For duck, pork, or lamb · Built in the pan

Quick Cherry
Pan Sauce

Name: Quick Cherry Pan Sauce
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 300 g sweet cherries; 1 shallot; 120 ml red wine; 15 ml red wine vinegar; 10 g cold butter; pinch salt

Proof that cherries aren't only dessert — built in the pan you just cooked the meat in, in the time it rests.

~15 min total 5–7 min simmer 1 pan

Effort ●●○○ Time ●○○○ Anytime

VegetarianGluten-Free

Servingsamounts scale to match

Units

Ingredients

Never cut the fond or the vinegar. Deglaze the browned bits in the pan — that's the flavor — and keep the vinegar; without the tartness it slumps into jammy and dull. You can skip any homemade stock, though: the meat's own drippings carry it.

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 skip the pitting and halving — add them straight from the freezer; they thaw in the pan as the sauce reduces.
Jarred minced shallot (or a pinch of dried) works in a pinch.

Method

Cook's notes

Start it the moment the meat comes out of the pan — it's built in the time the meat rests, so the timing takes care of itself.

Make it vegetarian or vegan

Vegetarian / vegan: skip the meat fond — start the shallot in a little olive oil and add a splash of vegetable stock in place of the drippings. For vegan, swap the finishing butter for vegan butter or a spoon of olive oil.