Make jelly as a glaze for meat your jam

Jelly is great with peanut butter because that hit of bright, sweet fruit enlivens its earthy nuttiness. It can bring the same brightness to meat as a glaze.

“The versatility of the options really allows you to experiment with just about anything and see what you think tastes the best,” said Cheri White, owner of Deep River Specialty Foods in San Antonio.

Deep River makes several glazes, sauces, rubs and jams, and White estimates she has experimented with more than

100 fruit combinations. She stays pretty classic with her meat-jam pairings, preferring well-known combinations such as orange with chicken for Asian-inspired flavors and cranberry sauce with poultry to mimic Thanksgiving flavors.

While it seems a lot of home cooks are still in the dark about the magic of jam on meat, it’s standard practice on the competition barbecue circuit. Craig Sharry started the Houston-based Texas Pepper Jelly, which has a line of jams and sauces that cater to competition barbecue cooks. Among the most well-known is his Rib Candy line of fruity glazes, which bridge the gap between sauce and jam.

“Those added flavors bring something special to the judging table,” he said.

First, let’s first establish the difference between jelly, jam and preserves.

Jelly is mostly made with fruit juices and is loaded with additional sugar. It has the most liquid out of the three and spreads the easiest, but it lacks true fruit flavor.

Jam has more character. It, too, is loaded with sugar, but it has more fruit for a thicker consistency and more sticking power.

Preserves contain chunks of fruit. The thickest and stickiest of the three, it makes a beautiful addition to a charcuterie board as it won’t run everywhere.

All three work as a great finishing glaze to meats, but I’m partial to jam for its versatility. Like any barbecue sauce, the fruit glaze should be applied near the end of the cooking process.

Because of the high sugar content, the blends will blacken and burn into the meat if left too long in the grill or in the oven. I usually apply the glazes inside of the final 10 minutes of the cooking process.

Pairing jam to the meat is similar to wine pairings, and it can be helpful to think of wines you like with certain meats and let the wine’s flavor notes guide your jam choice.

Beef

Beef has the biggest flavor. So you want big flavors to stand up to it — just like you want big, bold

red wines to go with your rib-eye.

White likes peach, blackberry blends and fig jams with her beef, because they provide bold flavors. But currant and cherry would also work well, as would jams with the smoky notes of chipotle chile.

Pork

Pork has a fatty, unctuous quality that pairs well with brighter fruit flavors. Try jams with citrus, mango, orange, pineapple and, as an outlier, watermelon.

If you’re looking for chile heat, stay in the bright zone, too, so look for jalapeño or habanero.

Chicken

Chicken is pretty versatile as the flavor of the meat is mild enough to let the jam be the star. So if you want a certain jam flavor, but you’re not sure if it would stand up to beef or be too rich for pork, chicken is the way to go.

“I would be hard pressed to find something that wouldn’t work with chicken, because chicken has a way of really absorbing the flavors that you put into it,” White said. “It’s sort of like that tester canvas, and you can go from there.”

William Luther / Staff photographer Jellies, jams and preserves await their meat pairing at Chuck’s Food Shack. Use these fruit-based spreads as glazes instead of barbecue sauce for bright flavors.