Genevese Sauce for Salmon, Trout, etc is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton's recipe of 1861, for a classic sauce of vegetables, mushrooms and spices in a sherry and white stock base finished with lemon juice that's typically served with salmon and trout. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Genevese Sauce for Salmon, Trout, etc.
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This is a traditional British recipe redacted from the redoubtable Mrs Beeton's 1861 volume Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, the classic Victorian cookbook.
Original Recipe
GENEVESE SAUCE FOR SALMON, TROUT, &c.
427. INGREDIENTS.—1 small carrot, a small faggot of sweet herbs, including parsley, 1 onion, 5 or 6 mushrooms (when obtainable), 1 bay-leaf, 6 cloves, 1 blade of mace, 2 oz. of butter, 1 glass of sherry, 1-1/2 pint of white stock, No. 107, thickening of butter and flour, the juice of half a lemon.
Mode.—Cut up the onion and carrot into small rings, and put them into a stewpan with the herbs, mushrooms, bay-leaf, cloves, and mace; add the butter, and simmer the whole very gently over a slow fire until the onion is quite tender. Pour in the stock and sherry, and stew slowly for 1 hour, when strain it off into a clean saucepan. Now make a thickening of butter and flour, put it to the sauce, stir it over the fire until perfectly smooth and mellow, add the lemon-juice, give one boil, when it will be ready for table.
Time.—Altogether 2 hours.
Average cost, 1s. 3d per pint.
Sufficient, half this quantity for two slices of salmon.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
1 small carrot, scraped and cut into rings
1 onion, peeled and sliced into thin rings
1 small bunch of sweet herbs (must include parsley), tied together
6 mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 bayleaf
6 cloves
1 blade of mace
60g butter
200ml sherry
900ml white stock
1 tbsp butter mixed to a paste with 1 tbsp plain flour for use as a thickening
juice of 1/2 lemon
Method:
Melt the butter in a pan then stir in the carrots, onion, mushrooms, bayleaf, herbs, cloves and mace. Cook gently over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is tender (about 6 minutes). Add the stock and sherry, bring to a gentle simmer and continue cooking for 60 minutes.
Take off the heat and strain the liquid in to a clean pan. Add the thickening, a small piece at a time, whisking to combine after each addition. Bring the sauce to a simmer and continue cooking for about ten minutes, or until thickened. Stir in the lemon juice, bring just to a boil then serve immediately as an accompaniment for salmon, trout, sea-trout or any well-flavoured freshwater fish.
