Damson Sauce for Poultry
by Cab DavidsonIngredients
8oz damsons
4 tablespoons of honey
1 large glass of wine
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 stick of celery
1 tablespoon of oil
1 tablespoon of vinegar
Liquamen or fish sauce
Seasoning
Instructions
Cook the damsons in just enough water to cover the bottom of a pan, tightly covered, until they're soft. Rub them through a sieve to get them smooth and to leave the stones behind.
Chop the celery finely, fry it with the cumin seeds, and add the fruit pulp, wine, vinegar, and honey. Cook this until it starts to feel a little thick and sticky, and add a few dashes of liquamen (or other fish sauce) before seasoning.
Megs comments
This is what Maximus wanted to do with his damsons, and it's this dish that led me to understand the joy if hot, salty, sour Thyatian sauces. For a royal table one might serve this with crane or bustard, whereas the middle classes would more often have it with goose (we get plenty of pink footed geese here) or duck, but even an earthy commoner might find this economical sauce livens up an old boiling fowl.
I have, with great success, used the leftover fruit from damson gin for this dish, which I find to be a pleasing memorial of my time with Maximus.