Cherries Jubilee Day

What the day is

Cherries Jubilee Day is observed on September 24. The dish is simple: cherries warmed with sugar, doused in kirsch or brandy, set alight, and spooned over cold vanilla ice cream while still flaming.

It belongs to a small category of desserts designed to be finished in front of the people eating them. The flame is theater rather than technique, since it burns off most of the alcohol and caramelizes the sugar slightly. What actually makes the dish work is temperature contrast: hot fruit and syrup against ice cream cold enough to hold its shape for a moment before collapsing.

Origin and background

The dessert is commonly credited to Auguste Escoffier, the French chef who codified much of professional kitchen practice, and is said to have been created for one of Queen Victoria's jubilee celebrations, which is where the name comes from. The attribution is repeated widely enough to be standard and thinly enough documented to be worth treating as tradition rather than fact.

The origin of the observance itself is not documented. Its late September date sits oddly against the northern cherry harvest, which finishes in midsummer, though frozen and jarred cherries make the dish a year-round proposition.

How to take part

Made carefully it takes about ten minutes, and the classic version needs four ingredients.

• Use dark sweet cherries, pitted. Frozen work well and release useful juice as they warm.
• Warm the spirit before lighting it. Cold alcohol will not catch, which is the usual reason the flame fails.
• Take the pan off the heat before adding the brandy, stand back, and light it at the edge with a long match rather than tilting it into a gas flame.
• Serve immediately, straight over the ice cream, and let people watch. Waiting defeats the purpose.

If open flame in the kitchen is not appealing, simmering the cherries with the brandy for a minute or two produces nearly the same sauce and none of the risk. Keep a lid within reach either way.