Cider Sauce

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.

Diego Granado, Libro del Arte de Cozina, Madrid, 1599

Redaction

To make 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 220F (105C). Strain through cheesecloth. Pour into a clean glass jar. Refrigerate.

Horseradish-Honey Sauce

Spanish, de Nola, Libro de Guisados, 1529

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.

4 oz. fresh horseradish root, finely grated
1 slice Italian bread, toasted lightly
3 TBS white wine vinegar
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp black pepper

Peel and finely grate the horseradish root. Place in the container of a blender or food processor. Soak the toasted bread in the vinegar. Add to the horseradish. Blend a moment until mixed. Add the remaining ingredients, adjusting as necessary for taste. Add just enough water to make a smooth sauce that is not too thin.

CAUTION: avoid breathing in the fumes from the sauce.

Just before serving, heat the sauce on low heat until warm. Do not boil.

For a hotter sauce, wait 3 minutes before adding the bread and vinegar to the horseradish. For a less fiery sauce, add the vinegar promptly after grating the horseradish.

If fresh horseradish root is unavailable, take a 6-oz jar of prepared horseradish. Empty the contents into a mesh sieve, and press lightly with a spoon to drain off the excess liquid. Reduce added vinegar to 1 tablespoon. Proceed as above. However, this method produces a much milder sauce.