Plum Sauce

A quick stovetop fruit sauce for steamed puddings. It is essentially a loose plum purée, and the only real decisions are how much sugar to use and how thick to cook it.

• A gillHalf a cup, or 120 ml, as the recipe itself glosses. That is enough liquid to stop the fruit catching before the plums release their own juice.
• The sugar is contradictoryFour ounces of sugar is about 115 g, closer to a scant 2/3 cup than to four tablespoons. Four heaping tablespoons is nearer 2 oz. Start with the smaller amount, taste once the fruit has broken down, and add more — plum acidity varies enormously by variety and ripeness.
• Earthenware over direct heatThe recipe has you stir the plums 'over the fire' in an earthenware dish, which presupposes a vessel that tolerates direct heat. Most modern glazed earthenware and stoneware will crack on a burner. Use a heavy saucepan unless your dish is specifically rated for the hob.
• No timing givenFigure 10 to 15 minutes at a bare simmer, stirring, until the plums collapse. "Quite smooth" means the fruit has lost all shape; the sieve does the rest.
• SievingPush it through a fine sieve with a wooden spoon or ladle while still hot — the skins and any stubborn fibre stay behind, and you get the glossy texture the recipe is after. A food mill is faster; a blender will pulverise skins rather than remove them, which gives a duller colour.
• Lemon extractA whole teaspoonful is assertive in a sauce this size, so taste as you go; the zest of half a lemon plus a squeeze of juice gives a cleaner flavour and less alcohol edge.
• Yield and servingRoughly 1 1/2 to 2 cups of finished sauce, enough for four to six servings of pudding. Serve warm; chilled, it may thicken somewhat and need thinning with a spoonful of water.