Cumberland sauce

Cumberland sauce
	Lambrouladeswith Cumberland sauce
Type	Savoury sauce
Place of origin	Britain
Serving temperature	Cold
Main ingredients	redcurrants; mustard; orange zest; wine;
	Media: Cumberland sauce;

Cumberland sauceis a savoury sauce of English origin, made withredcurrantjelly, mustard, pepper and salt,blanchedorange peel, andportwine. The food writerElizabeth Daviddescribed it as "the best of all sauces for cold meat".^[1]It is thought to be of 19th-century origin. Among the conjectural reasons for its name are honouring aDuke of Cumberlandor alternatively reflecting thecounty of its origin.

History and contents

Piquant spicy fruit sauces rendered sharply sour withverjuiceor vinegar featured prominently inmedieval cuisine.^[2]Cumberland sauce, thought to have originated in the 19th century, is in that tradition. TheOxford English Dictionarydescribes it as "a piquant sauce served esp. with cold meat".^[3]The dictionary's earliest citation for a sauce of that name is 1878, but it is mentioned inThe Timessix years earlier, reporting a banquet in Berlin in September 1872, attended by the EmperorsWilhelm I,Franz JosephandAlexander II,at whichhure de sanglier(boar's head) was served with "sauce Cumberland".^[4]In 2009 a food historian, Janet Clarkson, identified an American citation from 1856, as well as details of some sauces from earlier in the 19th century that bore similarities to what became known as Cumberland sauce:^[5]she instancedWilliam Kitchiner's,The Cook's Oracle,first published in 1817, which includes an unnamed "Wine sauce for Venison or Hare" in whichclaretorportare mixed with redcurrant jelly.^[6]

Elizabeth Davidfound a recipe from 1853 byAlexis Soyerfor what she says "is without doubt Cumberland sauce":^[1]

Cut the rind, free from pith, of two Seville oranges into very thin strips half an inch (1cm) in length, which blanch in boiling water, drain them upon a sieve and put them into a basin, with a spoonful of mixed English mustard, four of currant jelly, a little pepper, salt (mix well together) and half a pint (300ml) of good port wine.^[1]

Small advertisement offering a relish at ninepence the bottle — Advertisement in a Cumberland paper, 1859

Soyer described his recipe as "the German method of making a sauce to be eaten with boar's head",^[7]and David followed up the German connection with mention of the popular belief that the sauce was named for theHanoverianprinceErnest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland.^[1]She added that a simple connection with the county ofCumberland(now part ofCumbria) was also a possibility. Two Cumberland newspapers of the 1850s repeatedly carried advertisements for a bottled Cumberland sauce, although no hint was given of the ingredients.^[8]After commenting that the supposed Hanoverian origin was "as good as any and better than some", David added that it was odd that Cumberland sauce is not mentioned in any 19th-century cookery book, including those byEliza Acton,Mrs BeetonandCharles Elmé Francatelli.The first printed recipe for a specifically named Cumberland sauce identified by David was in a French book about English food, published in 1904. She found further French associations: Henry Babinski described a similar sauce in hisGastronomie pratique(1907),^[1]andAuguste Escoffierpopularised it and printed his recipe in the "Sauces anglaises froides" section of hisMa cuisine(1934), particularly commending the sauce as an accompaniment to cold venison.^[9]

In David's view it is "the best of all sauces for cold meat – ham, pressed beef, tongue, venison, boar's head or pork brawn".^[1]More recentlyMichel Roux, Sr.wrote of Cumberland sauce that it was his favourite sauce for terrines, pâtés and game. "We often serve it atThe Waterside Innand I never tire of it. It adds an entirely new dimension to a pork pie bought from the delicatessen ".^[10]

A Polish variant omits mustard and wine, addshorseradish,and fries the orange zest before adding it to the mixture.^[11]A New Zealand version adds gratedbeetroot.^[12]Recipes for more or less the generic version on Soyer's lines appear in cookery books from, among other countries, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the US.^[13]

Notes

^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^fDavid, pp. 70–72
^Peterson, p. 11
^"Cumberland sauce".Oxford English Dictionary(Online ed.).Oxford University Press.(Subscription orparticipating institution membershiprequired.)
^"The Imperial Festivities",The Times,10 September 1872, p. 4
^Clarkson, Janet."Cumberland Sauce",Old Foodie,15 September 2009
^Kitchiner, p. 299
^Soyer, p. 413
^See, e.g. front-page advertisements in theCarlisle Journaland theCarlisle Patriot,23 December 1859, and 24 December 1859
^Escoffier, p. 43
^Roux, p. 73
^Pininska, p. 120
^Parsons, p. 90
^Pawlowská, p. 230; Escoffier, p. 43; Swann, p. 22; Johnson, p. 201; Bardají, p. 120; Bauer, p. 143; and Stamm, p. 39

Sources

Bardají, Teodoro (1993).Índice culinario.Zaragoza: Val de Onsera.ISBN 978-84-88518-05-7.
Bauer, Mange (2012).I'll take the same – Mat på mitt vis.Norderstedt: Books on Demand.ISBN 978-91-7463-045-9.
David, Elizabeth (2000) [1970].Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen.London: Grub Street.ISBN 978-1-902304-66-3.
Escoffier, Auguste (1965) [1934].Ma cuisine.London: Hamlyn.ISBN 978-0-600-02450-7.
Johnson, Margaret (1999).The Irish Heritage Cookbook.San Francisco: Chronicle Books.OCLC 1035753570.
Kitchiner, William (1827).The Cook's Oracle: Containing Practical Receipts.London: Simpkin & Marshall.OCLC 1040257989.
Parsons, Pamela (1999).Simply New Zealand: A Culinary Journey.Auckland: New Holland.ISBN 978-1-877246-26-5.
Pawlowská, Halina (2014).Chuť do života.Prague: Motto.ISBN 978-80-267-0155-2.
Peterson, James (2017).Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making.Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.ISBN 978-0-544-81982-5.
Pininska, Mary (1991).The Polish Kitchen.London: Papermac.ISBN 978-0-333-56871-2.
Roux, Michel (1998).Sauces: Sweet and Savoury, Classic and New.London: Quadrille.ISBN 978-1-899988-38-9.
Soyer, Alexis (1847).The Gastronomic Regenerator.London: Simpkin & Marshall.OCLC 969501531.
Stamm, Sara (1981).The Park Avenue Cookbook.Garden City: Doubleday.ISBN 978-0-385-15585-4.
Swann, Peter (2006).Ofengerichte.Bath: Parragon.ISBN 978-1-4054-6340-9.

External links

Recipe at Cooksrecipes

Recipe at Chef de Cuisine Archived7 March 2013 at theWayback Machine

[ed-1] David, pp. 70–72

[2] Peterson, p. 11

[3] "Cumberland sauce".Oxford English Dictionary(Online ed.).Oxford University Press.(Subscription orparticipating institution membershiprequired.)

[4] "The Imperial Festivities",The Times,10 September 1872, p. 4

[jc-5] Clarkson, Janet."Cumberland Sauce",Old Foodie,15 September 2009

[6] Kitchiner, p. 299

[7] Soyer, p. 413

[8] See, e.g. front-page advertisements in theCarlisle Journaland theCarlisle Patriot,23 December 1859, and 24 December 1859

[9] Escoffier, p. 43

[10] Roux, p. 73

[11] Pininska, p. 120

[12] Parsons, p. 90

[13] Pawlowská, p. 230; Escoffier, p. 43; Swann, p. 22; Johnson, p. 201; Bardají, p. 120; Bauer, p. 143; and Stamm, p. 39

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History and contents

See also

Notes

Sources

External links