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Egurdouce

Egurduce, a medieval lamb dish in blue and white pot. For Egurduce recipe.

It was very common in medieval cooking to combine sweet and sour ingredients and “Egurdouce” is the French for a sweet and sour sauce.  However, although the sweet element are the currants, it is not clear that the red wine would produce a strongly sour taste and it may be that a wine vinegar was used originally.   This recipe is based on that in the Forme of Cury (1390).

Equipment

  • Weighing scales
  • Measuring jug
  • Large frying pan
  • Cast iron casserole

Preparation method

  • Place a knob of lard in the frying pan and heat until smoking hot.
  • Add the meat and brown thoroughly on all sides.
  • Place the meat in the casserole.
  • Add a little more lard to the frying pan and sauté the onions until transparent and starting to take on colour.
  • Place the onions in the casserole along with the wine, almonds, currants, spices and seasoning and simmer for an hour or until the meat is tender.
  • Add the breadcrumbs and stir in to thicken the sauce.
  • Transfer to a serving dish and scatter over with flaked almonds.

Tip: After you have peeled onions or shallots, cut them in half and remove the inner shoot as it can cause indigestion
Tip: To make breadcrumbs, the best way is to place chunks of bread into a blender and whizz.  You may need to turn the blender off occasionally and push the bread pieces down with a wooden spoon.
More lamb stew recipe
Braised lamb shanks with pearl barley
Irish stew
Lancashire hotpot
Scouse
Stewed leg of lamb
 

Norman and Medieval

Serves:
4
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • Half leg of lamb (1kg), boned and meat cut into small pieces
  • Lard
  • 175 g onions, peeled and finely sliced
  • 500 ml red wine
  • 30 g ground almonds
  • 70 g currants
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 15 g fresh white breadcrumbs

To serve

  • 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
  • 3 tbsp flaked almonds

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Egurdouce
Serving Size
 
353 g
Amount per Serving
Calories
411
Percent of Daily Value*
Fat
 
13
g
20
%
Saturated Fat
 
3.8
g
24
%
Cholesterol
 
99
mg
33
%
Sodium
 
408
mg
18
%
Potassium
 
731
mg
21
%
Carbohydrates
 
15
g
5
%
Fiber
 
2.4
g
10
%
Sugar
 
2.9
g
3
%
Protein
 
34
g
68
%
Calcium
 
62
mg
6
%
Iron
 
4.1
mg
23
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Keywords

Currants, Leg of lamb, Red wine

© Dr Caroline Gordon 
2026
Illustrations by Chichi Parish
Site by Anselm Eustace