a sweet marsala all stand in; if avoiding alcohol, sweetened white grape juice with a squeeze of lemon gives a similar body, though not the same depth.
• Sugar enough to sweetenWith a dry sherry, start at two tablespoons per cup and taste; a cream sherry or raisin wine may need only one. The sauce is meant to be noticeably sweet, since it dresses a pudding rather than accompanies a savoury.
• Rubbing sugar on lemon-peelDragging a sugar lump across the skin of a lemon strips the oil straight into the sugar, taking the peel's flavour without any pith. Finely grated zest will do much the same job.
• AlcoholThe wine is boiled, but only briefly, so some alcohol cooks off while a good deal remains. Worth knowing if serving to children or anyone avoiding it.
• YieldAbout one cup, enough to dress a pudding for four to six. It thickens slightly as it cools and will not reheat well, so make it last.