Mushroom catsup

2 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 tablespoon Salt
3 pounds Mushrooms (buy when you can get them on sale; when they are a bit brown or bruised!)
2 cups Beer
1 tablespoon Horseradish
2 Bay leaves
1 Yellow onion; peeled, stuck cloves
1 pinch Each: mach; nutmeg, allspice, fresh ginger and garlic (Mrs. Glasse did not like garlic in this!)
⅛ teaspoon Coarse ground black pepper

Directions

WITH

This wonderful sauce is from Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. However, plain and easy those recipes are not! Mrs. Glasse gives the measurements for everything but the mushrooms themselves. Typical of old cookbooks! I worked out the following recipe for this delicious sauce to be used for meats and added to gravies.

Put the salt over the mushrooms in a large stainless container. Set overnight. Break up the mushrooms with your hands and simmer them, covered, for a few minutes so that the liquor can come out. Wring the liquid out the mushrooms using a coarse cloth such as cheesecloth or a potato ricer.

Reserve the liquid. Return the mushrooms to the pan and add the beer.

Simmer, covered, for l5 minutes. Strain the fluid from the mushrooms again, just as before. Reserve the liquid. Discard the mushrooms and combine the 2 fluids in the pan.

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer, covered. Reduce by one third. Strain through several layers of cheesecloth and place in bottles.

Cool and cork. Keeps in the refrigerator for 2 months.

Makes 2 cups.

INCLUDES OVERNIGHT SOAKING TIME From <The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American>. Downloaded from Glen's MM Recipe Archive, .

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