Houses Of Parliament Steak sauce
Houses of Parliament Steak Sauce
Posted by liz May 25, 2001
Source: Rene Stewart (as altered by Marion Wyse)
HP stands for Houses of Parliament.
It’s an English steak sauce
but infinitely better than any other.
I don’t use it on steak, but
it’s great on ham, bologna, etc.
Anyway, someone once sent me a
“recipe” for it but aside from being extraordinarily complicated,
the ingredients just don’t sound right.
HP contains dates,
tamarinds and other exotic things.
This calls for apples and plums
which I don’t think are part of the original formulation.
Anyway,
here’s what I have:
This one you have to plan on taking 2 days - maybe 3 if you use
frozen fruit.
It is, however, a cherished gift to bring to any
dinner invitation you receive! It goes best, of course, with beef
(my boss would be sooo happy to hear me say that!).
If you’re gonna
do it, make lots (that’s my philosophy) as you’ll be glad you did.
Last year I got 13 pints using fresh fruit and 16 pints when I used
the frozen stuff.
I ran all the fruit and vegetables through the
slicer on the food processor and that cuts down your preparation
time.
Ingredients required for Day 1
2 large and 4 medium purple onions (I prefer to use
Spanish or Walla Walla but couldn’t find
‘em)
24 cups sliced apples
24 cups sliced plums (Italian prune plums are best -
big firm juicy ones)
Ingredients required for Day 2
Sieved fruit
8 teaspoons ginger
9 teaspoons allspice
3/4 cup pickling salt
6 teaspoons nutmeg
3 teaspoons cayenne
(Note: all teaspoons of spice
are well rounded)
9 cups granulated sugar
15 cups cider vinegar
Method - Day 1
I skin and slice the onions first, then I sweat them in large
kettle as I would if making onion soup (that is cook on medium heat
for about 15 minutes, then reduce heat to as low as it will go and
let “sweat” until all other ingredients are ready, i.e.
1 to 1 1/2
hours).
The apples I core and remove pits, wormholes (but don’t
peel), and the plums just pit and remove “scabs”.
Then through the
food processor, measure and dump in VERY LARGE KETTLE.
Add sweated
onions to apple/plum mixture, bring to boil and simmer for 6 to 8
hours, or until vegetables and fruit are complete mush and can be
sieved.
Allow to cool awhile, then I run it through the food processor
again, then through the sieve which I set in VERY LARGE stainless
steel bowl.
I dump the sieved fruit into a container that will be
large enough to hold it and can store overnight (preferably in
refrigerator) - I’ve used 2 separate containers when necessary.
Method - Day 2
Put sieved fruit in VERY LARGE KETTLE, add spices, sugar and
vinegar, bring to boil and simmer until thick.
This can take a very
long while and you must be careful that it doesn’t scorch (tricky).
When I used the frozen fruit I omitted the sugar while I boiled it
down and added it later once the fruit mixture was reduced by about
one-half.
You must bring it back to the boil carefully when you do
this as the sugar will sink to the bottom - you must continue to
stir for about 15 minutes or so when you do it this way.
Then you
prepare jars, soften lids, fill jars and process as in salsa and
chutney recipes.
Easy!
