Red-currant Sauce

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-quart (3.8 L) heavy-bottomed saucepan
• •Silicone spatula
• •Balloon whisk
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Heatproof storage jars

Instructions

1. 1

   Melt the jelly gently

   Put the red-currant jelly in a 4-quart heavy saucepan and set it over low heat. Stir slowly with a silicone spatula, reaching into the corners, until the jelly loosens into a smooth, translucent garnet liquid, 6 to 8 minutes. Do not let it boil. Boiling dulls the fresh currant edge and reduces the jelly back toward stickiness when it cools.

   If bubbles begin breaking across the surface, lift the pan from the heat and stir for a minute before continuing at a lower setting. The jelly needs only enough warmth to flow.
2. 2

   Sharpen with kirsch

   Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the kirsch in four additions, incorporating each before adding the next. The sauce should smell first of currants and then of clean, dry cherry. If it turns streaky or gathers around the whisk, return it to the lowest heat for 20 to 30 seconds while whisking; it will smooth again. Do not boil after adding the kirsch, or its bright aroma will leave the pan before the sauce reaches the table.

3. 3

   Thicken only if needed

   For a sauce that pours freely from a sauceboat, leave it unthickened. If it must cling to a pudding or poached fruit, whisk 1½ tablespoons (12 g) of the arrowroot with 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g) of the cold water until completely smooth. Return the sauce to low heat, stir the slurry once more, and drizzle it in while whisking. Warm only until the sauce gives its first lazy bubble and a ribbon briefly marks the surface, then remove it immediately; prolonged boiling weakens arrowroot. If the sauce is lumpy, pass it through a fine sieve. If it is too thick, whisk in warm water a tablespoon at a time. If it remains too thin, blend the reserved arrowroot and water and repeat. Ça se rattrape.

4. 4

   Serve with confidence

   Let the sauce settle for a minute, then transfer the amount needed to a warmed sauceboat. Serve it warm over gâteau de riz, baked custards, or poached pears, or let it cool to room temperature for cold creams and ice cream. If it begins to reset while waiting, loosen it over the lowest heat, stirring constantly. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose a clear, tart red-currant jelly, not a conserve filled with berries or seeds. The jelly is the sauce's entire foundation, so an overly sweet one gives the kirsch nothing to sharpen.
• •Kirsch means dry, clear cherry eau-de-vie. Sweet cherry liqueur or syrup changes both the balance and the texture; pleasant as those may be, they make another sauce.
• •Arrowroot is optional for a reason. Leave it out when the sauce will be passed at the table, and use it when the sauce must sit neatly on a molded pudding or poached fruit. The aim is a light cling, never a gel.
• •Serve this with gâteau de riz, semolina pudding, baked custard, poached pears, or plain vanilla ice cream. Rich, quiet desserts give the currant and kirsch room to speak.
• •The kirsch is only briefly heated, so the finished sauce retains alcohol. Keep that in mind when choosing the table it will serve.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the unthickened sauce up to 5 days ahead. Cool it promptly, cover, and refrigerate; it will set softly in the cold, then return to a pouring consistency over low heat.
• •If using arrowroot, thicken only the amount needed during the final reheating. The unthickened base stores more cleanly, and the kirsch keeps its brighter aroma when it is warmed only once.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 40g)