Rote Grütze

the red groats of the German and Danish north: redcurrants, raspberries, and sour cherries cooked briefly and thickened to a glossy compote, served cold under a flood of unwhipped cream

Origin: Germany

From the journey of Currant.

Rote Grütze means, quite literally, red groats, and the name preserves the dish's origin: before starch was to be had, the red summer fruit of the northern gardens was thickened with coarsely milled buckwheat, barley, or semolina, and the result was a fruit porridge rather than a pudding. The grain has long since given way to cornflour or potato starch, but the name has not moved, and the same is true across the border, where the Danes call it rødgrød and eat it in exactly the same way. Its backbone is the redcurrant, which supplies both the acidity that keeps the sweetness in check and the pectin that gives the compote its glossy body; raspberries add perfume, sour cherries depth, and strawberries bulk. It is a dish of the fortnight in July when everything ripens at once, and it is served cold, in a glass bowl, with cold single cream poured over rather than whipped, or with milk, or with vanilla sauce. In Denmark the full phrase rødgrød med fløde has passed out of the kitchen altogether and become the national test of pronunciation, the sentence Danes hand to foreigners in the serene confidence that it cannot be managed.

Ingredients

Fruit

  • 400 g redcurrants, stripped from their strigs
  • 250 g raspberries
  • 250 g sour (morello) cherries, stoned
  • 200 g strawberries, hulled and halved
  • 400 ml water or unsweetened red fruit juice
  • 150 g caster sugar, or to taste
  • 1 whole vanilla pod, split, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 strip lemon zest

Thickening

  • 45 g cornflour or potato starch
  • 60 ml cold water

To Serve

  • 300 ml single cream or cold whole milk, to serve

Method

  1. Put the redcurrants and the sour cherries in a wide pan with the 400 ml of water or juice, the sugar, the split vanilla pod, and the strip of lemon zest. Bring slowly to a simmer and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the currants have burst and the cherries are soft.
  2. Slake the cornflour with the 60 ml of cold water to a smooth cream. Pour it into the simmering fruit in a thin stream, stirring steadily, and cook for a further 2 minutes until the mixture thickens and turns glossy and clear.
  3. Take the pan off the heat and fold in the raspberries and the strawberries. The residual heat will soften them without breaking them up.
  4. Fish out the vanilla pod and the lemon zest. Pour the Grütze into a glass bowl or into individual glasses, lay a disc of dampened greaseproof paper directly on the surface, and cool to room temperature.
  5. Chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight. Serve cold, with cold single cream, milk, or vanilla sauce poured generously over the top at the table.

Notes

The proportions of fruit are flexible but the redcurrant should not be reduced, since it is what gives the dish its acidity and its set; an all-berry Grütze without currants tastes flat and needs far more lemon. Frozen mixed red fruit works well out of season and needs no thawing, though allow a couple of extra minutes' cooking. Rote Grütze keeps for four days covered in the refrigerator and does not freeze well, as the starch weeps on thawing. Northern German cooks sometimes replace part of the water with red wine for an adult version, and the traditional grain thickening, 40 g of fine semolina stirred in and simmered for 5 minutes in place of the starch, gives the older, denser texture that the name describes.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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