SC - Sauce Robert...

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

>Oooh. Sounds delicicous! Redaction please, and original recipe(s) if
>you have them.
>

okeydokey!
This is from _French Food in the Renaissance_ by me, which will hopefully 
be part of a CA soon (I've had MY part done for a year now! :)). This 
mailer won't take footnotes, so I've put in the citations in the text.

Please don't use in any publication with checking with me. I'll likely 
give permission, I just like knowing where my stuff goes.

SAUCE ROBERT
This rich, creamy, slightly tangy sauce appears in many of the French 
sources. There is some variation, for example _le Cuisinier francois_ (la 
Varenne, 1651) updates his with capers, but all use verjuice and mustard 
and butter. What its' served on seems to vary as well, with _le Menagier_ 
(Cariadoc et al 1991) putting it on poached sole (M30), _le Viandier de 
Taillevent_ (Prescott, 1989) on poached or baked John Dory (a North 
Atlantic flat fish) (T115, T207), and _le Cuisinier_ on Poor John 
(another fish, perhaps a regional name for a John Dory) (V80), goose 
(V33, p41), pork loin (V56, p48), or wild boar (V39, p67). We've enjoyed 
this sauce on bork, fish, lamb and even veggies although there's no 
documentation for the last two. Heck, ti's even good on bits of bread.

POOR JOHN WITH A SAUCE ROBERT (la Varenne, V80)
You may put it with butter, a drop of verjuice, and some mustard, you may 
alsso mixe with it some capers and chibols [chives or green onions].

BARBE ROBERT [SAUCE] (Taillevent, T207)
Take small onions fried in lard (or butter according to the day), 
verjuice, vinegar, mustard, small spices and salt. Boil everything 
together. (A 1583 cookbook quoted by Pichon et al., p109)

(M30, le Menagier de Paris)
"POLE" and SOLE are the same thing, and the "pole" are speckled on the 
back. They should be scalded and gutted like plaice, washed and put in 
the pan, with salt on them and water, then put on to cook, and when 
nearly done, add parsley; then cook again in the same liquid, then eat 
with green sauce, or with butter with some of the hot cooking liquid, or 
in a sauce of old verjuice, mustard, and butter heated together.

My version:
1 tsp rinsed and minced capers
2 tsp minced green onion, just the white part
2 tsp fine ground prepared mustard
1/2 stick butter (4T)
1 tsp cider vinegar or verjuice, if you can find verjuice

Mix all the ingredients over low heat until the butter is melted and 
everything is blended. If it separates, whisk briskly until it reblends. 
Makes 1/2 cup sauce. Serve on poached white fish, roast pork or goose.


Enjoy!
- --Anne-Marie d'Ailleurs

- --
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anne-Marie Rousseau
rousseau at scn.org
Seattle, Washington
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================