please help me become the maple syrup plum fairy

August 27, 2009 1:28 PM

I want to bake/roast/broil plums in a sauce of maple syrup and/or red wine. Will this work? Have you done this? Does a recipe exist?

Plums = slightly underripe.
Wine = Shiraz
Maple syrup = delicious

Other potentially useful ingredients I have: cinnamon, brown sugar, ginger, vanilla extract. I could probably get some other stuff, but I'd prefer not to.

posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel to food & drink (10 comments total)

This will work, yes. Recipes are likely to call for white sugar, but whatever. A good search term for recipes would be "macerated", which means "soaked in booze until delicious."
posted by clavicle at 1:32 PM on August 27

Sounds like an ice cream topping waiting to happen.

You might just want to braise the plums in the wine and syrup.

Something like banana's foster with plums?

Just be careful - there's a lot of sugar and sugar burns easily.
posted by royalsong at 1:33 PM on August 27

I would apply the maple syrup after baking/roasting/broiling, or braise, for the sugar-burning reason mentioned by royalsong. Also, here, just for fun, are a bunch of stone fruit recipes from my former job marketing CA peaches, plums, and nectarines (including a lot of grilling recipes, in case you want to take the heat outside).
posted by jocelmeow at 1:53 PM on August 27

I have simmered plums in a red wine, orange juice, orange zest, sugar, and clove mixture many times. If you are going for a browning action, I would simmer the plums in your mixture until they are tender, then pop them under the broiler while the liquid simmers down on the stovetop. Like royalsong states, you will want to keep an eye on them as they will burn fast. a hand torch would be ideal. Plums done this way will taste heavenly over ice cream or as a topping for something substantial, like bread pudding. Also makes a good ingredient in a fancy trifle or parfait.
posted by Foam Pants at 1:54 PM on August 27

I think you will find recipes that should get you going if you search for "poached plums." Most recipes have a few things in common:

--water
--sugar (or your maple syrup)
--some sort of herb or spice (like cinnamon, vanilla, lemon zest, etc. or a mix)
--booze or acid (grand marnier, rum, lemon juice, or your red wine)

The basic technique is:

1. Dissolve sugar in water, or use less water and maple syrup in non-reactive saucepan
2. Add spices/herbs
3. Quarter plums, remove the pits, add to pan
4. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer 10-15 minutes
5. Let cool slightly until syrup thickens
6. Serve over vanilla ice cream (my favorite); but also could serve this along side a nice roast of lamb or pork or similar unctuous meaty treat. If serving with meat, I'd make sure tha acid level is higher--wine should do it, or lemon juice.

These techniques work really well with pears too, though it can take longer to cook.
posted by ViolaGrinder at 2:19 PM on August 27 [1 favorite]

Oops--the wine/booze/acid goes in step 1.
posted by ViolaGrinder at 2:20 PM on August 27

I have baked plum pies; they were some of the best ones I've attempted. Plums aren't such a strong flavour as to overcome the maple or wine, so I think it should work fine.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 2:40 PM on August 27

I'm not sure I'd mix maple syrup and red wine. Either would do awesome things to your plums if braised alone, but I have my doubts about mixing them. Maple doesn't always play well with others.

If I went with maple syrup, I'd low heat cook (300 °C) in a glass pan, spooning the syrup back over the halved, face-up plums multiple times while cooking. I'd finish with fresh grated nutmeg and maybe a squeeze of lemon. If you're feeling fancy serve in a pool of cream or rich, fresh, yogurt.

If I were to do wine, I'd go with a very sweet red. Maybe even a sherry or port. I'd peel, seed, then soak them in the booze for a couple of hours and then broil on buttered glass for a short time, turning once. I'd serve these on either a pastry or shortcake, with thick whipped cream, or maybe a la mode paired with a green melon sorbet. Top with a dash of something green like finely chopped cilantro or mint.
posted by Toekneesan at 3:47 PM on August 27

You could try poaching them in a light maple syrup and them flambeing them. Something I hadn't thought about. I like ViolaGrinder's idea of as a meat accompaniment. Maple and pork go really well together. You could add an aromatic to the pork and leave it out of the plum entirely.
posted by Foam Pants at 5:35 PM on August 27

I have to agree with Toekneesan about maple and red wine....I hadn't thought of that possible clash. Also, cooking plums in port sounds genius--port already has a plummy flavor. I like tawny, but I bet any port would be good.
posted by ViolaGrinder at 7:13 PM on August 27