Saturday, June 26, 2010

Rosie Finally Makes Her Promised Boar And Castle Sauce.

Years ago,
one of the Hawthornes' favorite venues
 was the 220 Seafood Restaurant on 29S 
going from Danville to Greensboro.
 Back in the day, the Two-Twenty was the place to go 
for your fried seafood fix. 
The Two-Twenty served a side sauce - 
Boar and Castle Sauce 
and it was locally made in Greensboro.
 We loved that sauce. 
About 3 years ago, Mr. Hawthorne and I were in Greensboro
 and checked out Lowes Foods. 
We wanted more Boar and Castle Sauce. 
The manager informed us the family business had closed
 and he only had a few cases left. 
We bought 'em all.
 Since then, out of necessity,
 Mr. Hawthorne and I have been designing our own recipe 
for Boar and Castle Sauce. 
 I have mentioned this numerous times in my blog.
 Please, see here.
 And see vicious comments:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...
Anonymous: I believe I've heard that before,
Rosie. Still waiting...
"Next time I make it I'll give you the recipe."
Kathy: Ooh, anonymous gotcha, Rosie.
Rosie Hawthorne: Anonymous, I promise.  
Next.Time.I.Make.It. You WILL have the recipe.
Anonymous has taken me to task. 
 I've always said I would give the recipe
to you all the next time I made it.
 I make it maybe 1 or 2 times a year. 
 And I made it today. 
And here it is. 
A few days ago, 
I used half a tin of anchovies for a Caesar Salad dressing. 
Today, after much tweaking, 
I made my version of Boar and Castle sauce,
 using up the other half of anchovies. 
 Hope you like it as much as I do. 


Here's the original.
Since 1929.
Made in Greensboro, NC.
At the Teeter last week, I found this sauce.
It cost about $4.49, but I wanted to try it.
You can order it from Carolina Sauce Company.

Rosie's mise en place:
Rosie's Recipe for Boar and Castle Sauce
 4 tamarinds, steeped at least one hour in boiling water
1/2 tin of anchovies
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 TB soy sauce
 1/2 cup ketchup
 1/2 cup yellow mustard
 2 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp onion powder
 3 TB corn syrup
2 TB brown sugar
1 TB molasses
 1/2 tsp cayenne
1 TB lemon juice
To prepare tamarinds, pull off the strings
and take the flesh out of the pods.
Place the tamarinds in a bowl and ...
... pour boiling water over top.
Let steep for at least an hour.
 While the tamarinds were relaxing in a hot bath,
I started on my sauce.
I started by smooshing up my anchovies ...

... until you get a smooth, creamy paste.
Add in 1/3 cup cider vinegar.
2 TB soy sauce.
Add in 1/2 cup ketchup.
1/2 cup mustard
Whisk well.
2 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp onion powder
3 TB corn syrup
2 TB brown sugar
1 TB molasses
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Don't forget the lemon juice.
Like I did.
Added it later.
And here are my tamarinds after soaking.
These remind me of Sandra Lee's Sensuous Chocolate Truffles
AKA Cat-Poo Truffles.
Fellow TWoPer, Cissyboo
, actually made these in Sandra Lee's Test Kitchen.
Please check out the links for pictures of Cissyboo's "truffles."


Jan 29, 2005 @ 3:37 pm


Ok, Here are the pictures of the Sensuous Chocolate Truffles: I didn't make the full recipe, as I only had about a cup of frosting left from cupcakes. So I cut down accordingly. Step one, put frosting in bowl: Step one Step two, assault frosting with powdered sugar, sifted: Step two Step three, pour in vanilla, and mix it all up until smooooth: Smoooooth Step four, using melon baler, deposit one load on wax paper: The load Step five, finish putting the truffles on the plate:TRUFFLES??!! These looked so much like another substance, that I couldn't resist. I used my "piping bag" and piped the truffles into appropriate shapes. Step six, dust with cocoa: I didn't care by this point My "Trufflesscape": Trufflescape The taste test: Yummy! Final thoughts: Gross. Texture is kind of gritty, and greasy at the same time, incredible! The flavour is also greasy (if that is a flavour). The looks, very reminiscent of what was in my trufflescape. EWWWWWW!
Back to my sauce.
I mortared and pestled away at the tamarind pulp, removing seeds.

Press the tamarind pulp through a sieve into the rest of the mixture.
Scrape pulp off.
Bottle it and refrigerate.
The sauce is wonderful with fried foods - seafood or French fries.
 I dipped my hash browns in it for breakfast.
As for the verdict between The Real Boar and Castle Sauce,
 the Castle Sauce, and Rosie's Pig Shack Sauce,
 I gave Mr. Hawthorne a blind test.
Here's the setting.
 Boar and Castle Sauce.
Castle Sauce.
Rosie's Pig Shack Sauce.
Stoned ground wheat crackers.
Mr. Hawthorne's potato salad in the back left.
I started with the original Boar and Castle on the left.
 The ersatz Castle Sauce in the middle.
 Rosie's Pig Shack Sauce on the right.
The consistencies and color of #1 sauce and #3 sauce were identical.
 #2 sauce was darker and thinner. It had a pronounced molasses taste.
Here are some of the flowers I picked the other day.

Mr. Hawthorne's bottom line:
 He tasted #3 first, then #2, and #1.
He had no idea which was the original.
 He actually said, "Congratulations, you nailed it."
 Mr. Hawthorne pronounced #3 "smoother and mellow." "Less spicy."
 He felt #2 was a tad more spicy.
I didn't get that.
I got an overdose of molasses and I didn't like the runny texture.
 Mr. Hawthorne mentioned that #1 " ... jumps at us.
Not to say that's a bad thing."
 I thought the original was the spiciest.
 Rosie's bottom line: She loved her Pig Shack Sauce.

13 comments:

Marion said...

Rosie, how the hell did you ever come up with it? I remember we always had B&C sauce in the pantry growing up. Wonder what a slug of Sriachi sauce would do to it?

If it weren't for all that tamarind, might be fun to make for Christmas presents....

Kathy said...

Just where does one go to find tamarind anyway?

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Kathy, you can find tamarind in the Hispanic section of your regular groshry shtore.

Marion, go ahead and make it.
I've made it before without the tamarind and it was still good. The tamarind just brings it to a new level. Adds a bit of complexity to it.

Marion said...

....actually, Asian groceries usually have tamarind paste in blocks that you rehydrate, and tamarind goop that's the consistency of molasses. But around here the pods are pretty well available - most of the big chains except Teeter have big Hispanic sections. The Thomas stuff sounds tempting, though.

Rosie, for your next trick make your own Worcestershire sauce (hint: google "garum")

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Marion, the Thomas was disappointing.
Way too much molasses flavor. Darker in color and very thin.

And down here both Teeter and FL have them in the Hispanic section, where, by the way, you can buy spices for WAY LOW prices.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for finally posting the recipe. I have been waiting for it. I will attempt to make it as soon as I find some tamarind pods. Maybe I'll make it without them...
Are the anchovies essential? I am not fond of them at all, but I know that sometimes the fishy taste is not detectable at all.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Hey NMOAC, Long time, no hear.

I think the anchovies are pretty much essential - like in Caesar dressing. I couldn't eat an anchovy by itself if my life depended on it, but you don't taste anything fishy in this.

I find the tamarind in the Hispanic section of Food Lion and Harris Teeter.

Let me know how you like the sauce.
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Okey dokey, Rosie. I'll use the anchovies if you say so. I do read your blog every day and enjoy it. I guess that, in addition to being notmuchofacook, I'm not much of a commenter. I'll try to do better.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting, will try to make this. Question: What is the reason you only make it once or twice a year? Does it last that long, or is it too labor intensive, or are you just not that into it?

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Hi Anony, It lasts quite a while,
plus I still have those cases of the real stuff. I tweek each time I make it to get it a little closer to the real deal. This is pretty darn close, as in I wouldn't be able to tell which was which on a blind test. There are subtle differences -
the heat factor for one - but not enough to tell. If I had one at one meal and the other at another meal, I would not know the difference at all.

As for "labor intensive," I do not shy from labor intensive.
See Celine:

http://www.kitchensaremonkeybusiness.com/2009/09/i-have-head-of-jerry-garcia.html

http://www.kitchensaremonkeybusiness.com/2009/09/rosie-begins-on-french-laundrys-braised.html

http://www.kitchensaremonkeybusiness.com/2009/09/part-deux-of-celine.html

There's more. If you're interested,
go back to September 2009 and read about it.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Here's more on Celine:

http://www.kitchensaremonkeybusiness.com/2009/09/more-of-celine-pork-stock-and-braised.html

http://www.kitchensaremonkeybusiness.com/2009/09/celine-day-two-rosie-makes-pig-roulade.html

http://www.kitchensaremonkeybusiness.com/2009/09/this-little-piggie-cried-wee-wee-wee.html

Rosie? Scared of labor intensive?
I think not!

Anonymous said...

Rosie,
The real original Boar and Castle Sauce is back and is available in many stores in NC. Go to boarandcastle.com to locate your nearest store, or look for the online store to order it. The Castle Sauce you talk about in your article is a fake and poor copy of the real sauce.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Anony, I'm glad to hear the real sauce is back, although I've pretty much nailed it.