Horseradish Cream Sauce for Roast Beef

I love my roast beef.  It is cheap, easy, and a great protein source.  Cold or hot, it is just plain awesomeness, and the bloodier, the better.  But just plain, it can get a bit boring.  It is good with the juices from the mushrooms I had cooked previously, but I wanted something different.  So...there I was, at Cody's Cub Scout meeting (first year kids require parents to attend all meetings, due to their age).  To pass the time, I was reading The Joy of Cooking.  Yeah...I'm that kind of dork.  I was mostly reading it to find new ideas and what are good combos for herbs and spices.  The Joy of Cooking isn't all recipes, like so many other cook books, as it has many techniques and tips for cooks.  Hey...where can you get a recipe for a good flambé and how to skin and prep a rabbit in one book?

While flipping through the sauces, I found an easy recipe for a horseradish sauce.  I am a big fan of horseradish, but it is often mixed with mayonnaise for sauces in the US, which I do not like at all.  You also find it in a Tewkesbury Sauce, which is a combo of horseradish and mustard.  I'm a purist, and I like to actually taste the pungent root.

Easy Horseradish Cream Sauce

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream*
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar (I prefer the lemon juice)
2 Tbsp prepared Horseradish
1/4 Tsp salt
pinch of ground red pepper

Whip heavy cream in a bowl until it begins to form stiff peaks.  At this point, combine the other ingredients, and slowly introduce them into the cream, trying to get a uniform mix.  Take a little taste, and add a little more lemon or horseradish, depending how you like the taste.  Once you are satisfied, allow the sauce to chill out in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.  Mix prior to serving.

*OK...I will have to admit.  This recipe I found is not entirely paleo, and I'll explain.  The first step requires that you whip heavy cream into stiff peaks, then add the other ingredients.  When looking around, some people stated that coconut milk works just fine for doing this, so I tried that out.  So...after a good 5 minutes of manually whipping the coconut milk (the stuff from the carton, mind you), I gave up, and tried the hand mixer with a whisk attachment.  Gave that a few minutes...still nothing.  So...I figured it was maybe just the way they make that particular type of coconut milk.  So I go and buy a can of first press, unsweetened stuff (with a carton of heavy cream, just in case).  This coconut milk thickened a little, but did not stiffen into a whipped cream.  So I ended up having to use the heavy cream.  Oh well...I tried, at least.  Erin says it is good to have dairy once in a while anyway, so you do not lose your lactose tolerance (which we both have before, and it SUCKS).

Anyway, the sauce, once it rested a bit, came out phenomenal.  I just dolloped it onto my roast beef.  The tangy taste of the sauce complements the savory flavor of the roast beef perfectly.


For your gastronomical chemistry lesson for today, kiddies, I'll tell you why the horseradish and its asian cousin, wasabi, have a different type of "spice", than hot peppers like jalapeños.  Most of the hot peppers get their heat from a chemical called capsaicin.  This chemical compound, when it hits the mucous membranes, is what gives you the feeling of fire...both up above and down below, as you have mucous membranes on the way out, as well.  Dairy seems to be the best thing to combat the flames, for you spice n00bs. 

Horseradish, wasabi, and some purer mustards are given their piquance (another lovely gastro word) from a chemical called sinigrin, not capsaicin.  Unlike capsaicin, the sinigrin turns into mustard oil, which is extremely pungent and irritating to the sinuses and eyes.  This is why when you get a good amount of horseradish or wasabi in your mouth, it feels like someone punched you in the nose.  It also is really good for draining your sinuses, if you have a cold.  Because the spice does not stick around as long as capsaicin, I tend to like it more, as it doesn't kill your taste buds for as long.

Anyway, it is a classic sauce for roast beef, as I said, but it would go well with any cut of beef.  Maybe elk or venison as well, but I have yet to try that...