This is an easy mint sauce recipe that will make your lamb dinner out of this world. It’s basic structure is a combination of sweet and sour with that unforgettable taste of mint.
Try it with this Easter Leg of Lamb. Replace the red wine vinegar sauce with Eliza Leslie’s Mint Sauce.
Eliza Leslie’s Mint Sauce
This is Eliza Leslie’s mint sauce recipe in its original form.
Take a large bunch of fine fresh green mint, that has been washed well. Strip the leaves from the stems, and mince them well. Put it into a pint bowl, and mix with it gradually some of the best cider vinegar. This sauce must not be the least liquid, but as thick as horseradish sauce or thicker. Make it very sweet, with the best brown sugar. Mix it well, and transfer to a small tureen, or a little deep dish with a teaspoon in it. Serve it up always with roast lamb, putting a teaspoonful on the rim of your plate.
A quart or more of mint sauce, made as above, but with a larger portion of sugar and vinegar, will keep very well for several weeks, in a jar well corked.
As I’ve said before, early recipes can really only be followed by the best of cooks. Here’s what the recipe looks like in our modern lingo.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar or more to taste
- 1/3 cup minced fresh mint leaves
Instructions
Hearth:
- Combine vinegar and brown sugar in small saucepan. Set on trivet over hot coals and heat until warm.
- Remove from heat and add meant leaves. Stir well and set aside to cool.
- Pour into sauce boat and serve as accompaniment to roast lamb.
Modern:
- Follow hearth direction 1, heating vinegar and sugar over low heat.
- Complete following hearth directions 2 and 3.
