Poached pears, or “tipsy pears”, are a common dessert that’s simple, elegant, and can be expensive to make if you want to make them tipsy!
For some reason, I have never been fond of pears. I find them mealy, gritty, and dry. But, Poached Pears is on the list in the curriculum I'm working through, so, in the middle of winter after a 30-cm (1 foot) dump of snow, I went to the local grocery story to find the perfect Bosc (pronounced BAHSK) pears for poaching. They happened to be from Oregon or Washington (none were available from Provence, unfortunately). This is definitely not the 100-mile diet!
The Pear
Did you know that pears do not ripen successfully on the tree? Is this true or just the marketing of a big conglomerate trying to sell their pears worldwide? Supposedly, pears that ripen on the tree are gritty.
When you’re buying a pear, the mantra is: “Check the neck”. Since pears ripen from the inside out, if you check the flesh near the stem, it should be soft to the touch. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "There are only 10 minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.” Sadly, I must have missed these 10 minutes in my lifetime.
If the pears are not ripe yet, store them in a warm place (not the refrigerator) such as a fruit bowl or paper bag until ripe. Store ripe pears in the coldest part of the refrigerator.
Bosc pears, which have a beautiful russet skin, are firm and work best for poaching. Anjou pears also work well for poaching, and are named after the Angers region in central France. There’s a gorgeous picture of several types of pears found at this link.
The Wine
With the pears selected, I next had to find the right wine to use for the poaching liquid. I've read that the wine you use should be good enough to drink. That’s not usually a problem for me! There are many different wines you can use, but the recipe in Le Cordon Bleu at Home suggested using a Burgundy wine.
For some reason, I have never been fond of pears. I find them mealy, gritty, and dry. But, Poached Pears is on the list in the curriculum I'm working through, so, in the middle of winter after a 30-cm (1 foot) dump of snow, I went to the local grocery story to find the perfect Bosc (pronounced BAHSK) pears for poaching. They happened to be from Oregon or Washington (none were available from Provence, unfortunately). This is definitely not the 100-mile diet!
The Pear
Did you know that pears do not ripen successfully on the tree? Is this true or just the marketing of a big conglomerate trying to sell their pears worldwide? Supposedly, pears that ripen on the tree are gritty.
When you’re buying a pear, the mantra is: “Check the neck”. Since pears ripen from the inside out, if you check the flesh near the stem, it should be soft to the touch. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "There are only 10 minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.” Sadly, I must have missed these 10 minutes in my lifetime.
If the pears are not ripe yet, store them in a warm place (not the refrigerator) such as a fruit bowl or paper bag until ripe. Store ripe pears in the coldest part of the refrigerator.
Bosc pears, which have a beautiful russet skin, are firm and work best for poaching. Anjou pears also work well for poaching, and are named after the Angers region in central France. There’s a gorgeous picture of several types of pears found at this link.
The Wine
With the pears selected, I next had to find the right wine to use for the poaching liquid. I've read that the wine you use should be good enough to drink. That’s not usually a problem for me! There are many different wines you can use, but the recipe in Le Cordon Bleu at Home suggested using a Burgundy wine.
map from Wikipedia For this dish, I wanted to try poaching some of the pears in a red wine and some in a white wine so I bought one of each, but both were from the Burgundy region of France.
Poaching
Poaching is a gentle cooking method where the food simmers over low heat. As the French chefs like to say, “Goutez, goutez, goutez.” (Taste, taste, taste.) If the poaching liquid is delicious, your poached pears will be too.
Poaching time can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour depending on the ripeness of the fruit and the type of pear you choose. The pears I bought weren’t as ripe as they should have been, so the poaching time took around 45 minutes.
Watch a Pro
Here is a link to a video showing how to make Poached Pears.
Recipe: Poires au vin rouge (Pears cooked in red wine)
24 prunes, pitted
6 small peaches, peeled
6 small pears, peeled
½ lemon
½ bottle dry red Burgundy wine
½ bottle dry white Burgundy wine
2 cups (500 mL) water, divided
6 ounces (125 mL) red currant jelly
6 ounces (125 mL) ice wine jelly (or apple jelly)
12 peppercorns, divided
1 stick cinnamon, broken in 2
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided
Mint leaves, for garnish (optional)
Recipe for Poires au vin rouge can be found in Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link)
Tasting Notes
This is a simple, fresh way of serving pears. The pears taste buttery, spicy, and comforting. It’s such a versatile dish, and is a nice, light way to end a heavy meal. Although pears have never been my favorite fruit, poached pears could become a dessert to impress dinner guests.
. . . . . . . . . .
Running total: $193.92 + $25.21 = $219.13
(Who would have thought that this dessert would cost so much. I guess it's due to the wine involved and maybe the fact that I don't own an orchard! )
Butter used so far: 4 pounds, 19.5 tablespoons
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10 comments:
When I was a child I thought pears were food for the gods. I still love them, but this recipe puts a whole new dimension on pear-eating.
The syrup sounds superb!! What a great blog.
What a nice presentation! You definitely made me want to make some myself!
Beautiful!
Those are absolutely gorgeous!
Gorgeous! What a beautiful dessert!
Thanks for all the compliments! I had fun photographing this one, partly because pears have such a great shape and design and partly due to where I took the pictures. After the amount of snow we've seen in Ottawa this year (45 cm just this weekend), I was using our back deck of snow as the backdrop. I'd carved out a shelf in the snow and placed the plated pears on the snowbank.
My daughter came over as I was taking the pictures and said, "Mom, you're weird, but in a good way." Thanks again for all your support and comments!
What a beautiful and original plate presentation. Wonderful photos. Great, great and....great!!!
Aha! So that's the secret of the white psyche behind your photos. You are creating a signature style! Can't wait to see what you do when the snow melts! Fabulous photos.
Congratulations on your DMBLGIT award! The pears look so beautiful. How did you keep them from toppling over? Photographing in the snow must have acted as glue. Again, gorgeous!
I must say those are both the most creative, and tastiest invention on such a classic dish *drool =)
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