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The best bread sauce

By: Emily Gussin
Food producer and sustainability lead, delicious.

Published: 13 Nov 23
Updated: 13 Nov 24

Bread sauce is a classic for good reason: it’s a seriously good addition to Christmas dinner, adding creamy richness and warming spice. The milk is infused with onion, cloves, peppercorns and a bay leaf before the sauce is finished with freshly grated nutmeg. And it can be made ahead, too.

Serve this bread sauce alongside roast goose as part of our zero-waste Christmas feast, and all the partially-used ingredients and peelings will be used up in other parts of the meal.

Easy
November 2023

Test kitchen approved

Serves 6 with leftovers
Hands-on time 15 min, plus 20 min infusing

Serve this bread sauce alongside roast goose as part of our zero-waste Christmas feast, and all the partially-used ingredients and peelings will be used up in other parts of the meal.

Vegetarian recipes

Nutrition: Per serving

Calories: 141kcals
Fat: 8.1g (4.8g saturated)
Protein: 5g
Carbohydrates: 12g (5.1g sugars)
Fibre: 0.5g
Salt: 0.3g

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Ingredients

1 onion
568ml (1 pint) whole milk
6 cloves
8 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
100g white bread, whizzed into breadcrumbs
50ml double cream
Freshly grated nutmeg

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Method

Top, tail and peel the onion, reserving the trimmings for the gravy, if making our zero-waste Christmas dinner. Halve the onion and put in a medium pan with the milk, cloves, peppercorns and bay leaf. Bring almost to the boil, then remove from the heat and cover. Leave for at least 20 minutes to infuse.
Strain the milk into another pan and add the breadcrumbs. Cook for a few minutes, stirring, until warmed through and thickened. Add the cream and a splash of water, then season with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. If making ahead, cool, then keep covered in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Gently reheat before serving.