Chef Juliette
Mayonnaise de Volaille
Cold roast chicken, ciseled lettuce, and a shining coat of homemade mayonnaise, arranged with capers, olives, anchovies, eggs, and lettuce hearts, then tossed at the table as the canon intends.
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Fraises à la Créole
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2673, Fraises à la Créole, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Ripe strawberries and pineapple teach macération, resting fruit with sugar and kirsch: the juice becomes syrup, and a simple crown turns cold fruit into a generous dinner-party finish.
Salads
French
Dinner Party
Outdoor Dining
Make Ahead
30 min
Active Time
0 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Fraises à la Créole (strawberries with pineapple and kirsch) teaches macération, the resting of fruit with sugar and spirit until its own juice becomes the dressing. The one true thing is simple: sugar goes on first. It draws the strawberry juice, dissolves into it, and gives you the syrup that will gloss the finished fruit; kirsch follows, for perfume rather than sweetness.
The clipped original entry assumed a garde-manger to prepare immaculate fruit, a pastry section with kirsch-flavoured syrup ready, and a tazza broad enough for a close pineapple crown. For one cook, one stove, one evening, a shallow footed compote or rimmed platter does the work, and the maceration liquor becomes the syrup. Making a separate batch of syrup was brigade scaffolding and can go; the equal measure of strawberries and diced pineapple, the kirsch, and the crown around a central pyramid are the dish, so they stay.
Serve the fruit cold but not numb, ruby and gold under a clear sheen of its own juices. Give the sugar ten minutes alone with the fruit before adding the kirsch. That short wait decides the dish.
Fraises à la Créole belongs to the formal French service of entremets de fruits, composed fruit desserts arranged on a tazza for the dining-room table rather than tied to Lyon, Normandy, or another provincial larder. In classical French menu vocabulary, à la Créole was a loose label often attached to tropical produce; here pineapple carries the name, while kirsch reflects the confectioner's pantry of eastern France. The preparation passed naturally into home entertaining because its ceremony comes from macération and arrangement, not specialized cooking.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small ripe but firm strawberries
Quantity
2 cups (475 ml / 300 g)
washed, dried, and hulled; larger berries halved
ripe pineapple
Quantity
1 medium pineapple (about 2½ lb / 1.1 kg whole), yielding 2 cups (475 ml / 300 g) dice and 8 thin half-ring slices (about 1½ cups / 355 ml / 225 g)
peeled and cored; one portion cut into ½-inch dice and the remainder into thin half-rings
powdered sugar
Quantity
⅓ cup (80 ml / 40 g)
Kirsch
Quantity
¼ cup (60 ml / 56 g)
divided
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small ripe but firm strawberrieswashed, dried, and hulled; larger berries halved | 2 cups (475 ml / 300 g) |
| ripe pineapplepeeled and cored; one portion cut into ½-inch dice and the remainder into thin half-rings | 1 medium pineapple (about 2½ lb / 1.1 kg whole), yielding 2 cups (475 ml / 300 g) dice and 8 thin half-ring slices (about 1½ cups / 355 ml / 225 g) |
| powdered sugar | ⅓ cup (80 ml / 40 g) |
| Kirschdivided | ¼ cup (60 ml / 56 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Two medium nonreactive bowls
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Wide shallow footed compote or 12-inch (30 cm) rimmed platter
- •Slotted serving spoon
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the fruit
Wash the strawberries before hulling them, dry them thoroughly, and leave small berries whole while halving only the larger ones. Cut 2 cups (475 ml / 300 g) of pineapple into even ½-inch dice, matching the weight of the strawberries, then cut 8 thin half-ring slices for the crown. Even pieces macerate at the same pace; bruised or ragged fruit collapses before the platter reaches the table.
Water left on the berries dilutes the syrup. Dry them before removing their hulls so they don't drink water through the cut ends. - 2
Draw out the syrup
Put the strawberries and diced pineapple in a nonreactive bowl. Sift the powdered sugar over them in two additions, folding gently after each so every surface is coated without crushing the berries. Leave the sugared fruit for 10 minutes at cool room temperature, then fold in 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) of the Kirsch and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Sugar first is the principle: it draws the juice that becomes the syrup. If the strawberries begin softening quickly, shorten the chilled rest to 10 minutes and drain them at once; ça se rattrape.
- 3
Macerate the crown
Lay the pineapple half-rings in a shallow dish and spoon 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) of Kirsch evenly over them. Cover and chill for 30 minutes, turning once with your fingers or a thin spatula. Keep the slices intact because they are the architecture of the finished dish, not a spare garnish.
- 4
Finish the kirsch syrup
Set a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and drain the strawberry and diced-pineapple mixture for 5 minutes without pressing. Add the liquid from the pineapple slices and the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) Kirsch, then stir until the syrup is clear and lightly thickened by the dissolved sugar. If the fruit has released a great flood, use only enough syrup to gloss it and serve the rest alongside. If it has released very little, crush one strawberry into the liquid, leave it for 5 minutes, and strain again.
- 5
Build the crown
Arrange the pineapple half-rings in a close, overlapping crown around the rim of a chilled shallow footed compote or a platter with a slight lip. Lift the strawberries and diced pineapple into the centre with a slotted spoon, building a generous pyramid without packing or pressing. Let a few strawberries remain visible at the top and tuck loose pineapple dice into the gaps.
- 6
Gloss and serve
Spoon the kirsch syrup over the central fruit and lightly across the pineapple crown, stopping when everything gleams but no longer swims. Chill the assembled dish for no more than 20 minutes, then bring it out 5 minutes before serving so the perfume of the kirsch can open. At an outdoor table, keep it shaded and set the compote over a chilled plate until everyone is seated. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose strawberries for perfume and firmness, not size. Frozen berries collapse under macération, and pale, woody fresh ones have no juice worth turning into syrup. When good strawberries aren't available, choose a salade d'oranges instead and save Fraises à la Créole for the proper fruit.
- •Kirsch means dry cherry eau-de-vie, not sweet cherry liqueur. The distinction matters: sweet liqueur makes the syrup sticky and hides the fresh fruit, while proper Kirsch leaves a clean cherry-almond perfume.
- •A traditional tazza is simply a shallow footed serving dish. A glass compote, low pedestal bowl, or rimmed platter is the honest home equivalent; the slight lip matters because it catches the syrup.
- •For a dinner party, serve this after a rich main course with small glasses of demi-sec Crémant d'Alsace. Keep the portions generous but the accompanying wine modest, since the Kirsch in the fruit remains uncooked.
Advance Preparation
- •The pineapple can be peeled, cored, and cut up to 4 hours ahead. Keep the dice and slices in separate covered containers in the refrigerator.
- •Begin macération 45 to 60 minutes before serving. Longer soaking softens the strawberries and blurs the clean contrast between berry and pineapple.
- •Assemble the crown no more than 20 minutes ahead. Leftovers keep chilled until the following day, but the fruit will soften and should be served in bowls rather than rebuilt as a pyramid.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 230g)
Calories
160 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
2 mg
Total Carbohydrates
33 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
26 g
Protein
1 g
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