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Monte Carlo Cherries
½ lb. large ripe cherries ¼ lb. lump sugar 1 gill (¼ pint) water 1 dessertspoonful arrowroot Some Kirsch Stone the cherries, put them into a saucepan with the sugar and the water. Let them boil gently for ten minutes. Blend the arrowroot with two tablespoonfuls of cold water and stir it among the cherries. Divide the cherries into small casseroles, pour a liqueur-glassful of Kirsch on the top of each, and set alight.
Send to the table burning.
Mix the cornstarch to a smooth cream with a little of the milk. Bring the rest of the milk to the boil in a fireproof dish, remove from the fire, and stir in the mixed cornstarch.
Beat up the yolks of the eggs with three tablespoonfuls of the sugar, and stir well into the cornstarch. Cook the whole for a quarter of an hour, stirring all the time.
Then pour the whole into a buttered casserole, and bake in a moderate oven till firm. Pour over it the pears and add the rose extract.
Beat up the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, add the remaining sugar to them.
Spread this meringue over the top of the pears, and return to the oven to brown
A simple flambé of stewed cherries, thickened lightly and set alight at the table. The measurements are Edwardian and one or two have lost their fractions in printing.
- The quantitiesRead the sugar as ¼ lb (about half a cup of lump or granulated) and the water as 1 gill, which is ¼ pint imperial, 5 fl oz or roughly 150 ml. "Some Kirsch" is governed by the instruction later: a liqueur-glassful per portion, on the order of 1 fl oz.
- Cherries½ lb of large ripe cherries is about 225 g, four small servings at most. Sweet varieties such as Bing or Rainier suit this; sour cherries will need more sugar.
- Arrowroot, not cornflourArrowroot sets clear and glossy and is the right choice for a fruit compote. Slake it in cold water as directed, add it off the boil, and let it barely come back to a simmer -- arrowroot thins again if held at a hard boil.
- Ten minutes is generousStoned ripe cherries soften quickly in a gentle simmer, and cooked much longer you have jam rather than whole fruit in syrup.
- "Small casseroles"Here small fireproof pots or ramekins are meant. Individual heatproof dishes are needed because each one is lit separately.
- Getting the spirit to lightKirsch at about 40% alcohol lights readily only when warm. Warm it in a small pan or ladle first, keep it off the direct flame while warming, pour it over the hot fruit and ignite at arm's length with a long match. Never pour from the bottle toward a lit dish.
- YieldFour small portions. Serve straight away, while the syrup is hot and the flame still visible.
Dishes labelled "Monte Carlo" have long been part of hotel cookery, from a time when the Riviera resort stood for luxury and the name could be attached to almost anything served with a flourish. Kirsch -- a clear cherry brandy distilled in the Black Forest, Alsace and Switzerland -- was the standard partner to cooked cherries in that kitchen tradition, and flaming it at the table was theatre borrowed from restaurant service, where the dish arrives burning in front of the guest. What it offers is a way for a household cook with a set of fireproof pots to produce hotel effects at home, and this is one of the cheapest of them: half a pound of fruit, a little sugar, and a liqueur glass of spirit doing the work.