Preserved Cherries
Along with Weeknight Dinner, the most popular feature at Urban Home is Urban Bar, in which I write about potent potables from cocktails to wine to beer. Last October's appropriately timed column on the Corpse Reviver was one of the most clicked and forwarded columns of the year, as was that summer's write-up of wines to serve with steak and the previous winter's story of the Black Russian. Other popular entries in Urban Bar have included an ongoing love affair with the martini and a bloody good batch of Bloody Marys. 2012 commenced with an airplane ride and a toast with what anyone who knows me will tell you is my signature drink -- a perfectly rendered Manhattan on the Rocks. Summer commenced with a rosé sangria as lovely as a June sunset, and just last week summer crescendoed with a drink operatic in story, profile, hue and wallop: the Negroni.
The recipe for the Negroni included instructions for heating the strip of orange peel that garnishes the drink. To bartenders, this is known as flaming the peel, and it is but one of the innumerable techniques that experienced bartenders employ in the practice of the craft. In the case of flaming the peel, doing so releases the oils of the citrus fruit onto the surface of the cocktail. The dexterous touch makes sense when you consider it. A cocktail is a suspension of precisely calibrated flavors. In bartending more than any other food and drink craft I can think of except baking, measure is exacting and crucial. With such a focus of flavors going into the glass, the difference between a citrus peel laying inert across the drink and that step of releasing the oils onto the liquid surface is not just a nicety but a gesture of deftness on the part of the bartender and of respect for the cocktail, its drinker, and the craft of building it.
Bartenders love a good drinker, especially one who respects the craft. I never settle at a bar without hoping to earn the respect of the tender. I have learned much from bartenders, and I mean that beyond the profound experience of sitting at a bar slouched over a glass. As I mentioned in the column about the Negroni, one bartender let me behind the bar to mix the drink. When I passed the test, showed me his secret stash of pistachio liqueur with which he sometimes treats the staff after hours with a drink he calls the Spumoni Negroni. (Most bar staff are expected to "work dry," meaning that while they're mixing for you they're teetotaling for themselves. But don't worry, they make up for it once they clear the till.) I learned how to muddle from the bartender at one of my favorite speakeasies in New York City. I consulted on the wine list at a local tavern last summer, and last winter these comrades invited me to give a demo on Russians.
Like anything, bartending has its vogues. Last year, many bartenders found themselves making their own bitters, a practice chronicled in a last year's wonderful James Beard Award-winning book on the topic. Concurrent with lastfall's PBS special on the subject, Prohibition cocktails spiked in popularity. I still see the Daisy and the Spencer on drink menus. And at two of my favorite restaurants in the country -- one in upstate New York, one in Hollywood -- my favorite drink, the Manhattan, is garnished with a cherry that the mixer preserved.
Manhattans are garnished with a maraschino cherry, that neon-red orb you see speared onto a holiday ham or dotting the burnt sugar surface of a pineapple upside down cake. Maraschino cherries are called that from their association with marasca cherries, which as an infusion make Maraschino, a sweet cherry liqueur. Most jarred maraschino cherries are not made with marasca cherries but with a high-yield orchard crop such as Royal or Rainier. Cherries have a short but populous season. In the northern hemisphere, cherries are abundant right now but the supply will begin tapering off as early as Labor Day.
It is easy to preserve cherries for cocktails. I've been doing so for years. Any frequent guest to our home is as used to seeing the tall jar of preserved cherries in the fridge as they are to seeing the butter dish or a frosty brewski. I start haunting the farmers market mid-July, asking the vendors when they expect the cherry crop to peak. I ask them to set aside a couple of pounds for me from that harvest, which I then process using the recipe below. One and a half to two pounds of cherries will yield a tall jar, which refrigerated should last until next year's crop comes in. From there, preserving cherries becomes a seasonal practice. There will be extra to stash a small jar in the door of the fridge just in case, maybe even to have a few of the same to give as gifts. If so, be sure you give a jar to your favorite bartender. It's the least you can do for someone who exemplifies the art of attentiveness to craft.
Preserved Cherries
This fresh-preserve recipe is not appropriate for hot water bath or pressure canning. Superfine sugar is an important ingredient for your urban bar and your baking pantry; look for it in the baking aisle. There's no need to use top-shelf brandy.
1 -1/2 pounds sweet cherries, such as Bing or Lambert
6 tablespoons superfine sugar
1 bottle good brandy, such as Fundador
1. Fill a large bowl with several drops commercial produce cleaner. Add water to fill the bowl approximately 1/3 full.
2. Working one at a time, remove and discard the stem, leaves, and pit from each cherry. Inspect each cherry as you go: it should have a shiny red surface without any noticeable softness, stickiness or brown patches. Discard the bad cherries (there should only be a few) and once stemmed and pitted, drop the good ones into the cleansing bath. Swirl the cherries in the bath.
3. Position an in-sink colander into place. Empty the cherries into the colander. Rinse the cherries well under cool water, swirling them well. Give the colander a shake, and leave the cherries to dry, about one hour.
4. After one hour, measure one cup brandy into a glass measuring cup with a spout. Measure the superfine sugar into the brandy. Swirl the brandy until the sugar is dissolved.
5. Pack the cherries into a large clean jar with a tight-fitting lid. It should hold approximately 1-3/4 pints. Pack to within 3/4 inch of the top of the jar. If you have too many cherries, use a smaller jar or jars for those.
6. Swirl the brandy and carefully pour it into the jar. It should just cover the top line of the cherries. If you need more liquid, make a second batch of sweetened brandy.
7. Once all of the cherries have been used, screw the lid/s onto the jar/s. Gently shake the jars to distribute the cherries. Refrigerate for 48 hours without disturbing the jars. Decant and refrigerate extra sweetened brandy if any.
8. After 48 hours, gently remove the lid/s. Use a long spoon to stir the cherries. The cherries should be starting to darken with no noticeable foam or mold growing on the surface (if there is, discard that batch). Top off the brandy if indicated and screw the lid/s back onto the jar/s.
9. After 48 hours, repeat step 8.
10.After 24 hours, check the cherries. They should be nice and dark and have darkened the brandy to dark red; this indicates that the cherries are ready to use.
The recipe for the Negroni included instructions for heating the strip of orange peel that garnishes the drink. To bartenders, this is known as flaming the peel, and it is but one of the innumerable techniques that experienced bartenders employ in the practice of the craft. In the case of flaming the peel, doing so releases the oils of the citrus fruit onto the surface of the cocktail. The dexterous touch makes sense when you consider it. A cocktail is a suspension of precisely calibrated flavors. In bartending more than any other food and drink craft I can think of except baking, measure is exacting and crucial. With such a focus of flavors going into the glass, the difference between a citrus peel laying inert across the drink and that step of releasing the oils onto the liquid surface is not just a nicety but a gesture of deftness on the part of the bartender and of respect for the cocktail, its drinker, and the craft of building it.
Bartenders love a good drinker, especially one who respects the craft. I never settle at a bar without hoping to earn the respect of the tender. I have learned much from bartenders, and I mean that beyond the profound experience of sitting at a bar slouched over a glass. As I mentioned in the column about the Negroni, one bartender let me behind the bar to mix the drink. When I passed the test, showed me his secret stash of pistachio liqueur with which he sometimes treats the staff after hours with a drink he calls the Spumoni Negroni. (Most bar staff are expected to "work dry," meaning that while they're mixing for you they're teetotaling for themselves. But don't worry, they make up for it once they clear the till.) I learned how to muddle from the bartender at one of my favorite speakeasies in New York City. I consulted on the wine list at a local tavern last summer, and last winter these comrades invited me to give a demo on Russians.
Like anything, bartending has its vogues. Last year, many bartenders found themselves making their own bitters, a practice chronicled in a last year's wonderful James Beard Award-winning book on the topic. Concurrent with last
Manhattans are garnished with a maraschino cherry, that neon-red orb you see speared onto a holiday ham or dotting the burnt sugar surface of a pineapple upside down cake. Maraschino cherries are called that from their association with marasca cherries, which as an infusion make Maraschino, a sweet cherry liqueur. Most jarred maraschino cherries are not made with marasca cherries but with a high-yield orchard crop such as Royal or Rainier. Cherries have a short but populous season. In the northern hemisphere, cherries are abundant right now but the supply will begin tapering off as early as Labor Day.
It is easy to preserve cherries for cocktails. I've been doing so for years. Any frequent guest to our home is as used to seeing the tall jar of preserved cherries in the fridge as they are to seeing the butter dish or a frosty brewski. I start haunting the farmers market mid-July, asking the vendors when they expect the cherry crop to peak. I ask them to set aside a couple of pounds for me from that harvest, which I then process using the recipe below. One and a half to two pounds of cherries will yield a tall jar, which refrigerated should last until next year's crop comes in. From there, preserving cherries becomes a seasonal practice. There will be extra to stash a small jar in the door of the fridge just in case, maybe even to have a few of the same to give as gifts. If so, be sure you give a jar to your favorite bartender. It's the least you can do for someone who exemplifies the art of attentiveness to craft.
Preserved Cherries
This fresh-preserve recipe is not appropriate for hot water bath or pressure canning. Superfine sugar is an important ingredient for your urban bar and your baking pantry; look for it in the baking aisle. There's no need to use top-shelf brandy.
1 -1/2 pounds sweet cherries, such as Bing or Lambert
6 tablespoons superfine sugar
1 bottle good brandy, such as Fundador
1. Fill a large bowl with several drops commercial produce cleaner. Add water to fill the bowl approximately 1/3 full.
2. Working one at a time, remove and discard the stem, leaves, and pit from each cherry. Inspect each cherry as you go: it should have a shiny red surface without any noticeable softness, stickiness or brown patches. Discard the bad cherries (there should only be a few) and once stemmed and pitted, drop the good ones into the cleansing bath. Swirl the cherries in the bath.
3. Position an in-sink colander into place. Empty the cherries into the colander. Rinse the cherries well under cool water, swirling them well. Give the colander a shake, and leave the cherries to dry, about one hour.
4. After one hour, measure one cup brandy into a glass measuring cup with a spout. Measure the superfine sugar into the brandy. Swirl the brandy until the sugar is dissolved.
5. Pack the cherries into a large clean jar with a tight-fitting lid. It should hold approximately 1-3/4 pints. Pack to within 3/4 inch of the top of the jar. If you have too many cherries, use a smaller jar or jars for those.
6. Swirl the brandy and carefully pour it into the jar. It should just cover the top line of the cherries. If you need more liquid, make a second batch of sweetened brandy.
7. Once all of the cherries have been used, screw the lid/s onto the jar/s. Gently shake the jars to distribute the cherries. Refrigerate for 48 hours without disturbing the jars. Decant and refrigerate extra sweetened brandy if any.
8. After 48 hours, gently remove the lid/s. Use a long spoon to stir the cherries. The cherries should be starting to darken with no noticeable foam or mold growing on the surface (if there is, discard that batch). Top off the brandy if indicated and screw the lid/s back onto the jar/s.
9. After 48 hours, repeat step 8.
10.After 24 hours, check the cherries. They should be nice and dark and have darkened the brandy to dark red; this indicates that the cherries are ready to use.
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