Showpiece · Flambé · Secretly fast

Cherries
Jubilee

Name: Cherries Jubilee
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 450 g sweet cherries; 50 g sugar; 1 orange; 10 g cornstarch; 45 ml kirsch or brandy; 1 good vanilla ice cream

The showstopper that's secretly fast — maximum drama, genuinely little work. The wow-without-the-woe recipe.

~15 min total 3–4 min cook full attention at the stove

Effort ●●●○ Time ●○○○ Some Doing

VegetarianGluten-Free

Servingsamounts scale to match

Units

Ingredients

Never cut the citrus or the flambé. Low-acid Bings need the orange, and burning off the raw alcohol is what leaves the warm, round depth behind. Safety: clear the area above the pan, never pour spirits from the bottle into a lit pan, and keep a lid nearby to smother.

Easier, if you like

Use a cherry pitter for fresh cherries — pitting by hand is a stained, sticky slog. A cheap handheld pitter does the job; a spring-loaded or multi-cherry model is worth it if you cook cherries often.
Frozen pitted cherries mean no pitting — cook them straight from frozen; they'll release juice as they warm.
Off-season, a jar of good dark sweet cherries (drained) stands in fine — fresh Bings are best, but this one is forgiving.

Method

Cook's notes

Off-season you can use jarred cherries, but fresh Bings are the point here.

Safety, again because it matters: clear the space above the pan, keep the bottle away from the flame, and have a lid ready to smother if needed.

Make it vegan or dairy-free

Vegan / dairy-free: the cherries themselves are already dairy-free — just spoon them over a good vegan vanilla ice cream.