Garlic Mustard sauce

[SimonCole]

Does anyone have a recipe for making the old-fashioned fish sauce with this herb?

[Flummery]

Do you mean the wild plant, aka jack-by-the-hedge, Simon? I love this plant and have been known to stick a leaf or two on a sandwich. Not heard of the sauce but I'd be interested if anyone can tell us.

[SimonCole]

Do you mean the wild plant, aka jack-by-the-hedge, Simon? I love this plant and have been known to stick a leaf or two on a sandwich. Not heard of the sauce but I'd be interested if anyone can tell us.

Yep, that's the one!

[vertangie]

There's many different wild garlic sauces.

There's cream and wilted wild garlic (my fave is sautéd mushrooms, wild garlic leaves and cream with a touch of mustard).

There's a bechamel white sauce with wild garlic leaves.

And there's this:

http://www.moniackcastle.co.uk/garlic.htm

is that what you mean? If so I'm not sure what's in it but you could always buy a bottle and read the ingredients

[SimonCole]

Specifically it is made from the wild herb 'Garlic Mustard' (Alliaria petiolata) also known as jack-by-the-hedge as a fish sauce. An old name for this plant is 'sauce-alone' which hints at it's once use.

[Flummery]

I had a thought and checked in Richard Mabey's Flora Brittanica - it mentions the sauce as good for fish and lamb - but not how to make it. Have you any idea what it's like Simon? Maybe we could re-create a recipe. I mean, is it like mint sauce or more like parsley sauce? I'm willing to try some experiments!

[SimonCole]

I have no idea! Thanks for checking for me, we're onto the scent. I've made a good tartar sauce with it before but would love the original.

[Flummery]

Hello again. I've tried a sauce which is a cross between a salsa verde and a salsa dressing.
Crush a clove of garlic with pestle & mortar. Add a teaspoon of chopped capers and continue to crush. Take a slack handful (you'll note the super-accurate measurements!) of garlic mustard leaves and chop finely. Add this to the mortar. Add a half teaspoon of mustard powder, a couple of tablespoons of white wine vingar and a couple of tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Mix all well together.

Tried it with rainbow trout - gorgeous. It is probably not really like the original but it's certainly a good sauce for fish. It might be too garlicky for some people but you could leave that out. The mustard was added to help emulsify the oil/wine mixture.

My version!

[SimonCole]

Thanks! I'll try that

[dexterdoglancashire]

This is taken from "Wild Food" by Roger Philips - A biennial herb, common in GB which occurs in hedgerows, wood margins and shady gardens.

It flowers from April to June. The leaves can sometimes be seen as early as February if there has been a mild winter. Pick the upper leaves and shoots in March or April when the flowers are in bud.

It was once a very common salad and flavouring herb. In 1657 William Coles wrote that it was "eaten by many country people as sauce to their salt fish".

In some parts of Britain it was served with boiled mutton and in Wales as part of bubble and squeak.

In HFWs Cook on the Wild Side he uses it as part of a salad and also part of his stewed rabbit - however he does say it looked disgusting, so took it out of the final dish, but that it did impart a good garlic flavour!

Bernie