I am not saving these for breakfast

September 15, 2022 6:42 PM

This is just to say, I have received a bunch of Italian prune plums in my local produce delivery, and I would like to use them for something savory. They are neither cold nor particularly sweet.

Okay enough riffing on the poem. I have maybe a scant two pounds of plums, of the classic prune variety. They have a bit of a green tinge to them and are pretty firm, so they aren’t overripe and I have a couple days probably to go acquire ingredients. What should I make with them?

When they are perfectly ripe I have a family recipe for kuchen I use, but I’d like to try something savory this time. Ideally it would be a complete dish or meal, not a condiment. So if you’re going to tell me to make plum chutney, tell me also what I should cook and eat with said chutney.

I’m open to any cuisine and almost any category of food, I’m an omnivore and a good cook. I live in Seattle and have access to pretty much any ingredient, though I would prefer local seafoods, meats and dairy. Vegetarian meals are also wonderful, I have a very hard time making a fruit go savory in that context and would be curious to try. Please only a little spicy, though. Kimchi and original Cholula is about as hot as I go.

Please note that these are not your super juicy sweet eating plums. They are little oblong stone fruit with firm flesh and a frosty bloom on the skin, classic prune plums.

posted by Mizu to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

I make the NY Times plum torte often in the fall and people seem to love it. I've already had a couple requests for it this year.

Here's the same recipe with pictures and commentary for NY Times subscribers.
posted by overhauser at 7:13 PM on September 15, 2022

Response by poster: To reiterate: I’m looking for savory ideas and recipes, not sweet.
posted by Mizu at 7:17 PM on September 15, 2022

I make an easy beef stew and I throw in a handful of quartered plums in towards the end to soften and take in the flavors.....so good!
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 7:23 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

I like this Beans Marbella recipe and often make it with extra prunes. I bet it would also be good with fresh plums. If you're not a bean fan I suppose you could make the Silver Palate chicken original.

(Psssst can we get the kuchen recipe? I think this is like how you can't mention your cat here without paying the cat tax)
posted by pullayup at 7:35 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

Are they sour enough to make tkemali? If so, highly recommended.
posted by derrinyet at 7:39 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

(Khmeli suneli can be purchased eg here)
posted by derrinyet at 7:40 PM on September 15, 2022

It really does feel like Marian Burros dominates the search results for the specific varietal "Italian prune plums" because her torte is so utterly famous, and then everything else that might pop up several pages later are related cakes, pies, and sweet tarts.

I don't know if any of these call specifically for Italian or European prune plums, but I use whatever plums I have on hand to do things like make plum sauce for moo shu or a roasted duck, or a plum chutney for lamb chops. Or maybe put into a salad - I like the pepperiness of the arugula here contrasting with the slightly tart plum and then the salty cheese note to smooth it all out? I've also got this savory plum tart on my list to try, but haven't made it yet (beef suet isn't something I keep on hand regularly).
posted by Pandora Kouti at 7:43 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Lamb and plum tagine (or chicken, if you prefer).
posted by ssg at 8:57 PM on September 15, 2022 [5 favorites]

Homemade plum sauce, on ground pork stir fried with dark soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Quick cucumber pickles on the side, and rice noodles. Sorry I don’t have a recipe, but the intuitive amounts of these ingredients will work just great.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:21 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

I cooked a bunch of quite sour plums down into plum butter (just cooked way, way down, with some sugar, and pureed) the other day. It has kept in the fridge for a long time and my kid insists on using it for dipping chicken nuggets. It's somewhat less sweet than ketchup, so I guess she's not crazy.
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:19 AM on September 16, 2022

Put them in with a pork roast cooked low and slow. I’d probably put some carrots and potatoes in there, too, you do you.
posted by momus_window at 12:42 PM on September 16, 2022

I recommend this Roast Chickens With Plums recipe from Melissa Clark. The plums become astonishingly savory with the juices of everything around them. Memail me for a non-paywalled version.
posted by oxisos at 6:53 PM on September 16, 2022

Savoury cooking with late summer fruit – recipes by 10 Greek Street
I'm pretty sure that slightly acidic prune plums would work very well with the first recipe in this article. And perhaps also the second one.
Some years I get a lot of mirabelle plums. Normally I make jelly, that I use during winter in sauces for duck and goose and pork. This year I made an experimental batch of mirabelle liqueur, I put the mirabelles in a jar and covered with equal amounts pr. volume of sugar and vodka and left to develop for two weeks. It was a small experiment, but I used the result successfully in Coq au vin a la Mme Maigret, instead of sloe brandy, which is hard to find. It's nothing like sloe brandy, but it worked very well in the recipe. There is an important sentence in that recipe: "depending on the age of the chicken". Your chicken will not likely be very old, and I advise you to cook your chicken pieces for 20 minutes rather than 90. When I made it, I cooked them for 25 minutes but that was a bit too long. Also, I prefer rice and a nice simple salad with a mustardy vinaigrette dressing as sides to this very, very lovely fricassee.
posted by mumimor at 5:21 AM on September 17, 2022

Tbose plums will sweeten in a bag. I had some plums this year, nice and o er ripe and I made plum and garlic sauce. I could have used a bit more rice wine vinegar, but I say the two pints of sauce is gone. It doesn't have to be more sweet than the plums.
posted by Oyéah at 5:59 PM on September 17, 2022