Sauces and Accompaniments of Cold Sweets

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •2-quart stainless-steel saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Blender or food processor
• •Electric hand mixer
• •Medium mixing bowl
• •2-cup liquid measure
• •Large bowl for an ice bath
• •Four lidded 2-cup containers

Instructions

1. 1

   Ready the custard

   Reach for the finished Crème Anglaise (No. 2397), prepared and chilled according to its own entry. Do not cook it again here; the cross-reference is deliberate, and the custard remains a finished component. If a light skin formed during chilling, whisk gently or pass the sauce once through the fine sieve. Cover it and return it to the refrigerator. Put a mixing bowl and the mixer beaters beside it to chill for the Chantilly.

2. 2

   Simmer the apricots

   For the sirop d'abricot au kirsch (apricot syrup with kirsch), combine the apricots, 2 cups of the water, and the granulated sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring them slowly to a bare simmer, stirring only until the sugar dissolves. Cook gently for 15 to 20 minutes, until the fruit is completely tender and the liquid tastes distinctly of apricot. A hard boil muddies the syrup and cooks away its fresh perfume, so keep the surface at a quiet tremble.

3. 3

   Strain and perfume

   Pour the apricots and liquid through a fine sieve into a clean bowl, letting the syrup drain without pressing the fruit. Return the clear liquid to the saucepan and reduce it gently to 1 7/8 cups (450 ml). If it falls below that mark, ça se rattrape: add reserved cold water a spoonful at a time. Cool the syrup over an ice bath, stirring occasionally, then add the kirsch once it is below 100°F (38°C). Boiling the liqueur would throw away the aroma it was added to provide. Cover and chill.

   Keep the cooked apricot pulp for breakfast or fold it into plain yogurt. Pressing it into the syrup would make the sauce cloudy, but it needn't be wasted.
4. 4

   Pass the raw fruit

   For the purée de fraises (raw strawberry purée), blend the strawberries with three quarters of the powdered sugar until completely smooth. Pass the purée through the fine sieve, pressing firmly to leave the seeds behind, then cover and chill it for at least 1 hour. Keep it raw. Cooking would give you another syrup and erase the bright edge that makes this sauce useful. If the chilled purée is too thick to pour, loosen it with cold water one teaspoon at a time; reserve the remaining sugar for the final cold tasting.

5. 5

   Whip the Chantilly

   Set aside 2 tablespoons of the cold cream. Pour the remaining 1 cup into the chilled bowl with the Chantilly sugar and vanilla. Whip at medium speed until the cream holds rounded ridges but still falls softly from the beaters. Stiff peaks are too far for a sauce. If the cream begins to look grainy, stop immediately and fold in the reserved liquid cream a teaspoon at a time; ça se rattrape. If it remains smooth, fold in enough reserved cream to give it a soft, spoonable fall. Cover and chill.

   Cold cream gains volume before its fat can turn grainy. The chilled bowl gives you a wider margin, which is useful when one cook is minding three other sauces.
6. 6

   Balance them cold

   After every sauce has chilled for at least 1 hour, taste them in their serving condition. The custard should coat a spoon yet pour freely; if it has tightened too far, whisk in cold whole milk one teaspoon at a time. The syrup should taste first of apricot and then of kirsch. Add the reserved powdered sugar to the strawberry purée only if the cold fruit needs it. Serve the four sauces separately in chilled vessels: custard with molded or poached entremets, apricot syrup with vanilla or almond sweets, strawberry purée with pale cream desserts, and Chantilly with fruit. A spoonful of purée may be folded into a little Chantilly at the table, as the canon permits, but keep the main bowls distinct. Match the sauce, then stop. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The numbered custard is a finished preparation, not an invitation to hide a second custard recipe inside this one. Make it first from its own entry, chill it thoroughly, then begin the three companions.
• •Match one liqueur to one fruit and use a restrained hand. Kirsch suits apricot, mirabelle, and greengage; Maraschino is at home with cherry or red currant. The fruit must speak first.
• •Use fragrant fresh strawberries when they are truly in season. For the cooked syrup, unsweetened frozen apricots picked ripe are better than hard fresh fruit shipped before it was ready. The classical pantry understood preservation perfectly well.
• •Cold suppresses aroma and sweetness. Never make the final correction from a warm spoon, especially with the syrup, because an apparently gentle sweetness can become cloying once reduced and chilled.
• •Store each sauce separately. The custard keeps for 3 days under refrigeration, the apricot syrup for 5 days, and the raw purée for 2 days. Chantilly is best the day it is whipped.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the custard up to 2 days ahead through its own entry and keep it covered with the wrap touching the surface.
• •The apricot-kirsch syrup can be made up to 5 days ahead. The strawberry purée is brightest when made no more than 1 day before serving.
• •Whip the Chantilly up to 4 hours before dessert and keep it in the cold. Chill its bowl and beaters for 20 minutes before whipping.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 60g)