Beef with Harvest Sauce
If you want to cook with a harvest sauce, prepare the meat like I told you. Put parsley roots, (parsley) leaves and onions into it. After it’s cooked, add six or seven eggs, according to your needs. After you’re done, put the eggs into vinegar and start whipping it. Then pour the meat’s juices into it. Pour it onto the meat again, but don’t boil it; if you boil it, its size will suffer.
[The Science of Cooking]
Ingredients:
Beef (Bottom Roast)
Salt
½ Parsley Root Parsnip diced
½ Yellow Onion diced
Butter
3 Eggs
2 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar
¼ – ½ Cup Beef Broth (if needed)
Interpretation:
Salt the Beef. Roughly Dice Parsnip and Onion. Saute Parsnip and Onion until transluscent in a Dutch Oven. Add Beef. If you don’t think that the Beef will produce enough drippings, add Beef Broth. When Beef is done, remove the Beef and tent it. Separate the Onions and Parsnip from the Broth. Set up a Double Boiler with a Stockpot with Water in it and a Mixing Bowl on top and place over Medium Heat. In the bowl, whisk the Eggs. Add the Vinegar. And continue whisking. Drizzle in about 1 – 2 Tbsp of the Beef Broth. Allow it to thicken,but do not let it curdle. When it comes together, add Onions and Parsnip into the sauce and remove from heat. Serve Sauce over Beef.
Notes:
Suffer: It will curdle. Tempering the egg/vinegar and broth mixtures carefully will result in a creamy sauce. Note that this sauce is used several times in the cookbook.
Harvest Sauce is similar to a Hollandaise Sauce. The three primary components of Hollandaise Sauce are Eggs (Protein), Lemon Juice (Acid), and Butter (Fat). With Harvest Sauce, you substitute the Lemon Juice for Vinegar and Butter for the Beef Juice.
Bibliography:
“Beef with Harvest Sauce”, The Science of Cooking: The Prince of Transylvania’s Court Cookbook from the 16th Century, edited by Glenn Gorsuch, translated by Bence Kovacs, 3, Version 3.0, Glenn F. Gorsuch, 2018 (c1620).
