Recipes From The Bygone Era

My Recipes Collection

I dedicate this recipe to anyone who wishes to cook Sunday Roasts.

Recipe to share: by Eliza Acton, 1845 (From Modern Cookery For Private Families).

OLIVE   SAUCE

Olive Sauce: For Chicken, Duck or Geese

“REMOVE THE STONES from some excellent French or Italian olives by paring the fruit close to the round and round in the form of a corkscrew; they will then resume their original shape when done.

Weigh 3 oz thus prepared, about 4 oz altogether depending on the type of olive.  Throw them into boiling water let them blanch for five minutes. Then drain, and throw them into cold water and leave them in it for half an hour, in proportion to their saltiness. Drain them well and stew them gently for 15-25 minutes in half a pint of very rich brown gravy or Espagnole sauce.  Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and serve the sauce very hot” (By Eliza Acton,  1845)

The “gravy” may be prepared by simmering the chicken giblets with pot herbs and seasoning to make stock, this should them be boiled down to reduce.  Add a little Italian tomato puree and a dash of cooking sherry.  Thicken this with a teaspoonful of cornflour before adding the olives and finally the lemon juice.

Note:  I think the way she wrote this recipe is a fascinating and very different style from the recipes today.

Enjoy! 

If you like the taste or the flavour of olives, this sauce is delicious.

White Camellia Sasanqua

(they are in bloom in our garden)