Cherries

[cabrales]

Cherries are my favorite fruit (together with blood orange and peeled green grapes).  

Do members utilize cherries in non-dessert recipes? What types of cherries do members prefer?

[Liza]

Cherries are delish, indeed, though cantalope tops my list of favorite fruit. I'd bet they'd make a lovely stuffing for a pork loin. A peak at the latest Larousse reveals recipes for these savoury cherry dishes: Cherry Soup (an Alsation Christmas Eve treat); Hare with cherries; and Quail with cherries.

Here in NYC we sometimes get the Morellos and Napoleons at market, but you can't go wrong with basic Bing.

[Adam_Balic]

Dried sour cherries get used in Persian cooking and Alexander Dumas gives a cherry sauce recipe for game (I have yet to make this, as I haven't seen the correct type of cherries for sale in Scotland). I love cherries. While in DC I saw the painting of Medici's cherry collection by Bartolemeo Bimbi. Fantastic, many varieties that no longer exist , including a type which had four little cherries at the end of each stalk, instead of one single cherry.

[cabrales]

Adam -- When you have a chance, please indicate where in DC you viewed the cherry works.

While I have yet to visit Michel Trama at Puymirol, France, I believe he has at times used cherry motifs to decorate his menu. I particularly like Ranier cherries when they are at their peak (apparently, not currently for NY, based on samplings). They have strong yellowish, orangish aspects to their skin.

[Adam_Balic]

Cabrales - here is some information on the subject. If you have the chance I would highly recommend it. Amazing art, much that I have seen before in Florence, but not together which is quite something else (also the lighting is just right in this instance, so the full potential of the art is apparent).

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/flowerartist.htm

[Robert Schonfeld]

My wife has used cherries in a middle eastern fruit soup, and I've used dried Michigan cherries in a chocloate/cherry sourdough bread (the latter a novelty item, but everybody loves it).

[Malawry]

Last summer, Edemuth and I made a big Spanish-style dinner for her birthday. We picked up some of the accoutrements from the Takoma farm market. While I was in line at one stall, she went to a different stall and came back bearing a plastic sack of dark cherries. The kinds of cherries that you imagine on the label for black cherry soda: black-red, obviously bursting with juice, a slightly sticky/chalky feeling when you touch them contradicted by their supershiny appearance. They were almost obscene they looked so perfect.

"Chef's treats," she said as I peered in the sack.

After we got home, they sat in their sack on the counter above our garbage can. The sack slowly deflated as the trash can got stained by the pits we spat in there as we nibbled the cherries. I remember cooking barefoot, Edemuth working quietly beside me, and the occasional rustle of that plastic sack and the rapid reddening of our tongues. What a way to spend a summer afternoon.

I can't wait for the cherries to appear again this season.  

[tommy]

dried cherries (or any number of other dried fruit) in a salad of arugula, red onion, and goat cheese with a lemon juice dressing.

[stefanyb]

dried cherries (or any number of other dried fruit) in a salad of arugula, red onion, and goat cheese with a lemon juice dressing.

T.- that sounds as if it would taste delicious.  I'll be trying that one.

[tommy]

T.- that sounds as if it would taste delicious.  I'll be trying that one.

yeah, that's mrs. tommy's in fact.  i'm secure enough to admit it.  she also puts walnuts (or some other nut that i can't remember) in it.

edit:  the answer is pecans.  walnuts would be too strong methinks.

[B Edulis]

I love sour cherries. You can only get 'em for a coupla weeks in June, but they're the best for cooking, I think (tho' I haven't tried any cherries in other lands). They also freeze very well and are great to have in the dark days of winter.

I don't know of any savory recipes that use them, but they'd be good infused in vinegar, or the juice used in place of that of a sour, acidic fruit, like the citruses. I'll have to think about it this year......

[cabrales]

I love sour cherries. You can only get 'em for a coupla weeks in June . . .

B Edulis -- When you have a chance, are you aware of any other names by which sour cherries go?  Also, how sour are they, and have you eaten them on their own (i.e., without adding any other ingredient)?

[Ruby]

Cabrales, cherries are delicious and I always look forward to the month of June when they seem to be at their best.

Cherries are also very healthy for us. They contain antitoxidant and inflammatory properties as well as compounds that help relieve pain of arthritis and gout. Here's a link that describes some of cherries' health benefits.

http://www.calcherry.com/consumer.cfm?Health=1

[B Edulis]

I love sour cherries. You can only get 'em for a coupla weeks in June . . .

B Edulis -- When you have a chance, are you aware of any other names by which sour cherries go?  Also, how sour are they, and have you eaten them on their own (i.e., without adding any other ingredient)?

Sour cherries are too sour to use on their own. They're great for pies because their acidity counters the sugar perfectly and the filling has lots of flavor without being cloyingly sweet. They are bright red and I don't know if any other names.

BTW, a hint I picked up from one o' my mother's old cookbooks: you can pit cherries with a hairpin (I use a paperclip) bent into a hook with a diameter slightly smaller than the pit. Just hook it out. Good job for kids! And they seem so much tastier whole.....

[Steve Klc]

As long as we're speaking of cherries--has anyone used mahlab or mahaleb--from the kernel of black cherries?  Surprisingly fragrant, sweetish and spicy--about the brownish color of coriander seed and the size of a peppercorn, though not round.

It's used ground in Middle Eastern breads, cakes and pastries but you can buy it whole as well and grind it yourself.

There's an old trick among pastry chefs to include the pits and stones of fruit in the stock when poaching to add depth and complexity.  Here's another way.

[Jinmyo]

Steve? Where's "another way"? Did you intend to include a link? Or have I just missed it?

[Adam_Balic]

Do you use Apricot kernals to get a bitter Almond favour? I had made frangipane with Almonds, but it never tasted quite right. Whilst in Morocco I was eating a bag of Almonds, which were great, but one in every couple of dozen or so was a bitter Almond. Have since learn that Bitter Almonds are no longer present in most Euorpean (US?) Almonds you can buy (due to fears of cyanide?), so I add an Apricot kernal to get the correct flavour. I could use Almond extract or Amaretti Biscuits, but using a Apricot is a nice twist.

[Steve Klc]

Jinmyo--the other way, beside poaching, was grinding the kernel and using the powder, at least in this case of the cherry and presumably Adam's ground apricot kernel.

[Jinmyo]

Okay, Steve. I thought that might be the case. But I confused myself. :wow:

[Steve Klc]

No, I misled you unintentionally.  Where's my editor?

[helenas]

When you have a chance, are you aware of any other names by which sour cherries go?  Also, how sour are they, and have you eaten them on their own (i.e., without adding any other ingredient)?

In Russian and Ukrainian, there is a separate word for sour cherry: "vishnya". In both countries this type of cherry is more popular than sweet cherry. In Ukraine during the season, dumplings with sour cherry is a regular dish. As in traditional clafoutis, cherries are not pitted.

[Wilfrid]

Clafoutis.  I actually had a damn good version of clafoutis at an otherwise unremarkable little French bistro on Avenue B (between 6th and 7th) called Belmondo.  Really enjoyed it.

By chance I have been pondering two recipes involving cherries.  One is duck with cherries - which makes perfect sense.  Less obvious is poached ox tongue with a cherry sauce.  An old English recipe (go ahead - laugh), but one I would like to make if I can raise the energy for preparing the tongue.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Two thoughts:  Try substituting firm bing cherries for tomatoes in your favorite fresh salsa recipe (or simply combine pitted cherries, red onion, jalapeno and); fabulous with pork.

And what about using fresh pitted bings in Tommy's goat cheese salad?    :wow:

[wingding]

Do you use Apricot kernals to get a bitter Almond favour? I had made frangipane with Almonds, but it never tasted quite right. Whilst in Morocco I was eating a bag of Almonds, which were great, but one in every couple of dozen or so was a bitter Almond. Have since learn that Bitter Almonds are no longer present in most Euorpean (US?) Almonds you can buy (due to fears of cyanide?), so I add an Apricot kernal to get the correct flavour. I could use Almond extract or Amaretti Biscuits, but using a Apricot is a nice twist.

Use apricot pits or bitter almonds with caution!Roasting them dissipates the cyanide....The laws about growing and selling both in the U.S. are a little vague to me,but apricot kernels are sold in Chinatown[N.Y.],sometimes under different names.They do add a wonderful depth to almond flavor.I recently spoke to an almond grower in California who pulled up all of his bitter almond trees,fearing legal problems.

[Toby]

I make a cordial called cherry bounce with sour cherries. Sorry, but I'm not quite sure of proportions, because I usually make several bottles and never write down what I did; this should give you maybe enough to pour into 1 liter bottle (?). You crush up about 4 cups of sour cherries (stems, pits and all, leaves too if you've got them) with 1/2 cup sugar and let stand for a few hours. Then add 2 or more cups bourbon -- I used Makers Mark and it was worth it (also used Knob Creek one time, but Makers Mark was probably better in this). I put this in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks, then strain it, pour into a clean bottle and put back in refrigerator for another month or more before drinking. It keeps for a long time if you don't drink it up first.