The more old recipes I read, the more I begin to think that many of the things we eat today have always been around in one form or another. I was very lucky to grow up in Cambridge – lucky in many ways, but one was that there had been long established and very good restaurants serving food from other countries for many years – many years before such restaurants appeared in other places. I wish I could remember the name of it but there was an excellent Chinese restaurant we used to go to – maybe in Petty Cury from being quite young children.
From an early age we were familiar with the different flavours of Chinese cuisine, and really enjoyed them. The idea of a sweet and sour dish didn’t seem odd or strange to us – only delicious! I was however, surprised to come across a recipe from the 1870’s for what is essentially sweet and sour sauce – not that it existed, but that Europeans liked it and used it:
PIQUANTE SAUCE
- 1 quart of stock
- ½ gill of vinegar
- 1 oz of flour
- 1 oz of butter
- 1 dozen peppercorns
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 1 faggot of herbs
- salt
- mince up the onion
- put in a pan with half the vinegar and boil until the latter has boiled away
- add the butter and all the vegetables
- steam for about three minutes
- pour over the stock and simmer for half an hour
- mix the flour into a smooth paste with the rest of the vinegar
- stlr into the sauce, let It boil for 5 minutes
- rub through a sieve
- if not a good colour add a few drops of caramel
- bring to the boil it again, and it is then ready to serve
It is a simple recipe, but essentially it is sweet and sour!
Lois Elsden 
I didn’t know that a bunch of herbs was a faggot! One certainly does live and learn.
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A faggot was a bundle of anything, particularly firewood!
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