In a saucepan, place cloves, onion, milk, peppercorns, parsley, nutmeg, salt and any additional flavourings you wish.
Bring just to a boil, then reduce immediately to a very, very low simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, let stand to infuse for 30 to 60 minutes.
Strain the milk into a bowl (discard the onion, etc.) Place bread in the saucepan, and pour milk back in along with the dried parsley. Heat over low heat, stirring frequently. This is a spooning sauce, so if it is too thick or too runny add more milk or bread accordingly.
Do not let boil. If it is ready too soon, the lower heat right down and cover, giving it a stir frequently. If you have cream on hand, you can stir in a tablespoon of cream a few minutes before serving.
Traditionally served with poultry, but also very nice with pork if you add a few more cloves.
Notes
Yield: 1 ¼ cups (300 g / 300 ml) in volume.For the bread, use about 3 slices (75 g) of fresh bread, torn into small pieces. How much bread you actually need will depend on how old is. If it's quite fresh, you may need another slice; if it's stale, you should be fine.You want all the milk to be taken up by the bread. To make stale bread, just set out a first slices overnight first.The photo shows the quantity this makes. To double or triple the recipe, just double or triple the milk and the bread only — no need to increase the seasonings.The flavour is actually very delicate and subtle despite what seems like a lot of seasonings.You can make ahead a day or two; store in sealed container in fridge and reheat in microwave when it's time to use.