Travemünder sauce for all kinds of fish

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 4 tbsp, heaped butter, unsalted
• 2 tbsp, heaped wheat flour
• 500 ml fish stock or cooking water from fish, if available
• 1 pinch of mace, ground (mace)
• ½ tsp dill seeds, finely crushed in a mortar
• 2 egg yolks
• some lemon zest (organic)
• n. B. Sea salt and pepper, white
• n. B. Sprats (Kieler Sprats), 1 – 2, whole (for the “Travemünder Spezial”)
• ½ tsp sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 25 minutes; Rest time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 45 minutes

Recipe from the 18th century – rediscovered and slightly renovated in Fiefhusen

First, melt the butter and ground dill seeds in a saucepan over 3/4 heat until small bubbles form. Now add the flour and whisk it thoroughly into the butter. Stirring continuously, fry until golden brown. Gradually stir in 400 ml of the hot fish stock until the desired consistency is achieved. The remaining 100 ml of fish stock is for adjusting the sauce. If you’re serving cooked fish, the fish cooking water also works excellently in place of the fish stock. Now remove the pan from the heat and season the sauce with salt, pepper, sugar, mace, and lemon zest, then let it cool slightly. Just before serving, whisk in the egg yolks until you have a smooth, amber-colored sauce. If the sauce is a bit too thick, adjust the sauce with the remaining liquid. There are two small changes to the “Travemünder Sauce Spezial”: The dill seeds are not ground in a mortar and pestle, but are added whole to the butter. For a subtle smoky flavor, briefly bring the fish stock (or the fish cooking water) to a boil with the sprats and let it simmer for 10 minutes, then strain through a fine sieve. Then use the liquid as described above. The sauce goes well with all kinds of fish and seafood, especially boiled or steamed cod. I discovered the recipe in a book about historical North German cuisine. There were no quantities listed, so I experimented a lot until I translated the recipe for modern cooking.