Wild Duck Sauce

Source:

France, 14th c.

---

Recipe by Daniel Myers

This sauce is perfect for small game like duck or squirrel. Boiling the pre-cookedmeat in the sauce eliminates any gamey flavor, leaving a pleasantly spicy but not overpowering flavor. When I made thisrecently, I didn't have the grains or galingale handy and so left them out (doubling the ginger and adding a bit of pepperto compensate).

Ingredients

2/3 cup verjuice
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (cassia)
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. mace
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. ginger

Method

Mix all ingredients well. Add to pre-cooked meat and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes and serve hot.

SAUCE TO BOIL IN PIES OF YOUNG WILD DUCK, DUCKLING, YOUNG RABBIT OR WILD RABBIT. Take lots of good cinnamon, ginger,clove, grains, half a nutmeg and mace, galingale, and grind very well, and soak in half verjuice and half vinegar, and thesauce should be clear. And when the pie is just about done, throw this sauce inside it and return to the oven to boil once.(Note that the young wild duck are those which cannot yet fly until they have felt the August rain.) And note that in winteryou put more ginger in so it will be stronger in spice, for in winter all sauces should be stronger than in summer.

Published: 2006-01-09