Cumberland Sauce

Cumberland sauce served cold with cold meat, is made with redcurrant jelly, mustard, pepper and salt, blanched ‘matchsticks’ of orange peel, and port wine. Elizabeth David (1970), having conducted characteristically thorough research into its origins, observes that: (a) there is a legend that it was named for the Duke of Cumberland who was brother of George IV; (b) the first reference to it by name was in a French book, Alfred Suzanne’s La Cuisine Anglaise, of 1904; (c) what was essentially the same recipe had been published by Soyer in 1853, but without the name; and (d) the famous chef escoffier, who flourished in the Edwardian era, popularized the recipe given by Suzanne and was responsible for the commercial success of the sauce.