Recipe: Cherry Sauce in the Style of Escoffier

1 Pit the morello cherries, carefully reserving the stems and pits.

2 In a saucepan, combine the stems and pits with the red port and vinegar. Reduce until nearly dry.

3 Add the veal stock, orange zest, a modest amount of salt, and a generous turn of the pepper mill. Season with a pinch of grated nutmeg.

4 Simmer gently for 10 minutes.

5 Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean saucepan.

6 Add the pitted cherries and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

7 Just before serving, enrich the sauce with a knob of fresh butter.

8 Serve with duck (Barbary, Muscovy or wild), sautéed calf's liver, fresh foie gras escalope, quail or pheasant fillets, or game such as saddle of hare, venison, roe deer, or wild boar.