Look no further because this will be the BEST Cherry Sauce you’ve ever tasted. Serve this gorgeous sauce with duck, quail or pork
An exceptional sauce
This gorgeous Cherry Sauce takes a little time to finish, but let me tell you it’s worth every second. This sauce has a lot of love to give! It’s beautifully aromatic, sweet, buttery, and a little tart with a subtle bite from the cayenne pepper.
I want to scream from the hilltops like and tell the world how exquisite this cherry sauce is because everyone should know about it!
Pair this special Cherry Sauce this Christmas with roast duck, pork or quail. People might look at me weird, but I also think it would go amazing with chicken and turkey. Move over cranberry sauce because you suddenly seem a little boring.
My favourite way to serve this is with my super easy Roast Duck with herb and spice rub. I’ve recently made roast duck with duck fat potatoes served with this Cherry Sauce and whilst we were feasting on this, we honestly thought Christmas has come early!
Fresh or frozen cherries?
It’s the beginning of summer here, so we are seeing gorgeous fresh cherries hit our stores. Like usual, because they’re the first bunch, so they’re ultra expensive. We’re talking about approximately $40 a kilo. Seriously, every time I complain about the pricing of stuff, I feel like I’m morphing into my parents.
Cherries are one of my favourite fruits and I have indulged in purchasing some this year. However, for this recipe, I’ve always used frozen cherries because they’re affordable and convenient as they come already pitted.
If you wish to use fresh cherries and pit them yourself, then go for it! You’ll have my full respect because the thought of pitting cherries scares me. Red fingers, red clothes, and red everything.. uh no thanks!
They also have cherries in tins and jars, but these usually come in syrup, marinated or sweetened. I don’t recommend using these cherries as they may impact the sauce, making it too sweet. These cherries are also very soft, so they’ll likely end up being mushy when cooked.
Take your dishes to the next level with:
Chimichurri
Japanese Tartar Sauce
Wasabi Pickle Mayo
Spicy Olive Tapenade
Ingredients for Cherry Sauce
Cherries – For convenience, I used pitted frozen cherries. If preferred, you could use fresh pitted cherries. I don’t recommend canned or jarred cherries for this recipe because of their soft texture and they usually come sweetened.
Dry red wine includes Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Shiraz. I recommend using non-expensive wine that you enjoy drinking, as wine has a strong flavour. My dishes with wine always turn out better for me when I stick to this tip!
Chicken stock/broth – I prefer using salt-reduced or low-sodium chicken stock because I have more control over the sodium level. This way I can adjust the seasoning in dishes to my liking. It’s always better to be under-seasoned than over-seasoned as it’s easier to fix.
Raw cane sugar (or turbinado or demerara sugar) – Raw sugar is less processed than regular white sugar. They have larger granules, and the molasses gives them a brown colour with a mild caramel taste.
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How to make Cherry Sauce
Step-by-step guide with photos
For the ginger wine sauce – Place the sugar and vinegar into a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Simmer for 2 minutes or until it thickens into a syrup-like consistency. Pour in the wine and simmer for a minute or until the alcohol smell dissipates. Add in the stock and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce thinly coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the ginger, cayenne and salt, then simmer for another minute.
Transfer the sauce to a large heatproof bowl and leave to cool at room temperature for an hour. This allows time for the flavours to develop.
For the cherry sauce – Melt the butter over medium heat in a medium-sized saucepan, then add in the cherries and sugar. Stir for 2 minutes, during this time some cherries will break down. Use a wooden spoon to help crush some cherries, but leave some intact. Pour in the brandy and simmer for a minute or until the alcohol smell dissipates. Add in the ginger wine sauce and bring to a boil, then simmer for another 2 minutes. Have a taste, and add salt and pepper to your liking if needed.
Serve the sauce warm over duck, quail or pork. The sauce will slightly thicken when it cools down.
Leftovers – Allow the Cherry Sauce to cool completely at room temperature, then transfer it into a sealed container and store it in the fridge. The sauce should be good for 3 days.
I’ve used a third-party application to calculate the calories and nutritional information, so please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements. For specific details and conversions, visit our Australian Cooking Measurements page.
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Cheers – Cat T
Cherry Sauce (Savoury and buttery)
Ingredients
For the ginger wine sauce
- ¼ cup raw sugar (NOTE 1)
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup dry red wine (NOTE 2)
- 1 cup salt reduced chicken stock (low-sodium) (NOTE 3)
- 20 gm fresh ginger (peeled & finely grated)
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- ½ tsp salt
For the cherry sauce
- 40 gm butter
- 400 gm fresh or frozen pitted cherries (NOTE 4)
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cherry brandy (optional, or kirsch, regular brandy)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- For the ginger wine sauce – Place the sugar and vinegar into a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Simmer for 2 minutes or until it thickens into a syrup-like consistency. Pour in the wine and simmer for a minute or until the alcohol smell dissipates. Add in the stock and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce thinly coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the ginger, cayenne and salt, then simmer for another minute. Transfer the sauce to a large heatproof bowl and leave to cool at room temperature for an hour. This allows time for the flavours to develop.
- For the cherry sauce – Melt the butter over medium heat in a medium-sized saucepan, then add in the cherries and sugar. Stir for 2 minutes, during this time some cherries will break down. Use a wooden spoon to help crush some cherries, but leave some intact. Pour in the brandy and simmer for a minute or until the alcohol smell dissipates. Add in the ginger wine sauce and bring to a boil, then simmer for another 2 minutes. Have a taste, and add salt and pepper to your liking if needed.Serve the sauce warm over duck, quail or pork. The sauce will slightly thicken when it cools down.
