The French have a whole family of sweet-and-sour sauces with the unappetizing name of gastrique. The sauces have caramel as a base, to which you add some kind of acid, usually vinegar, and often a little bit of veal demi-glace and some flavorings, often fruit-based.
Gastrique sauces most often accompany game or pork dishes. The most famous gastrique sauce is bigarde sauce, an orange juice and zest demi-glace sauce that is used on duck a l’orange.
Chris MacGillivray, the talented executive chef of The Squeaky Bean, showed me this interesting version of a gastrique made with olives. The combination of olives and caramel might sound bizarre, but it produces a sauce that has a wonderful complexity and richness that you can achieve without using expensive veal demi-glace.
If you haven’t made a caramel before, be careful. Don’t splash yourself with the caramel, don’t stick your finger in the sauce while it’s cooking to try to taste. Also, this recipe calls for a pot with a clear lid. The lid does two things: It helps condensation, which keeps the sugar from crystallizing and ruining the caramel, and it allows you to judge the color of the caramel at the same time.
Serve with pork or duck.
Sweet and Sour Olive Sauce Makes about 1½ cups.
Ingredients
About 12 whole black olives1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup good-quality sherry vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Using a paring knife, slice the olives into small round pieces, cutting around the pit. Set aside until ready to use.
Place the sugar, water and corn syrup in a small pot. Carefully whisk the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Cover the pot with a glass cover and cook the mixture over high heat. Place the cream and vinegar near the pot. When the caramel begins to color around the edges, turn the heat to low, remove the lid and start the swirling the liquid so it is evenly colored, being careful not to splash yourself with any of the liquid.
Once the caramel is a deep amber color and has a rich but not burnt aroma, quickly add the cream and the vinegar. The caramel will sputter violently. Cook the liquid until the caramel dissolves. Remove from heat and add the olives and black pepper. Keep warm until ready to use.
