Cherries are good not only for jam, compotes and a variety of desserts. They can be an excellent basis for meat sauce. An interesting taste will not leave indifferent the lover of non-standard solutions in food. Cherry sauce for meat, according to many housewives, is a great alternative to ketchup and mayonnaise, firmly and long settled on the dining table.
Main ingredient
Due to its characteristic acidity, cherries go well with almost any kind of meat and poultry. Most berry sauce is suitable for fatty varieties: pork or duck. For the preparation of seasoning, it is better to take the least sweet varieties. Their taste in the process can be balanced with sugar. Sweet berries in seasoning are not so expressive.
Cherry sauce does not have to be prepared from fresh fruits; frozen ones are also suitable. And you can use berries with seeds. There is a fairly simple and quick way to “free” them.
Preparing pitted cherries
Berries need to be sorted and washed or thawed in advance. Then they are covered with sugar (the ratio is indicated below) and left for some time so that the juice stands out. It is convenient to prepare everything in the evening, and continue in the morning.
If there is very little juice, a little water can be added to the mass. A bowl of cherries is placed on the stove and boiled for 5 to 20 minutes - the exact time depends on the number of berries. The main thing is that they manage to become soft. Then the cherries are thrown into a colander, let the syrup drain and wipe the berries. As a result, seeds with a minimum amount of pulp remain in the sieve. This method of preparation will allow you to get a sauce of cherries for meat more or less uniform consistency. If you want to save large pieces, then to remove the seeds, it is better to use more familiar methods.
Red meat sauce : ingredients
In addition to cherries, spices will be required to prepare aromatic seasoning. Their choice, as a rule, depends on the type of meat: they take those ingredients that most fully reveal its taste. For spice, pepper is added to the sauce. A thick consistency is created through the use of flour or starch. The cherries sauce for meat acquires a refined and even more vivid taste if orange juice, lemon juice or alcohol is added to it.
Here is a sample set of ingredients for one seasoning option:
cherry - 250-300 g;
sugar - one teaspoon;
flour - one tablespoon;
garlic - 2-3 cloves;
salt and black pepper to taste;
coriander - a third of a teaspoon;
wine (dry red) or soy sauce - 2 tablespoons;
water - 50 ml.
Cherry Sauce: Recipe
Berries should be washed and covered with sugar, left until juice appears. If the cherries are prepared in the manner described above, this step can be skipped.
Passer flour. In this case, the pan should be oiled only if the sauce is prepared for lean meat. Flour is removed from the stove when it gains a golden hue, and set aside.
At the next stage, wine or soy sauce, water are poured into a pan with cherries, and salt is added. The mixture is stewed on a small fire until the berries soften (about 7 minutes), then chop the pieces with a fork. If the cherry was already boiled, now it is enough to simply bring it to a boil. Then add flour, spices, chopped garlic to the mixture. The ingredients must be mixed thoroughly so that no lumps appear. After this, the mixture is returned to the stove and cooked for another two minutes.
During this time, the sauce will become thick. Now you can try it and, if necessary, season with spices, add salt or sugar. Serve cherry sauce can be both hot and cold.
Options
The recipe can be changed to fit your own preferences. This applies to both the consistency of the sauce, its density, and a set of ingredients. The cherry sauce for meat acquires an interesting taste when using vanillin and cloves (a pair of buds for the indicated amount of cherries) instead of pepper and coriander. Garlic can be replaced with onions (white will give a tarter taste, and red will give a mild one). It should be fried in a small amount of oil before adding to the main mixture.
For density, starch, potato or corn is sometimes used instead of flour. It is diluted in a small amount of cold liquid (it can be wine or water) and added to the sauce a few minutes before cooking. For 250 g of cherries, 1 tablespoon of starch is enough.
Winter blanks
Fragrant, bright and unusual in taste, the sauce is good at any time of the year. It can be easily prepared for the winter so that you can enjoy the taste of summer on cold evenings. The cooking process is practically no different from that described. For one kilogram of pitted cherries you will need:
sugar - 300 g;
sunflower oil - one tablespoon;
vinegar - one tablespoon;
starch - 1-2 tablespoons;
spices as desired.
The cherries, mixed with sugar and giving the juice, are boiled for about 20 minutes, then separated from the syrup and rubbed through a colander. Spices and oil are added to the berries, the mixture is put on fire. In a boiling sauce, pour in a thin stream the syrup in which starch is diluted. All are thoroughly mixed and boiled for a few more minutes. The hot mixture is poured into sterilized jars and closed.
Not all housewives know how to make cherry sauce, simply because of the unusualness of such use of these berries. However, the recipe is worthy of attention. The sauce can pleasantly surprise guests, diversify the menu. And, quite likely, it will become the impetus for a revision of the attitude to familiar products and to the search for new taste solutions.