The Philosophy of Food, Issue #024: Medieval Sweet and Sour Fish

Tonight, for your culinary pleasure, I have prepared a dauce egre or, in modern English, Sweet and sour fish.  It's a 14th century dish of fried fish covered in a tangy red wine vinegar and onion sauce.  Sound good?  Well, too bad.  Because it's what's for your deliciously anachronistic dinner.

The Ingredients
-Fish.  The recipe calls for Haddock.
-Olive oil.
-1 minced onion.
-1 cup Red Wine Vinegar.
-1/3 cup sugar.
-1/2 tsp. ground mace.
-1/2 tsp. ground cloves.
-1/2 tsp. ground black pepper.

MINCE!

The Process
Before I started on anything, I made sure that I had all my ingredients ready.  This includes mincing the onions.  Eyes beware.

Next, you lightly poach the fish.  While the recipe calls for haddock, I used drum.  Because that was what was available at the grocery the week of a hurricane.  Anyhow, to poach the fish, bring a large pan full of water to a boil, and immediately turn the heat to low.  Add the fish  to the pan, cover, and let it cook in the nearly boiling water for five minutes, then remove.  It doesn't matter if it doesn't cook all the way through, because we're going to fry it up in a minute.

To prepare the sauce, add the red wine vinegar, sugar, onions, and spices to a small or medium saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.  The original recipe isn't great on giving precise instructions, but keep it at a light boil until it cooks down a bit or until the onions have been obliterated, whichever comes first.

Once your sauce is relatively far along, heat up some olive oil in a large pan and fry the fish until it is a crispy golden brown.

Remove the fish from the oil, drain, and place in a serving dish.  Cover it in the sauce and serve it up.

A whole onion might have been a bit much. . . or not.  Medieval recipes aren't very precise.

Fry it up!

The completed sauce.

 The Results

If you lived in 14th century England and were affluent enough to afford cloves, mace, and peppercorns, this might look vaguely like something you might have for dinner.

No idea if you'd be eating green beans though.

 So.  I would call this a success.  Considering that I've never made fish before, much less this recipe.  The sauce came out perfect, for what it is.  The only real hiccup was the fish.  I didn't have the oil hot enough to start with, so it cooked longer than it should have, and came out kind of tough (for fish).  Still, it was good and it all got eaten.

Either that or the fish got up and swam away. . .

 It's perhaps not something I'd prepare very often, but it presents well and is a bit different from food you might find elsewhere, so maybe something fun for a date or dinner party.

Anyhow.  I'm in negotiations as to what to make next.  I'm banking on shellfish in almond milk sauce (another medieval recipe), but others in the house aren't as thrilled.

Remember, folks, eat well and serve it forth!