Simple White Sauce is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton's recipe of 1861, for a classic vegetarian white sauce of milk cooked with rice and lemon zest that's pureed and flavoured with mace and cayenne pepper. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Simple White Sauce.
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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
WHITE SAUCE (a very Simple and Inexpensive Method).
539. INGREDIENTS.—1-1/2 pint of milk, 1-1/2 oz. of rice, 1 strip of lemon-peel, 1 small blade of pounded mace, salt and cayenne to taste.
Mode.—Boil the milk with the lemon-peel and rice until the latter is perfectly tender, then take out the lemon-peel and pound the milk and rice together; put it back into the stewpan to warm, add the mace and seasoning, give it one boil, and serve. This sauce should be of the consistency of thick cream.
Time.—About 1-1/2 hour to boil the rice.
Average cost, 4d.
Sufficient for a pair of fowls.
Seasonable at any time.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
900ml milk
45g rice
1 strip of lemon zest
1/8 tsp ground mace
salt and cayenne pepper, to taste
Method:
Combine the milk, lemon zest and rice in a pan. Bring to a boil and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the rice is completely tender. Remove the lemon zest then either pound or puróe the milk and rice mix until completely smooth.
Return to the pan, add the mace and seasonings and warm through. Bring the mixture to a boil, take off the heat and serve immediately (the final sauce should have the consistency of double cream).
