Three Spanish Sauces
Apple Juice Sauce
Spanish, Diego Granado, Libro del Arte de Cozina, 1599
Original
Translated from the original by Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Para Hacer Salsa de Zumo de Manzanas
To make sauce of the juice of apples
Take the apples, and without peeling them, grate them and extract the juice from them, as we said of the quinces; adding a little vinegar, and white wine, and take the clearest part, and for each pound of juice, put eight ounces of sugar, and cook it like the juice of the quinces, with the same spices.
Recipe as redacted by Lady Brighid ne Chiarain
Makes 2 cups
1 quart sweet apple cider (non-alcoholic)
1 lb. sugar
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup white wine
1 ounce cinnamon sticks
1 whole nutmeg, cut in half
8 whole cloves
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat about 45 minutes, until the volume is reduced by half and a candy thermometer reads 220° F. (105 C.). Strain through cheesecloth. Pour into a clean glass jar. Refrigerate.
Recipe adapted by Urtatim
Makes about 20 cups/5 quarts
enough frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate to make 2.5 gallons of reconstituted juice
10 lb. sugar
1-1/4 quarts white wine vinegar
2-1/2 cups white wine
1/2 lb cinnamon sticks
10 whole nutmegs
80 whole cloves
As fresh pressed cider was very expensive, i used frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate. As an experiment, i did not fully reconstitute it, but only used half as much water as called for on the can.
I placed one can of concentrate, half the water called for and about 1/6 of each of the other ingredients into a stainless steel saucepan with a copper bottom. I brought the liquid just to a boil, then reduced the heat so that the liquid was bubbling but not boiling. Every 15 minutes i stirred it. As the liquid began to thicken to a syrupy consistency, i stirred it more frequently. During the last 15 minutes or so i stayed by the stove and stirred often, until the liquid was reduced by half. Once cooled it had the consistency of honey and was the color of rich red amber.
Each evening for several evenings i processed a pot or two, pouring the liquid into a glass jar and putting it in the fridge. When i was done i had 1 gallon of sauce.
Horseradish-Honey Sauce
Spanish, de Nola, Libro de Guisados, 1529
Original
Translated from the original by Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Perejil - Parsley
You must take the parsley and remove the roots, and strip off the leaves very well and clean it, and grind those leaves a great deal in a mortar, and after it is well-ground, toast a crustless piece of bread, and soak it in white vinegar, and grind it with the parsley, and after it is well-ground cast a little pepper into the mortar, and mix it well with the parsley and the bread, and then cast in honey, which should be melted, in the mortar, stirring constantly in one direction until the honey incorporates itself with the sauce in the mortar, and if the sauce should be very thick, clarify it with a little watered vinegar, so that it should not be very sour, and having done that take two smooth pebbles from the sea or river, and cast them in the fire, and when they shall be quite ruddy and red, cast them with some tongs in the mortar in such a manner that they are extinguished there, and when all this is done taste it for flavor, and make it in such a manner that it tastes a little of pepper, and a little sweet-sour, and of parsley, and if any of these things is lacking, temper [the dish] with it.
Salsa de Rabano Vexisco y de Gallocresta
Sauce of horseradish and of clary sage
In the same manner as the parsley, you can also make sauce from the root of the horseradish and the same from the leaves of clary sage.
Recipe by Urtatim
based on redaction by Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Makes over 1 quart of sauce
1 lb. fresh horseradish root, finely grated
4 slices Italian bread, toasted lightly
3/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 cups honey
1 cup water
2 tsp black pepper
1. Wash and peel the horseradish root. Chop very coarsely.
2. Toast bread - can be done on grill - or if there's a toaster, use it.
3. Grate horseradish finely. I'm not sure if we used the blender or the Cuisinart. Whichever, you will probably want to grind it twice to get it fine.
4. Soak the toasted bread in the vinegar.
5. Place horseradish in the container of a blender or food processor.
6. Add the toasted bread, crumbling as necessary.
7. Blend a moment until just barely mixed, not pasty.
8. Add the remaining ingredients, adjusting as necessary for taste - and Watch Out! as the horseradish is STRONG!
9. Add just enough water to make a smooth sauce that is not too thin
10. Just before serving, heat the sauce on low heat until warm. Do not boil.
WARNING: Don't lean over the blender, the bowl, or the pan without acknowledging that there will be rising horseradish fumes.
I think some folks thought they were having some sort of transcendent experience when they ate this. It was quite strong but quite good and excellent company for the pork. This would also be good with any red meat.
Garlic Sauce with Walnuts and Almonds
Spanish, Diego Granado, Libro del Arte de Cozina, 1599
Original
Translated from the original by Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Para Hazer Ajada con Nuezes Tiernas y Almendras
To make garlic sauce with tender walnuts and almonds
Take six ounces of tender peeled walnuts, and four [ounces] of fresh sweet almonds, and six cloves of boiled garlic, or one and a half raw, and grind them in the morter, with four ounces of a crustless piece of bread soaked in broth of mutton, or of fish which is not very salty, and once they are ground put in a quarter [ounce] of ground ginger. If the sauce is well ground, it is not necessary to strain it, but just thin it with one of the abovementioned broths, and if the walnuts were dried, let them be soaked in cold water, until they soften again, and can be cleaned. With the abovementioned sauce, you can grind a little bit of turnip, or of crisp-leaved cabbage well-cooked in good meat broth, if it is a day for it.
Recipe by Urtatim
Makes about 1-1/2 gal.
2-1/2 lb walnuts
1-3/4 lb almonds, blanched
28 oz white bread, crusts removed
7-14 cups vegetable broth, as needed
1-3/4 ounce ground ginger
40 cloves garlic
salt to taste
1. Soak the nuts in cold water overnight, or at least several hours.
2. Drain, and grind finely in a food processor.
3. Soak bread in broth.
4. Add the bread soaked in broth, ginger and garlic to the walnuts.
5. Blend until smooth.
6. Taste and salt as necessary
7. If necessary, add more broth and/or water to adjust the consistency of the sauce.
NOTES:
1. Lady Brighid, who shared this recipe with me, had made this sauce according to the recipe and felt it was too bland. I suggested that perhaps the original meant "head" rather than "clove", but she is certain that her translation from the Spanish is correct. I have no reason to doubt her, and suspect the possibility of a scribal error in the original. So I increased the amount of garlic because it wouldn't have been much of a garlic sauce with 10 ounces of nuts and 1-1/2 cloves garlic.
2. I suspect that perhaps this was supposed to have more of an alioli or aioli-like consistency. Our sauce was not quite so smooth.
3. This would have a different flavor and consistancy when made with boiled or roasted garlic, and worth the experiment.
Recipe translations copyright 2000 by Lady Brighid ni Chiarain,
all the rest by Urtatim al-Qurtubiyya bint 'abd al-Karim al-hakim al-Fasi.
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