Recipe: Cumberland Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup of red currant jelly
• 1/3 cup red wine
• 1/2 fresh orange juice
• 1/2 lemon, juices
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard
• pinch of ginger
• pinch of cayenne
• one orange
• one lemon
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions

Step 1

Cumberland Sauce Jelly Base
This sauce is based on red currant jelly. We're going to take 1 cup of red currant jelly, that's a 12-ounce jar (by weight), and we're going to put that into a heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Step 2

Cumberland Sauce Ingredients
Then we're going to add:

* 1/3 cup red wine, something "drinkable" - I'm using a California Cabernet
* 1/2 fresh orange juice
* 1/2 lemon, juices (tip: use your fingers to strain out the pits!)
* 1 tbsp brown sugar
* 1/4 tsp dry mustard
* pinch of ginger
* pinch of cayenne

Step 3

Zest Citrus
Whisk that up and bring to a simmer over medium heat. While that is coming up to a simmer, we're going to zest some citrus. This is one of the key components to this sauce. Some people use a microplane to zest, which gives you very small, little pieces of zest.

I prefer one of these zesters. They are easy to find and I like them because it takes off the zest in nice long strips, instead of gratings. So, we're going to zest one orange and one lemon.

Step 4

Reduce the Cumberland Sauce
Toss that into the simmering Cumberland sauce and here's a tip -- lose the whisk. Switch to a spatula, because all the zest will get caught in the wires of the whisk and you'll lose it all. We're going to let that simmer for 15 minutes on med-low. It's going to reduce down and concentrate the flavors.

Step 5

Serve the Cumberland Sauce
Then, we're going to pull it off and pour it into a heatproof bowl. We're going to add a pinch of salt and some nice, freshly ground black pepper. For me, the black pepper is one of the key flavor elements.

You can serve this sauce hot, drizzled over meat if you want, but I much prefer it chilled. It thickens-up beautifully, so I'm going to chill this for at least 4 hours, overnight is better. Then I'm ready to use it.

This does with all kinds of holiday foods -- I love it on ham, that's my favorite, but it goes with turkey, duck and goose, and almost any wild game, which is what this was really made for.

Anyway, that is Cumberland sauce. It's extremely easy, very versatile -- can be served hot or cold. I really hope you give this a try. Enjoy!