Richard Knight’s Bread Sauce

This is a little twist on a traditional English bread sauce recipe. I like to have a little texture in my bread sauce, so instead of cooking the bread in the sauce I drizzle the sauce over bread croutons right as it’s being served. That way you get the bread sucking up some of the sauce and you also get a toasty crunch of a crouton.
Photography By | December 01, 2016

Ingredients

  • 3⅓ cups milk
  • 1 cup cream
  • ⅓ cup unsalted butter
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 12 peppercorns
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 nice funky loaf bread (sourdough or something grainy)
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 3 thyme sprigs
  • A leprechaun’s pinch mace

Preparation

Place milk, cream and butter in a pan and gently warm.

Peel the onion and then push cloves into the flesh.

Add studded onion, peppercorns, bay leaves, sugar and garlic to milk-cream liquid; simmer 1 hour on low.

Pour yourself a nice glass of sherry; sip, pet dogs, etc.

Cut loaf into ½-inch squares, toss in a little oil with a sprinkling of kosher salt and toast in the oven until sexy and golden (can be made a day ahead and kept airtight).

Strain the milk-cream mixture and put liquid in a clean pan. Add the mace and then salt to taste.

When you are ready to serve, place the croutons in a warm bowl. Warm the sauce and drizzle it around croutons, sprinkle with fresh thyme and a few twists of fresh cracked black pepper.

NOTE: Bread Sauce is a wonderful way to use up stale bread. The creamy sauce is terrific with roasted poultry—try it with goose, turkey, guinea fowl or, of course, good old chicken.

Ingredients

  • 3⅓ cups milk
  • 1 cup cream
  • ⅓ cup unsalted butter
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 12 peppercorns
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 nice funky loaf bread (sourdough or something grainy)
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 3 thyme sprigs
  • A leprechaun’s pinch mace