Chef Juliette
Various Almond Preparations
Five almond preparations, one discipline: remove the skins cleanly, dry every kernel through, then cut, toast, or cloak it in pale caramel without letting its fragrant oils escape.
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Jubilee Cherries
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2566, Jubilee Cherries, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Cerises Jubilé makes celebration from discipline: tender cherries, a clear arrowroot-bound syrup, and warm kirsch catching in a brief blue flame, all scaled for four and served from honest little timbales.
Desserts
French
Celebration
New Years
Special Occasion
20 min
Active Time
20 min cook•40 min total
Yield4 servings
Cerises Jubilé (cherries poached in syrup and flambéed with kirsch) teaches that temperature is an ingredient. Before you touch a pan, know this: kirsch straight from the bottle is reluctant to burn. Warm it in a metal spoon and its brief blue flame appears cleanly.
The old formula assumed a saucier to poach and reduce, a server to manage small silver timbales, and coffee spoons whose size everyone in the room understood. At home, one saucepan, four flameproof ramekins or metal timbales, and a standardized teaspoon do the same work. Silver is service scaffolding and can go; the individual portions, exact arrowroot ratio, and tableside flame are the dish itself and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The cherries should remain whole beneath a translucent ruby glaze, tender enough for a spoon but never cooked into compote. Measure the reduced syrup before adding the arrowroot, because its clarity depends on proportion rather than guesswork. The deciding step comes last: warm each measured spoonful of kirsch before striking the match.
Cerises Jubilé belongs to the ceremonial dining rooms that connected Parisian classical service with the British royal table, where a jubilee called for a dessert finished before the guests. Silver timbales and burning kirsch turned the French practice of poaching fruit in syrup into a celebration piece. Many household versions add vanilla ice cream, but this classical formula is deliberately spare: cherries, reduced syrup bound clear with arrowroot, and kirsch.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
ripe, firm sweet cherries
Quantity
3 1/4 cups (780 ml / 500 g)
pitted
water
Quantity
1 1/2 cups (360 ml / 360 g)
granulated sugar
Quantity
1 cup (240 ml / 200 g)
arrowroot starch
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 8 g)
cold water
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g)
for the slurry
dry kirsch, 40% ABV or higher
Quantity
4 teaspoons (20 ml / 19 g)
divided
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| ripe, firm sweet cherriespitted | 3 1/4 cups (780 ml / 500 g) |
| water | 1 1/2 cups (360 ml / 360 g) |
| granulated sugar | 1 cup (240 ml / 200 g) |
| arrowroot starch | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 8 g) |
| cold waterfor the slurry | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) |
| dry kirsch, 40% ABV or higherdivided | 4 teaspoons (20 ml / 19 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Cherry pitter
- •2-quart stainless-steel saucepan
- •Heatproof measuring jug
- •Slotted spoon
- •Four 8-ounce flameproof ramekins or metal timbales
- •Rimmed metal serving tray
- •Long-handled metal tablespoon
- •Long matches or a long-reach lighter
- •Second metal tray or lid for smothering
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the cherries
Pit the cherries over a bowl so none of their juice is lost, then inspect them with your fingertips for stray stones. Arrange four 8-ounce flameproof ramekins or metal timbales on a stable rimmed metal tray. The individual vessels matter because each guest receives cherries, glaze, and a brief flame of their own.
- 2
Poach them gently
Combine the 1 1/2 cups water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Warm gently, stirring only until the sugar dissolves, then bring the syrup to a quiet simmer. Add the cherries and any collected juice; poach at the barest tremble for 3 to 5 minutes, turning them once, until glossy and just tender but still holding their shape. A hard boil bursts the skins and clouds the syrup. If the first cherries begin to split, lower the heat and lift them out immediately; they will finish softening beneath the hot glaze. Ça se rattrape.
- 3
Reduce the syrup
Lift the cherries into the prepared timbales with a slotted spoon, dividing them evenly. Boil the syrup steadily until only 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (285 ml) remains, checking it in a heatproof measuring jug as it approaches the mark. This preserves the source formula exactly: one tablespoon of arrowroot for each imperial half-pint of reduced syrup. If you reduce below the mark, restore the volume with enough hot water to reach 285 ml.
- 4
Bind to a glaze
Stir the arrowroot with the tablespoon of cold water until perfectly smooth. Return the measured syrup to a gentle simmer, stir the slurry again, then whisk it into the syrup. Cook for only 20 to 30 seconds, until the liquid turns clear and glossy and coats the back of a spoon with a light veil. Do not keep boiling, since prolonged heat weakens arrowroot. If it clumps, strain it while hot; if it becomes too thick, loosen it teaspoon by teaspoon with hot water. Spoon the glaze over the cherries.
- 5
Flambé at the table
Set the tray on the table with a second metal tray or lid close at hand for smothering a flame. Remove the kirsch bottle from the table before lighting anything. For each timbale, immerse the bowl of a long-handled metal tablespoon in just-boiled water for 30 seconds, dry it completely, then measure 1 teaspoon of kirsch into the hot spoon. Pour it immediately over one portion without stirring and ignite the surface with a long match. Repeat for the remaining timbales, never carrying one once it is lit. If the kirsch does not catch, do not add more or keep striking matches over it; lift the unlit spoonful from the surface, warm it again in the metal spoon, and try once more. Let every flame die completely before eating. À table!
Flambé in a clear area, away from sleeves, hair, candles, cupboards, and decorations. Never pour alcohol directly from its bottle near a flame, and never use water to extinguish burning spirits.
Chef Tips
- •Choose ripe cherries with firm flesh and taut skins. Very soft fruit collapses during poaching; if that is what the market handed you, shorten the poach and lift each cherry as soon as it yields.
- •Out of season, use unsweetened frozen pitted cherries while still partly frozen. Poach them for only 1 to 2 minutes, since freezing has already softened their structure; the flavor remains honest, though the finished fruit will be less firm.
- •Arrowroot gives the syrup the transparent gloss this dessert requires. Cornstarch makes a cloudier, more pudding-like glaze, so it is not an invisible substitution.
- •Use dry, clear kirsch at 40% ABV or higher, not a sweet cherry cordial. Lower-proof liqueur may taste pleasant, but it will not reliably ignite.
- •Flambéing does not remove all the alcohol. Serve this dessert only to guests for whom alcohol is suitable, and omit the kirsch entirely when it is not.
Advance Preparation
- •The cherries may be pitted up to 8 hours ahead, covered, and refrigerated with any collected juice.
- •The cherries may be poached and the syrup reduced up to one day ahead. Refrigerate the fruit in the unbound syrup, then warm gently, lift out the cherries, and add the arrowroot slurry shortly before serving.
- •Once arrowroot has been added, reheat the glaze only gently and never boil it for long. Prepare and light the kirsch only at the moment of service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 210g)
Calories
290 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
1 mg
Total Carbohydrates
72 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
66 g
Protein
1 g
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