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Gravy for Wild-Fowl
289. To one wine-glassful of port-wine add a table-spoonful each of walnut ketchup, mushroom ketchup, and lemon-juice, one shalot sliced (or a little of the essence), a small piece of lemon-peel, and a blade of mace. These should all be scalded, strained, and added to the mere gravy that comes from the fowl in roasting. The breast of the fowl should be scored in three or four places, and the gravy poured boiling hot over it before it is sent to table. Another.-Simmer a tea-spoonful of made mustard, the same of anchovies and cayenne, a tablespoonful of ketchup, one onion, a tea-cupful of good gravy, a lump or two of white sugar, a little salt, nutmeg, and mace, and the juice of half a lemon, for ten minutes-then add a tea-cupful of port-wine and give it one boil;-it may be bottled, and warmed and served in a boat when required.
IMITATION BROWN GRAVY (WITHOUT MEAT). 290. Take of water and ale that is not too bitter one pint of each; of walnut pickle, mushroom pickle, and ketchup, two table-spoonsful
Three related sauces for roast wild duck, teal or widgeon, all built on port and the bottled ketchups of the mid-nineteenth century. The first is the one to make: it is finished with the roasting juices and poured over the bird at the table.
- The hinge: scald, do not boil"Scalded" here means brought just to the point of simmering and held a minute or two, long enough for the shallot, mace and peel to give up their flavour. The mixture is then strained and combined with the pan juices.
- Wine-glassful and tea-cupfulA wine-glass in Victorian receipts is about 2 fl oz, a quarter cup. A tea-cup is usually reckoned at about a quarter-pint, 4 to 5 fl oz. The first sauce therefore makes only a small quantity per bird once the pan juices are added.
- Walnut and mushroom ketchupNeither is the tomato product. Walnut ketchup is the spiced brine of pickled green walnuts and mushroom ketchup a salted mushroom liquor; both survive from British specialist makers. Worcestershire sauce is the closest supermarket stand-in, and mushroom ketchup can be approximated with a spoonful of soy plus a dash of sherry vinegar.
- Shalot and its essenceShalot is shallot. "Essence" was a bottled shallot preparation of the kind sold ready-made; one small sliced shallot does the same work and is strained out anyway.
- Blade of maceA blade is one curl of the lacy aril around the nutmeg seed. About a quarter teaspoon of ground mace substitutes, though it will cloud the sauce and cannot be strained out.
- Cayenne and anchovy in the second sauceA full teaspoon of cayenne is far more heat than modern palates expect; it may be that a cayenne vinegar or essence is meant rather than dry powder. Start with a large pinch. The teaspoonful of "anchovies" most likely means anchovy essence or paste rather than whole fillets.
- Made mustardMustard already mixed to a paste, not the dry powder. English mustard from a jar is the direct equivalent.
- Keeping the bottled versionThe second sauce was bottled and rewarmed as wanted. It contains wine, lemon and vinegar-based condiments but no measured preservative, so treat it as a fresh sauce: refrigerate and use within a week.
- Scoring the breastThree or four shallow cuts across the breast let the boiling sauce run into the meat. Do this after resting and immediately before serving, or the bird bleeds out its juices.