Chef Thomas
Anchovy Sauce
A proper white sauce sharpened with pounded anchovy, the old Georgian trick for waking up a piece of poached fish or a slice of roast lamb on a Sunday in spring.
Culinary Explorer
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Caper Sauce
Created by Chef Thomas
A proper white sauce shot through with capers and a squeeze of lemon, the old companion to boiled mutton and salt beef, quietly waiting for someone to remember what it can do.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Special Occasion
5 min
Active Time
15 min cook•20 min total
YieldEnough for 4 to 6
This is a sauce for the cold months. The kind of thing your grandmother might have made without thinking, ladled over a piece of boiled mutton on a Sunday in February when the windows had gone opaque from the cooking. It's been out of fashion for decades, which is most of the reason I'm writing about it. Some things deserve to come back.
Caper sauce is a white sauce with capers in it. That's the whole idea. But the description undersells what happens when the sharp, briny pop of the capers hits the soft, buttery weight of the sauce, with a squeeze of lemon to wake it up and a handful of parsley to keep it honest. It transforms a plain piece of boiled meat into something you actually want to eat. It rescues a poached fish from politeness. Spoon it over a head of steamed cauliflower and you have dinner.
The trick, if there is one, is the cooking liquor. A spoonful of the water the meat was cooked in, or the broth from a poached fish, ties the sauce to the dish in a way that plain milk never quite manages. This is old cookery thinking. Use what's already in the pan. Don't waste what's already flavoured.
I wrote it down in the notebook the first time I made it for someone who'd never tried it: caper sauce, mutton, late January, snow on the back step. They asked for the recipe before they'd finished their plate. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract, and this one has been having the same quiet conversation for two hundred years.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
unsalted butter
Quantity
50g
plain flour
Quantity
40g
whole milk
Quantity
500ml
warmed
cooking liquor from the meat or fish
Quantity
150ml
or extra warm milk
capers in brine
Quantity
3 tablespoons
drained
caper brine from the jar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
double cream (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
lemon juice
Quantity
a squeeze
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
small handful
finely chopped
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
white pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| unsalted butter | 50g |
| plain flour | 40g |
| whole milkwarmed | 500ml |
| cooking liquor from the meat or fishor extra warm milk | 150ml |
| capers in brinedrained | 3 tablespoons |
| caper brine from the jar | 1 tablespoon |
| double cream (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| lemon juice | a squeeze |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | small handful |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| white pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy-bottomed saucepan
- •Wooden spoon
- •Balloon whisk
- •Small pan for warming the milk
Instructions
- 1
Make the roux
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a gentle heat. When it has fully melted and is just beginning to foam, scatter in the flour and stir it through with a wooden spoon. You'll have a pale, sandy paste. Cook it for two minutes, stirring constantly. It should smell faintly biscuity, not raw, and stay the colour of fresh cream. No browning. This is a white sauce, and it wants to stay white.
Warm the milk before it goes in. Cold milk into a hot roux is the surest path to lumps. A minute in a small pan is all it needs. - 2
Build the sauce
Take the pan off the heat for a moment. Pour in a splash of the warm milk and whisk it hard into the roux until smooth. Add another splash, whisk again. Keep going, a little at a time, until you have a loose paste, then begin adding the milk in larger pours. Once all the milk is in, return to a gentle heat and whisk steadily as it comes up to a quiet simmer. It will thicken suddenly and coat the back of the spoon. That's the moment.
If you do get lumps, don't panic and don't start over. Pass the sauce through a sieve into a clean pan and carry on. Nobody will know. - 3
Add the cooking liquor
Stir in the cooking liquor from whatever you're going to serve the sauce with. Mutton water, salt beef stock, the poaching liquid from a piece of fish. This is where the sauce stops being generic and starts belonging to the meal. If you've nothing of the sort, use more warm milk and a touch more salt. Let it bubble gently for five minutes to cook out the flour and settle into itself. Stir often. It should be the consistency of pouring cream, just thick enough to cling.
- 4
Stir in the capers
Take the pan off the heat. Tip in the drained capers and the spoonful of brine from the jar. If you're using cream, add it now. Stir it all through. The capers will perfume the whole pan with that sharp, briny, slightly floral note that makes the sauce make sense. Add a squeeze of lemon, the chopped parsley, and a grind of white pepper.
- 5
Taste and serve
Now taste it. Properly. The capers and brine bring their own salt, so go easy with the seasoning at first. It should taste bright, savoury, faintly tart, with the capers popping against the soft white background of the sauce. Adjust until it makes you want another spoonful. Pour over boiled mutton, salt beef, a piece of poached fish, or a head of cauliflower steamed until just yielding. Serve straight from the pan, while it's still warm and glossy.
If the sauce sits and thickens before you serve it, loosen it with a splash more warm milk or stock and stir over a low heat. It forgives this kind of treatment well.
Chef Tips
- •Capers in brine, not capers in salt. Salt-packed capers are wonderful for some things, but for this sauce you want the brine itself, that sharp vinegary liquid that adds half the character. Use a decent jar from a shop that takes its ingredients seriously.
- •The cooking liquor is the difference between a sauce that's fine and a sauce that belongs. If you're serving the caper sauce with boiled mutton or salt beef, ladle a generous spoonful of the cooking water in at the right moment. Same with poached fish. The sauce should taste like it came from the same meal, because it did.
- •If you're cooking for someone who finds capers too sharp, rinse them under cold water before adding them. You'll lose a little of the brine but keep the texture and the perfume. A small kindness that costs nothing.
- •This sauce wants to be served the moment it's made. It will sit happily for ten or fifteen minutes if you keep it warm over the lowest heat with the lid on, but it isn't a sauce for making hours ahead. Time it to be ready when the meat comes out of its pot.
Advance Preparation
- •The sauce is best made just before serving. It can sit on a very low heat for up to fifteen minutes, covered, stirred occasionally, and loosened with a splash of warm milk if it thickens.
- •Leftover sauce keeps in the fridge for up to two days. Reheat gently with a splash of milk, whisking to bring it back together. It will never be quite as good as it was the first time, but it makes a fine bath for a piece of leftover fish or a baked potato.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 150g)
Calories
190 calories
Total Fat
13 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
37 mg
Sodium
340 mg
Total Carbohydrates
11 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
4 g
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