Red Currant Glaze Recipe- Accentuate the flavor of grilled or roasted meats wih this tart, tangy, and sticky glaze. Red currants are tiny in size, but huge in flavor!
We harvested our red currants from our garden, but they quite often show up in farmers markets. They are available frozen online, also. This glaze is perfect for a roasted ham also.
We also feature red currants in our basic scone recipe, as they do so well in our garden. We highly suggest planting some, the shrub is gorgeous.
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What's a currant?
Currants are a member of the gooseberry family originally found only in Europe. They are now grown all over North America as well.
They were banned in the United states for some time due to being falsely associated with a disease that effects pine trees. I've heard that they are still technically illegal in a few states!
Even if you're not looking for a fantastically tart and delicious little berry crop, the currant plant is very pretty. You can even choose from multiple colors, red, black, white, yellow, and even clear berries can be grown!
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Ingredients
- Red currants - see the section above - "What's a Currant?"
- Brown sugar - light brown sugar has enough molasses to add richness and moisture.
- Ginger - fresh ginger root adds a nice bite to this recipe.
- Orange - the whole fruit, with the juice and oils combined, gives this glaze a warm citrus backbone.
- Cinnamon sticks - simmering the whole spice into this sticky glaze as opposed to the powder allows for the needed flavor without making it cloudy.
- Soy sauce - use tamari to make this recipe gluten free. The addition of soy will enrich this with enough umami to make it rich.
- Sambal oelek chili paste - this is Asian chili garlic paste, you can substitute some dry chili flakes, sriracha sauce, or omit it altogether if spicy isn't your thing. This spiciness is not really enough to make the sauce very hot, though.
- Honey - we used New Zealand manuka honey, feel free to use your favorite variety here, it helps to keep the sweetness from being too one dimensional.
- Salt - non iodized.
- Black pepper - freshly ground.
- Corn starch - to thicken the sauce.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Step One - Combining Ingredients
After doing a little bit of prep work, peeling and rough chopping ginger, etc., this red currant recipe is really pretty simple. Put everything in the pot.
Juice the oranges.
Step Two - Cooking and Milling
Bring it to a boil in a large saucepan until the flavors are well combined.
Strain it all, either with a food mill like you see here, or mash it through a strainer to get all of the beautiful juices from those little berries.
Step Three - Thickening
Once strained, bring it back to a boil, and thicken with the corn starch.
When it's velvety smooth and sticky, just cool it in the refrigerator until ready to use on pork chops, ham, lamb, shrimp, just about anything!
Helpful Hint
This is a sauce/condiment that is best made in advance and chilled for later use. Using it right away doesn't allow it enough time to get syrupy and sticky like the finished product should be. The glaze consistency from this red currant recipe is what allows it to coat whatever you use it on.
Variations
A sweet and tangy base is a blank palette that begs for culinary imagination.
- Spicy - add your favorite chili pepper/s, dry or fresh will work.
- Savory - a little onion and extra garlic can take it in a whole new direction.
- Herbal - just make sure to use aggressive herbs, like rosemary or thyme, so that they can stand out, (some fresh mint with lamb or pork comes to mind).
Storage/Reheating
This red currant glaze will store tightly sealed in the refrigerator for up to 21 days.
We do not recommend freezing, as it will be watery when thawed.
To reheat this glaze, just microwave it for 30 seconds at a time until warm, or heat gently on the stove over medium low heat, about 5 minutes.
Chef Tip
When thickening any sauce, watch the bubbles. As the liquid becomes more viscous, the bubbles will struggle to break through the surface and pop. You can see this happening in the form of larger and slower bubbles.
More Inspiration
Recipe
Red Currant Glaze Recipe
Equipment
- 1 6 quart pot
- 1 strainer or food mill
- 1 small mixing bowl
- 1 Mixing Bowl
- 1 Rubber Spatula
- 1 container or glass jar for storing
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Chef Knife
- 1 peeler or spoon to peel the ginger ( see our easy chicken curry post )
- 1 Kitchen Scale
- 1 Measuring Spoon Set
- 1 liquid measuring cup
- 1 sauté pan
- 1 wire whip/whisk
Ingredients
- 2 lb fresh red currant or frozen
- 2 oz fresh ginger peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 each navel orange zested and juiced
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon sambal
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon corn starch
- ¼ cup cold water for mixing with the corn starch to create the thickening slurry
Instructions
- Remove the currants from the stems, and place them in the sauce pan
- Add the ginger, cinnamon, salt and pepper, honey, brown sugar, orange juice and zest of the orange, and½ cup of water, to the currants in the pan and stir
- Simmer over low to medium heat for 20 minutes
- Put the cooked currants into a food mill or push through a mesh strainer into a mixing bowl
- Place the liquid into a sauté pan and place over medium heat, stir in the soy sauce and sambal, and bring to a boil
- In a small bowl combine the corn starch and cold water, creating a smooth mixture
- Add the corn starch mixture to the reducing liquid and stir with a wire whisk until thickened
- Place the cooled glaze into a container or glass jar for storage in the refrigerator!
- We used some on grilled pork chops and it was delicious! Enjoy!
Jason says
so much better than sweet chili sauce