№ 16Ķezberu zupa

Cherry soup with sugared cherries Serves 4–6 · 1¾ hours (the garnish dries while the soup cooks) · Adapted from the 1796 recipe; not yet tested.

The book gives no quantities; the amounts below are ours.

Ingredients

For the soup:

• 1 kg sweet cherries, stems removed, stones left in
• 1 l water
• 25 g butter
• 1 tbsp (10 g) plain flour
• 1 cinnamon stick (about 5 cm)
• 3 strips of lemon peel, without the white pith
• 100 ml red wine
• 50–80 g sugar, to taste

For the sugared cherries:

• 20–24 whole cherries, stems on if possible
• 1 egg white (pasteurised, if serving anyone vulnerable)
• 50 g caster sugar

To serve:

• 4–6 thick slices of white bread or bread roll

Method

1. Sugared cherries: heat the oven to 80 °C (no fan if you can). Whisk the egg white until just frothy. Dip each cherry in it, roll it in the caster sugar and set it on a tray lined with baking paper. Dry in the oven for 1–1½ hours, until the coating is dry and crisp but not coloured. Leave to cool. 2. Soup: put the cherries and water in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15–20 minutes, until the cherries are very soft. 3. Pour through a fine sieve or muslin into a bowl, pressing hard to get out as much juice and pulp as you can. Pick out the stones. 4. Crush about a third of the stones in a mortar or under a heavy pan. Put them in the sieve and pour the juice through them once more, then throw them away. 5. In a clean pan, which you will finish the soup in, melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring, until golden brown. Whisk in the cherry juice a little at a time. 6. Add the cinnamon and lemon peel and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Stir in the wine and sugar to taste and heat through for 2–3 minutes. Remove the cinnamon and lemon peel. 7. To serve, dip the bread in the soup and lay it in the tureen or in bowls. Ladle the soup around it and set the sugared cherries on top of the bread, which holds them above the soup.

Notes

• What the book says vs. what we added: the cooking, the crushed stones, the golden roux, the cinnamon, lemon peel, wine and sugar, the egg-white cherries dried in a "half-warm" oven and the bread holding them up are all the book's. All amounts, the oven temperature and times, crushing only some of the stones, and removing the spices are ours. The book says only "wine"; red is our choice.
• Cherry stones: the crushed stones give the juice a bitter-almond taste. The kernels contain amygdalin, which can release cyanide. A single quick pour-through followed by 10 minutes' simmering, as here, is the traditional method and the amount is small, but we crush only a third of the stones where the book crushes them all. To be safe with children, or if in doubt, skip step 4 and add a drop of almond extract with the wine (our alternative).
• Which cherries: ķezberes are sweet cherries. Sour cherries make a sharper soup and need more sugar.
• Egg white: the coating gets hot enough in the oven to set. Use pasteurised egg white for anyone pregnant, very young, elderly or unwell.
• Dried cherries: the book says the soup can also be made from dried cherries. In that case the cooked cherries themselves go on the bread instead of the sugared ones. Soak 250 g dried cherries in 1.25 l water for an hour, then simmer for 30 minutes and carry on from step 3.