Figs in wine with cream

[elliptic_eye]

It's chilly and wet, which happens to be my favorite weather. It's also the best weather possible for this dish. An old Roman delicacy, apparently-or so the prof who made it for us at her home said, anyway.

Ingredients:
• Figs, dried, lots. Calimyrna are best, or else Brown Turkey; Black Mission do not work well-they tend to be too sweet. Also

Comments

[sabra_n]

Ooh, that sounds really delicious. Right now I'm torn between different Rosh Hashannah baking possibilities, and reading this has just added to my urge to gorge myself on late summer fruit. Of course, my roommate just finished all our fresh figs. Boo!

[elliptic_eye]

Mmmm, fresh figs. Used to get those from the co-op in SF, but I don't think I've had one for years. Have fun with all the baking.

[elliptic_eye]

I'm at the simmering-for-a-geologic-age step right now, and how do I know when it's done? When all or most of the liquid boils off?

Hmm, good question. I guess I do it by when the liquid has reached the consistency I want and all of the alcohol has evaporated. If you're planning to make a spread out of it, then you'll want to go for thicker over thinner, but be careful nothing gets scorched or turned into leather.

Should I refrigerate the purée? I think it'll taste best at room temperature, and surely it should keep fine for 18 hours or so -- especially considering how cold it is in my house.My suspicion is that there's enough sugar in there that 18 hours should be fine, but if you're planning to spread it on crackers, it's the consistency I wonder about. I've spread it on croissants before (warm/room temp), but it was a somewhat soupy spread, which wouldn't work as well with crackers. If cold, it would certainly be more cohesive. Of course, you could also just drain all the syrup for something else and purée only the figs

[elliptic_eye]

Oh, yeah, I forgot about Thai fish sauce! Which is sad, since I've had it. The idea of fermented fish doesn't bother me in itself; it's more the idea of it being done without a good, modern way to monitor exactly what you're culturing on there.

I read this book on the history of food last year, and the far scarier thing Romans did was to make sugar by boiling down must in lead pots until it crystallized. Ah, delightfully poisonous!

By boiling down whatwhat now?

ETA: Haven't forgotten about the Valeyard project, by the way; look for an e-mail from me after I finish up testing on Wednesday.

[elliptic_eye]

Any sort of cream will do, really, so long as it's unsweetened; personally, I think that if you're going to eat them with cream, it's tastier if the cream is whipped since the figs are so sense, which over here = heavy (i.e. whipping) cream. I've also just realized that I really have no idea what allspice is, beyond "that stuff that comes in the little jar."

[nonelvis]

These sound just like the figs I had served over homemade cinnamon ice cream at a restaurant in Toronto. Clearly, I will have to try to reproduce this at home.