Hollandaise, tartare, vièrge, mousseline, maltaise, Mornay, normande and aurora are just a handful of the many classic sauces in the French culinary repertoire that are parti-cularly good with fish. But English cookery is not without its interesting sauces to accompany this dish.

At some point, the French must have been so intrigued by our gooseberry sauce for mackerel that they named the fruit groseille à maquereau. And it is an excellent sauce for this rich fish, sharp and piquant, yet with a suave texture. For the same reasons, a modern sauce made from rhubarb or cranberries partners oily fish very well.

On the subject of sauces, one of the very good truly English versions seems to have fallen from grace. I suppose this is because it is a flour-based sauce, and these became very unfashionable some years ago. English butter sauce is not the same as beurre blanc, and it is somewhat easier to make and control.

Another attraction is that it is a good foundation sauce, to which you can add other ingredients. Try it with shrimps, chopped egg, watercress, tarragon and capers, parsley, mint, anchovy, crab, fennel, mustard, lobster or horseradish. Here you have a dozen good traditional English sauces to serve with fish, without looking at modern versions.

On the other hand, with shellfish, I like to serve a lemon gin and dill sauce. Lemon gin is a good kitchen ingredient; simply take off as many thin curls of lemon zest as will fit and stuff them into a bottle of gin. Over the months, the spirit will take on a pale yellow hue and a good flavour. In my Gozo kitchen I sometimes substitute with finely chopped fennel fronds.

Soy sauce was used in English cookery much earlier than we might have imagined. Mrs Rundell’s New System of Domestic Cookery, published in 1806, uses it in a sauce to accompany lobster, to which were added port, a little stock and some cayenne.

Walnut ketchup, she mentions, might replace the soy sauce. To me, soy is still one of the best flavourings for fish, when used with a light hand. It is especially good, of course, as a dresssing for steamed fish, when combined with a little fino, or Noilly Prat, some ginger, spring onions, star anise or two and a hint of chilli vinegar.

I make chilli vinegar in the same way that I make lemon gin, simply infusing a handful of chillis in a bottle of white wine vinegar. If you like a dash of vinegar with your fish and chips, this is the vinegar to use.

Chlorophyll is another useful ingredient for the cook, and not only as a sauce to accompany fish. It is somewhat ‘cheffy’ in its preparation, but well worth it if you have time. To make enough chlorophyll to colour a batch of pasta, some mayonnaise, some herb butter and a butter sauce, take about two to three handfuls of flat-leaf parsley and put in a food processor or blender, together with 100 to 150 ml boiling water.

When the water has cooled a little, switch on and process, so that you get the herbs as finely chopped as possible. Rub the mixture through a sieve into a heatproof jug; a glass one is best, as you can see what is going on. Use the herb residue in the sieve to add to mashed potatoes, soup, herb scones or the Cornish herb pie.

Put the jug in a saucepan of hot water and heat gently until the chlorophyll, that is, the green solids, separates from the water. Remove from the heat. With an elastic band, fasten a piece of wet cheesecloth over a bowl and carefully spoon the thick green chlorophyll on to it to drain out the last of the water.

Then scrape the chlorophyll into a small bowl ready for use. Use sparingly, as it is very green and very concentrated. Adding tarragon to the parsley makes a very good flavour. Or you can make chlorophyll from young spinach, basil or watercress, anything pungent and green that will not discolour in the brief cooking. Sorrel, for example, will turn an undistinguished khaki, which is unfortunate, for the flavour is excellent.

Since I get many requests for this, all of today’s recipes serve two, except for the butter sauce.