Sauces

I recently experimented with 2 sauces. First a citrus cinnamon and the second a "Pepper sauce" though it tastes like melted liebkuchen to me :)

Page 270 recipe# 270: To prepare a sauce of orange juice and lime juice
     Get  four ounces of lime juice and a pound of bitter or semi-sweet orange juice and set the clearest of it to boil with a pound of fine sugar, a quarter ounce of whole cinnamon and two whole cloves. Give it the cooking set out in the previous recipe for the sauce of pomegranate wine* so that it is reduced by two-thirds.

*that recipe is #264, the cooking instructions are "To boil the mixture over a low coal fire."

I made 2 batches that I ended up mixing together for the final product.

I used 11/2 cups of orange juice
              1/2 cup of lemon juice (to take the sweetness from the orange)
              1/2 cup of lime juice
                1 pound of sugar

Boiled on the stove. Batch 1 with .25 oz of ground cinnamon (as I had missed the instruction for whole until it was too late) and 2 cloves and batch 2 with stick cinnamon and 2 cloves. Both were delightful but the ground cinnamon leaves a gritty texture and heavy taste where the stick leaves a smooth texture and a more subtle and refined taste. For the purposes of the feast I mixed the two together.

Page 264 recipe# 251: To prepare a pepper sauce that can be used like the one above*
     Get a pound of grated bread or of crust less bread toasted on the coals; put it into a pot with eight ounces of must syrup^, a pound of lean meat broth or water, four ounces of vinegar, an ounce of cinnamon and another of ground pepper, cloves, nutmeg and ginger combined. Cook that. When it is done put it through a filter or strainer, adding six ounces of sugar and three ounces of malmsey. Bring it again to a boil in a cooking basin, then take it down and let it cool. As a sauce, serve it with sugar and cinnamon over it, splashed with rosewater. To use it to garnish fowl and game quadrupeds roasted on a spit, keep it thinner with a little broth.

*  Both sauces are served either thick by themselves or thinned with meats
^ Must syrup is a syrup made by juicing grapes and reducing the juice by 2/3 intensifying the flavor

This one posed some problems at first but in the end worked real well as a thinned sauce for the meat.

I used:
1 lb dry bread crumbs
6 cups water
11/2 cup vinegar (red balsamic to intensify flavor)
1 oz ground cinnamon
.25 oz ground black pepper
.25 oz ground cloves
.25 oz ground ginger
.25 oz ground nutmeg
16oz of must syrup ( I am lucky enough to be able to make some each year )
12 oz sugar
1c+2Tbsp sweet white Greek wine

when I reheated it on site I brought 2 cups of grape juice to a boil and added in the mass stirring it up.

When I get a better feel for what the measures of the time were I will re work this (and several other) recipe.