An improvement, and an update: we revisit gastriques

Is time a circle, an arc, a straight line, or none of the above, or all of the above? Annalena was thinking about this because she recalled that she had presented an entry on gastriques, but couldn't remember how long ago she had done so. Using the search function, she found it, and found that the entry was on the very same day she resigned from her job of 12 years, or 26 years, depending on how you look at it: January 29.
So, just about five months later, it's clear: this was the right move. As the song goes "No regrets." Nope, none at all. I think that is clear from both sides. To be honest, Annalena has not extended herself to be in touch with any of her formers, but the same could be said of the formers. Well, much that is unsaid, is said right there. And we move on.

As I indicated, I wrote about gastriques on January 29th, and I'm going to write about them again, because, as compared to the one previously, this one is so much easier.

Just as with the first one, a gastrique is fruit or fruit juice, sugar and an acid, like vinegar. At the end of January, when Annalena's fruit larder was being populated single handedly by the citrus bomb , the citrus stud, and the Artichoke Queen (Well, I guess that's triple handedly), a gastrique meant citrus. Now, we are getting to the point in New York where the local fruit is coming in faster than anyone can eat it. With that in mind, Annalena found a container of blueberries that were giving her the snake eye and began to think in terms of the quail she was making for dinnr that night. Quail with huckleberry sauce is something she's eaten in the fall and winter, and huckleberries/blueberries... Hmmmm.

To the internet I went, and returned with guidelines. Here comes the recipe. For both components.

To make the gastrique. Combine two cups of blueberries, a cup of vinegar (I used red wine, because it seemed to have the depth I wanted), and a cup of sugar in a non-reactive pot. Turn the heat to medium and let it simmer. Try to keep your face away from the pot, because you are boiling vinegar and it will aggravate your nose and eyes. In fact, good ventilation is a good idea when making this.

After 15 minutes, start checking. If you are getting a thick, sort of bubbly mass, you are there. If not, check again in five minutes. And so on. It shouldn't take longer than 30.

You will be tempted to taste. Please wait. You have a combination of three things, each of which when hot, can cause a nasty burn. 1+1+1=4 in this case. Trust me.

The high quantity of pectin in the blueberries means that when it cools down, you will have what looks like a semi firm jam. Nothing wrong with that, and if you wanted to spread it on bread and eat it as such, you would be very happy. You will also be happy to know that you don't need to refrigerate this.

You will be yet happier if you use it with quail, pan fried as follows. As always, clean out your birds, and salt them. Let them sit uncovered overnight. When you're getting set for dinner, if you are using whole quail, preheat your oven to 350. If you use the semi boned critters, no need. Put a few tablespoons of oil (I would stick with vegetable oil here), and when it's hot, add the birds, breast side down, and cook for about five minutes. Then turn, and do it again.

If you are using the whole quail, put them in the oven at this point for another ten minutes. Then proceed with the next step, which you will do immediately with the boneless critters. Take them out of the pan, and drain off the fat. Put the critters back in the pan, with a few tablespoons of the gastrique, and when it begins to melt, start turning the birds in it, until the stuff begins to stick, just like a glaze. Won't take you more than 12 minutes.

And you know what? You have a professional quality dish to plate up, which didn't take you all that long to do, now, did it?

Good cooking, good times, good job, good everything. Let us not look askance at what we have.