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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Horseradish Sauce
Created by Chef Thomas
A small bowl of fierce, creamy horseradish sauce, made fresh from the root and folded together ten minutes before the beef hits the table, the way it ought to be.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Comfort Food
10 min
Active Time
0 min cook•10 min total
YieldServes 6, alongside a roast
The first time I grated a fresh horseradish root I cried at the kitchen counter. Properly cried, with my eyes streaming and my nose running, laughing at myself in front of the window. Nothing in a jar prepares you for the real thing. It's a vegetable that fights back, and once you've met it on its own terms you won't go back to the beige stuff with the long shelf life.
This is a sauce for a Sunday in winter, when there's a piece of beef resting on the board and the kitchen is warm with the smell of fat and rosemary. Cream, a knob of grated root, a spoon of vinegar, a spoon of mustard, a pinch of sugar to soften the edges. That's all of it. You can make it in the time it takes someone to set the table.
The trick, if there is one, is to make it close to the table. Horseradish has a short, brilliant temper. Grate it an hour too early and the heat starts to slip away from you, leaving behind a milder, sweeter ghost of the sauce you meant to make. Grate it ten minutes before you serve it and it'll knock the top of your head off in the best possible way. Right food, right evening.
I wrote it down in the notebook years ago, just three words: beef, root, cream. I haven't needed more detail than that since.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh horseradish root
Quantity
thumb-sized piece
peeled
double cream
Quantity
150ml
white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
English mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
caster sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
pinch
lemon (optional)
Quantity
small squeeze
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh horseradish rootpeeled | thumb-sized piece |
| double cream | 150ml |
| white wine vinegar or cider vinegar | 1 teaspoon |
| English mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| caster sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | pinch |
| lemon (optional) | small squeeze |
Equipment Needed
- •Microplane or fine box grater
- •Small mixing bowl
- •Whisk
Instructions
- 1
Grate the horseradish
Peel the horseradish with a small knife or a vegetable peeler. Grate it finely on the smallest holes of a box grater or on a microplane. Stand back. Or don't, and let it remind you that it's alive. The fumes will catch the back of your throat and make your eyes water. That's the whole point. A horseradish that doesn't make you flinch isn't worth the trouble.
Open a window. Or grate it next to one. The vapour is sharper than any onion you've ever met, and it dissipates the moment air moves through the kitchen. - 2
Whip the cream loosely
Pour the cream into a cold bowl and whisk it by hand until it just holds a soft shape. Not stiff. You want it slack enough to fall from a spoon in slow folds. Stop early. Cream firms a little more as you stir other things into it, and a stiff horseradish sauce sits on the plate like a scoop of something it shouldn't be.
- 3
Fold it together
Stir the vinegar, mustard, sugar, and salt into the grated horseradish first, so the heat has something to lean against. Then fold the lot through the cream with a spoon, gently, until you have a pale, flecked sauce that smells fierce and looks innocent. Taste it. More salt, almost certainly. A second pinch of sugar if it bites too hard. A small squeeze of lemon if it needs lifting.
- 4
Serve close to the table
Spoon it into a small bowl and bring it to the table while the roast is being carved. Horseradish loses its nerve quickly. The heat that knocks you sideways at the grater starts to fade within the hour, and by the next day it's a polite cousin of itself. Make it last. Eat it now.
If you must make it ahead, hold the grated horseradish dry in a small jar with a teaspoon of vinegar over the top, and fold it into the cream just before serving. That buys you a few hours without losing the bite.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the root whole and keep what you don't use wrapped tightly in cling film in the fridge. It'll last a couple of weeks. A horseradish root in the bottom of the vegetable drawer is one of those quiet kitchen reassurances, like a wedge of parmesan or a tin of anchovies.
- •If you can't find fresh root, a good jar of grated horseradish (the kind with nothing in it but root, vinegar and salt) will get you most of the way. Avoid anything labelled 'horseradish sauce' already. That's someone else's recipe, and usually a worse one.
- •This sauce belongs with rare roast beef above all, but it's also brilliant with smoked mackerel, with a baked potato split open and steaming, with cold cuts on a Boxing Day plate, and stirred into beetroot soup at the last minute. Once you have it in the fridge for an hour or two, find excuses.
Advance Preparation
- •Best made within thirty minutes of serving. The pungency starts to fade as soon as the root is grated and only gets quieter from there.
- •If you need a head start, grate the root and stir it with the vinegar in a small jar. Refrigerate for up to four hours, then fold into the freshly whipped cream just before the meal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 30g)
Calories
115 calories
Total Fat
12 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
40 mg
Sodium
65 mg
Total Carbohydrates
2 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
1 g
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