Sherry Sauce (Cook one cup sugar)

A cold syrup-and-spirit sauce for melon, from a book built around Sunday menus. It comes together in five minutes and needs nothing but a small saucepan and time in the refrigerator.

• The three minutesTime it from the moment the syrup reaches a full boil, not from when the pan goes on the heat. One cup sugar to a quarter cup water boiled that briefly gives a light syrup -- thick enough to coat the fruit without setting into candy as it chills.
• "Cool slightly" mattersAdding the wine to a boiling syrup drives off the aromatics you are paying for. Let the pan sit off the heat until it is warm rather than hot, then stir in the Sherry and gin.
• Which SherryA medium or cream Sherry suits the sugar level here; a bone-dry fino will read thin against a cup of sugar and ripe melon. Either way use something you would drink, since nothing is cooked away.
• Sloe ginGin steeped with blackthorn sloes -- tart, almond-scented, deep red. It is doing the colour work as much as the flavour. Bottled versions vary widely in sweetness; taste before you decide the sauce needs anything more.
• Melon ballsA tablespoon measure works as well as a melon baller. Drain the cut balls on a towel first, or the melon's own water will thin the sauce in the bowl.
• Chill properlyTwo hours in the refrigerator, sauce and melon separately, then combine just before serving. The syrup stays loose when cold, so it will pool rather than cling if the fruit is warm.
• YieldAbout one and a quarter cups of sauce, enough to dress six to eight servings of melon. The alcohol is uncooked, so this is not a dish for children's plates.