Sahnemeerrettich

Sahnemeerrettich is the white bite on the cold German table: beside smoked trout and salmon in the north, beside cold roast, ham, and boiled beef farther south, and on the Christmas platter when the larder is doing the work. Horseradish is a winter root, not a summer herb; it wakes up cured and smoked things without needing a pan. Weggeworfen wird nichts, a slice of yesterday's roast gets a new plate when this is next to it.

Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. The north often makes it softer, more cream and lemon for fish; Franconia and Bavaria, where the root is Kren, want it sharper, sometimes with grated apple, sometimes turned into Semmelkren with bread and stock for boiled beef. Here I make the cream version, cold and spoonable, because it belongs on a quick bread-and-fish supper as well as a Christmas board.

The one technique is this: grate the root last and fold it straight into cold, lightly acidulated cream. Cut horseradish makes its bite when the cells break, then those mustard oils run off into the air; wait too long and the bowl smells fierce while the sauce tastes tired. Acid and fat catch the sharpness, and soft whipped cream carries it. Nicht aus dem Glas. The tube has already lost the argument.