Apple sauce for goose and pork
Apple sauce for goose and pork is a plain English accompaniment: cooked apples pulped with water, then sweetened with sugar and finished with a little butter.
Bread sauce
Breadsauce
Bread sauce is a British sauce of milk infused with onion, clove and bay, thickened with stale breadcrumbs and finished with butter, served with roast chicken or turkey.
A sauce that uses up stale bread
Bread sauce is a British milk sauce thickened with breadcrumbs, served warm or cold, and most often with roast chicken or turkey. It is a survivor of the bread-thickened sauces of the medieval period. Cooks probably began to use bread to thicken sauces as a way of using stale bread.
The sauce is traditionally made with slightly stale bread, and the sources give no date or inventor for the British version.
Sources for this section
Infusing the milk
An onion is studded with cloves and simmered in milk with a bay leaf, nutmeg, salt and pepper. The flavour is drawn into the milk over 15 to 30 minutes under a lid, and the onion, cloves and bay leaf are lifted out before the bread goes in. Studding the cloves into the onion makes them easy to remove without straining the milk.
Recipes vary on the proportions, on whether to add cream, and on whether to include garlic or nutmeg.
Sources for this section
Thickening and finishing
The bread is cut free of its crusts, broken into small pieces and soaked in the milk for at least 20 minutes. The sauce is reheated over a low setting, stirred with butter and cooked for about 10 minutes. If it is too thin, more bread goes in; if it is too thick, more milk.
Double cream may be stirred in before serving for extra richness. The sauce is poured into a serving dish and dusted with nutmeg.
Sources for this section
Serving and keeping
Roast chicken or turkey as the usual partners; the recipe source adds other poultry, meat and vegetables, and prefers it warm.
The recipe source keeps the sauce covered in the fridge for up to four days, or freezes it for up to a month, defrosting it in the fridge the day before use. These limits are not from a tested process, so a cook should chill the sauce promptly and reheat it gently.
Sources for this section
History
Cooks probably began to thicken sauces with bread to use up stale bread. The sources names no inventor and gives no precise date for the British sauce.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
OnionStudded with the cloves and infused in the milk, then removed.
1
ClovesPushed into the onion; 4 to 8 in the source.
4
4 to 8 in the source.MilkWhole or full-fat milk.
300 mL
Bay leafInfused and removed.
1
NutmegAdded to the milk; a pinch sprinkled on top.
A pinch.
A pinch of each.
White bread (stale is traditional)Crusts cut off and broken into small pieces.
70 g
ButterStirred in at the end.
15 mL1 tbsp as recorded
Double cream (optional)
30 mL2 tbsp as recorded
Optional, for richness.Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Milk sauce kept too long or reheated poorly
A milk-and-bread sauce supports bacterial growth if it is left out or stored too long; the recipe source gives a fridge and freezer limit, but no tested process.
Hazard sourceRefrigerate covered and use within 4 days; freeze for up to one month
Control sourceThe storage limits come from one recipe site, not a tested process. Chill promptly and reheat gently.
- Stud the onion with the cloves. Put it in a pan with the milk, bay leaf, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and heat gently until it nearly boils.
- Cover and leave to infuse for 15 to 30 minutes, then lift out the onion, cloves and bay leaf with a slotted spoon.
- Cut the crusts from the bread, break it into small pieces, stir it into the milk and leave it to soak for at least 20 minutes.
- Reheat over a low setting, stir in the butter and heat for about 10 minutes. If the sauce is too thin, add more bread; if too thick, add more milk.
- Stir in the double cream if using and serve warm, sprinkled with a pinch of nutmeg. Serve with roast turkey, chicken or other poultry, meat or vegetables.
- Keep covered in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to a month and defrost in the fridge the day before use. Reheat gently over a low setting.
Conditions
Temperature controlRefrigerated
Places
Britain
Traditional use · Country evidenceThe sauce is described as British; the sources names no town or cook.
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Sources
WikipediaHistory · Serving
Bread sauceBritish milk sauce; medieval bread-thickened sauce survival; stale bread; roast chicken or turkey; no inventor or date
Cited in: A sauce that uses up stale bread; Infusing the milk; Thickening and finishing; Serving and keeping
Flawless FoodMethod · Storage
Bread sauceQuantities; infuse 15 to 30 minutes; soak 20 minutes; butter and cream; serving; fridge 4 days; freezer one month
Cited in: Infusing the milk; Thickening and finishing; Serving and keeping