Rote Grütze mit Vanillesauce
A thick, chilled red-berry dessert, traditionally including tart red currants, served cold with a thin, pourable vanilla sauce. Northern Germany's simple classic.
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total
- 40 min
- serves
- 4
- level
- easy
Rote Grütze is about as simple as northern German desserts get: mixed red berries, cooked down and thickened, chilled, and served with a thin vanilla sauce. Red currants are the traditional backbone, more tart and less sweet than the berries most people reach for first.
The vanilla sauce should stay pourable, closer to a loose, thin custard than a thick pastry cream. That looseness is what lets it actually pool around the fruit rather than sitting on top like frosting.
Part of our 20 best German recipes list.
method
Simmer the berries and cherries with the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until the fruit softens and releases its juice.
Stir in the cornstarch slurry and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to a glossy, spoonable consistency.
Pour into serving bowls or glasses and chill for at least 2 hours, until cold and set.
For the vanilla sauce, heat the milk with the vanilla bean and its scraped seeds, or the extract, until just steaming.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale. Slowly whisk in a little of the hot milk, then pour this back into the rest of the milk.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 5 to 6 minutes, until the sauce thickens just enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil.
Strain the sauce if needed, and chill until cold, or serve it gently warm poured over the cold berries, whichever you prefer.
chef's tips
- Red currants are the traditional backbone of this dish, bringing a tartness and natural pectin that plain raspberries and strawberries alone do not have. Use them if you can find them, even mixed with sweeter berries.
- The vanilla sauce is meant to be thin and pourable, closer to a loose custard than a thick pastry cream. Do not reduce it until it is spoon-thick.
- This dessert is traditionally served cold, and some people like the vanilla sauce cold too, others prefer it gently warm against the chilled fruit. Both are common.
- Frozen mixed berries work well here if fresh ones are out of season or expensive; just simmer them a little longer to cook off the extra liquid they release.