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Horseradish Sauce
Place in a basin one tablespoonful of moist sugar, one tablespoonful of ground mustard, one teacupful of grated horseradish, and one teaspoonful of turmeric; season with pepper and salt and mix the ingredients with a teacupful of vinegar or olive oil. When quite smooth turn the sauce into a sauceboat, and it is quite ready to be served.
An uncooked cold sauce closer to a mustard relish than to the cream-based horseradish sauce most cooks expect. Everything depends on the horseradish being freshly grated and on which of the two liquids you choose.
- TeacupfulA teacup in this period is not a fixed measure; it is commonly reckoned at about 5 to 6 fl oz, i.e. somewhat less than the modern 8 oz measuring cup. Use the same reading for both the horseradish and the vinegar or oil.
- Moist sugar"Moist sugar" is unrefined or partly refined soft brown sugar, damp enough to clump. Light brown sugar is the closest match; white granulated will work but loses the faint molasses note.
- Ground mustardDry mustard powder, not prepared mustard from a jar. It needs the liquid to develop its heat, so mix and then wait ten minutes before judging the sharpness.
- Vinegar or oil, not bothThe choice changes the sauce entirely. Vinegar gives a thin, biting relish for boiled beef or ham; olive oil gives a thick, mild paste closer to a dressing. Vinegar is the more usual reading for a sauceboat sauce.
- TurmericA full teaspoon in this quantity is there for colour rather than flavour, in the manner of Victorian bottled mustard pickles. Half that amount still yields the yellow without the dusty edge.
- Fresh horseradishGrate the root just before mixing; its heat comes from volatile compounds that fade within an hour of exposure to air, and the acid in vinegar sets them. Grate in a well-ventilated spot, as the fumes are stronger than onion. Jarred prepared horseradish already contains vinegar, so drain it and cut back the added vinegar.
- Yield and keepingAbout a cup and a half — enough for eight to ten servings alongside roast or boiled beef. Refrigerated in a sealed jar it keeps a week or so, though the pungency drops off sharply after the first day.
Horseradish reached the English and American table as a condiment for beef long before it was softened with cream: seventeenth- and eighteenth-century cookery treats it as a grated root steeped in vinegar, and the version here, with mustard, sugar and turmeric, sits squarely in that older tradition of sharp yellow table sauces. The turmeric is the tell 〈 it belongs to the same family of mustard-and-turmeric pickles and "piccalilli" mixtures that gave commercial condiments their characteristic colour. In a large hotel kitchen a sauce like this could be made in quantity, held in the cold room and sent out with boiled beef, tongue, ham or cold roasts, though the recipe itself simply directs that it be turned into a sauceboat and served.