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Sawse noire (dark sauce for capon and mallard)
Sawce Noyre · Sawce Noyre for mallard · Sawce Noyre for Capons y rosted · Sawse noire
Two dark sauces from The Forme of Cury, about 1390: one for mallard from bread and boiled blood, the other for roast capon from liver, bread and spices. Both are historical preparations.
What the sauce was
Sawse noire is a dark sauce, coloured by blood or liver. The Forme of Cury gives two versions, one for mallard and one for roast capon, and the two differ in their main ingredient and in how the mixture is strained or ground.
Both are boiled before serving and are served with the bird they were made for. They are historical preparations, not a single sauce with two names.
Sources for this section
Why the ingredients matter
In the mallard version, bread thickens the blood and vinegar sharpens it, and straining through a cloth removes the coarse material. In the capon version, the liver gives body and the spices give warmth, and verjuice replaces the vinegar.
The record gives no quantities, so the balance of blood or liver to bread and acid is not known. Raw blood and liver are not ingredients a modern kitchen should handle without current food-safety guidance.
Sources for this section
Reading the record
The method names no temperatures, timings or holding conditions. Its boiling step is the only heat treatment in the text as read.
Historical inclusion does not endorse recreating the raw materials or the holding practices of the period. No preserving process is established, and no safety claim is made for either sauce.
Sources for this section
History
Both sauces are recorded in The Forme of Cury, an English recipe collection compiled about 1390 and attributed to the master cooks of King Richard II.
Ingredients
BreadCrust, ground with the blood or the liver.
Quantity not given
BloodBoiled, for the mallard version.
Quantity not given
VinegarUsed to strain the mallard sauce through a cloth.
Quantity not given
Quantity not given
Pepper
Quantity not given
Quantity not given
Capon liverFrom a roasted capon, for the capon version.
Quantity not given
Quantity not given
Grains of paradise
Quantity not given
Quantity not given
VerjuiceUsed to grind the capon version.
Quantity not given
Method
Risks and precautions
Blood and liver are raw materials with food-safety requirements. The historical method does not establish how they were handled, and no safety claim is made here. Do not treat the medieval practice as a present-day instruction.
- Mallard version: grind bread with boiled blood, strain the mixture through a cloth with vinegar, then season with ginger, pepper, the mallard's grease and salt, and boil.
- Capon version: grind a roasted capon's liver, anise, grains of paradise, ginger, cinnamon and a little bread crust fine with verjuice and capon grease, then boil.
- Serve each sauce with the bird it was made for.
Places
No source in this record establishes a place.
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Sources
Project GutenbergHistory · Method · Safety
The Forme of Cury: A Roll of Ancient English Cookery Compiled, about A.D. 1390For mallard, bread and boiled blood are ground, strained through a cloth with vinegar, and seasoned with ginger, pepper, the mallard's grease and salt, then boiled (XX.VII.I).
For roasted capon, a capon's liver, anise, grains of paradise, ginger, cinnamon and a little bread crust are ground fine with verjuice and capon grease, then boiled (XX.VI.XVII).
The collection is attributed to the master cooks of King Richard II and dated about 1390.
Cited in: What the sauce was; Why the ingredients matter; Reading the record