Robin McDouall’s bread sauce from Clubland Cooking

Robin McDouall’s bread sauce from Clubland Cooking is both creative despite its characteristic (for him) simplicity and concise. His playful language is too good, in this instance as in others, to paraphrase.

“Chop an onion and cook it very gently in milk. It takes a long time and boils over if you don’t watch out. Season with salt, pepper and plenty of nutmeg. Add a cup of dried breadcrumbs, if you have some, crumb of white loaf, if you haven’t. You will probably need to add more milk. Cook till they are all amalgamated. Just before you are ready, add half a cup of double cream and bring nearly to the boil. Transfer to a sauceboat and sprinkle on a pinch of cayenne.” (Clubland Cookery 103)

Notes:

-This is difficult but possible to improve upon. Try mace instead of the nutmeg; go ahead and add the cayenne at the time you do; and think about splashing the sauce (heretically) with whisky, or whiskey (your choice) before adding the double, or heavy, cream. Use care not to curdle the sauce; that would amount to heating the booze before introducing to the sauce. In any iteration, bread sauce is delightful, and useful leftover as a cold condiment for any cold poultry, meat or game.