Šípková Omáčka Ke Zvěřině (Rosehip Reduction Sauce For Game)

Here is a fun and unique dish: a simple red wine reduction sauce for game, made with the fruit of the Dog Rose (Rosa Canina). The recipe is Czech in origin and unknown outside of the country, although its taste is as delicate as Cumberland Sauce or Sauce Grand Veneur, and it makes an accompaniment to game dishes equally as interesting. It does show that Czech cuisine can go beyond dumplings, utopence and tlačenka...

Rosa Canina is a climbing rose species native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia. It is a shrub normally ranging 3-15 ft in height. The stems are covered with small, sharp, hooked spines that aid it in climbing. The flowers are usually pale pink and mature into an oval 1/2-1 inch red-orange fruit, called the hip. The dog rose was the stylized rose of Medieval European heraldry. It was probably also the kind of climbing rose Charles Perrault had in mind when he wrote the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale (La Belle au bois dormant) in 1697, the rose that covered the Sleeping Beauty castle (Château d'Ussé in the Loire Valley).

The fruit has a tangy, fruity flavor similar to that of cranberries. The fruits are best harvested after the first frost, which makes them turn bright red and slightly soft. There are many culinary uses: apple sauce, soups and stews, syrups, puddings, marmalade, tarts, breads, and pie, or made into a jam or jelly. It is also very rich in Vitamin C, higher than citrus fruit. It has been used for medicinal purposes since the Roman times. Here, it is just used as an essential ingredient for a great wild game sauce!

"Se šípkovou?? Se zelim!"

Finally, whoever is familiar with Czech cinema at least a bit, will without a doubt recall this scene from the comedy Slavnosti snezenek (Snowdrop Festival), where two groups of hunters argue about whether to cook the wild boar they (accidentally) jointly shot with rosehip sauce, or with sauerkraut ("Se šípkovou?? Se zelim!").... Rosehip jelly is not a mainstream product in the U.S. but it can be ordered through Amazon.com. ...or, you can grow dog rose and make you own jelly...

Ingredients: 1/2 cup red wine 3 tbsp rosehip jelly 5-10 rosehip berries 3 tbsp tomato paste Pepper, salt, cloves Juice of 1/2 lemon 1/2 cup crème fraîche Sugar, to taste

1. Add cloves and rosehip berries to the wine and bring to a boil (similar to Glühwein, so far). Add rosehip jelly and tomato paste, and continue to boil.
2. Add a little sugar to taste. Season with salt, pepper, add crème fraîche and cook for another 5 minutes.