Blackberry Sauce

[mnebergall]

Last summer, I went blackberry picking with my kids to Westmorland Farms near Fredericksburg, VA and came back with a s'load of blackberries. I froze some but the majority of them I put into the food processer, ground 'em up and extracted the juice. Then I heated the juice, added some sugar (as a preservative) and froze. Now I have a freezer full of the stuff. The only use I have made of it so far is to put it on vanilla ice cream and waffles (excellent on both). I plan to make a roast pork loin for dinner this evening and I thought it might be possible to make a sauce for the pork from the blackberry juice.

Any suggestions on how I should proceed, or is this not a good idea?

[MGLloyd]

Bearing in mind that your raw stock is sweetened blackberry juice (presumably without the berry pulp), I would heat and reduce it until thickened, and then stir in some butter and some nice port. This should give you a nice, shiny glaze. If I had any whole frozen blackberries left, I would add some of those for texture.

[Omie]

ooooh, nervous, first post. At the risk of being off topic, and way out of my league here, blackberry sauce, your frozen stash, would make an excellent jello dessert. Use half boiled water (to mix the jello) and half juice, in a pkg. of dark cherry jello. (best if the juice is sweetened) and partially chill. Layer in bowl alternating with sour cream. Omie

[chromedome]

If you have a fair quantity of whole berries left, you may want to add a few of them to the mix. Whiz 'em in your food processor, then add them to the juice before you reduce it. The seeds are high in pectin, and will thicken your reduction naturally and give it some nice body and mouthfeel. They'll also put some tartness back into it.

Before finishing your sauce with the butter and port (I'm totally on board with MGLloyd's suggestion...very similar to things we do at my work) just strain out the seeds through some cheesecloth, or a chinois if you have one.

[Mabelline]

It's too late to do you any good now, I'm sorry, but being the vinegar freak I am, and factoring the sweetened juice in, I know I would try mixing a good red wine vinegar, and keeping a deep flavor,add blackpeppercorns, and let's see,ginger. Sound okay?It sounds in my mind like it'd work.Then how MGLloyd suggested with the butter after the reduction.

Welcome, Omie. I think I've met more new posts today than I ever have. Hope you enjoy eGullet.

Edit to add: I'll bet your sprouts would enjoy the jello. There's still one spice missing, and I can't put my finger on it.With my luck I'll turn in and pop up in the wee hours babbling tarragon or something.

Edited February 15, 2004 by Mabelline (log)

[JAZ]

For christmas, my mom gave me a jar of huckleberry-chipotle sauce. I used it as a glaze on some chicken, which it sort of overpowered, but I think it'd be good on pork.

So if you like heat, you might want to experiment with some chipotle or other chile peppers.

[Mabelline]

Since moving to Montana, I've come to recognize that I can be bought with huckleberries.

[mnebergall]

Thanks for all the help. I went with the port-reduction technique. Turned out great. My 15-year old daughter loved it. I have ton of the stuff (juice) in my freezer and will make more as opportunities present themselves. I hestitate to use the frozen berries because the seeds get stuck in my teeth. The juice that I have has some residual pulp still in it. I will keep the other suggestions in mind. The red wine vinegar/black peppercorn, ginger idea sounds good too. Any more details on that one would be welcome. The pork loin was marinated in soy, ginger and garlic. I cooked it over indirect heat on the Weber and added soaked hickory chips. I can't wait for lunch time so that I can have a leftover sliced pork loin sandwich.

What else could I put this stuff on? I think venison would be good (I would have used venison last night but my venision source has the flu). I have some pheasants in the freezer.

Thanks again for all the help.

Mark

[Mabelline]

Bravo! Don't you feel like an alchemist of eating when it works! Pheasants would be good with some dry mustard to punch the sauce up.

[ludja]

Thinking about beverages...

Can also use blackberry syrup/juice for making drinks--club soda + juice. Also might be a nice addition to homemade lemonade. I also like to flavor plain yogurt on my own... besides blackberry yogurt it would probably make a very interesting lassi..

edited: oops, I see now that you were looking for other things to do with the savory blackberry sauce!-- not other ideas for the blackberry juice per say...

Edited February 16, 2004 by ludja (log)

[Mabelline]

Cardamom! I bet that'd work.

If it were me, I think I would reduce some red wine vinegar, and use 2 parts berry juice to 1 part vinegar. Taste, then start laying in the spices. The soy,garlic, ginger gives you a good start. Or brining, too.

[Janice]

Try it in a cocktail with gin. There is a modern classic served in London known as a Bramble - gin, creme de mure, sugar syrup and cushed ice with a couple of blackberries to garnish.

Or you could try gin in a sauce as a variation - juniper/herbal notes go very well with pork or game. The more aromatic the gin the better.

[Marrow Margin]

1.5 cups sugar

.5 cup water

1 pint blackberries

1 tbsp. blackberry liquor or better yet Chambord

.75 cup veal demi glace

1tsp. butter

Bring water and sugar to medium dark caramel, drop blackberries in and let them collapse down, add liquor and allow alcohol to burn off, add demi and simmer together for 5 minutes. Mount with a nug of good butter.