flipPears Poached in Auvergne Wine and Honey
Pears Poached in Auvergne Wine and Honey
Why this dish? The orchards of Auvergne and Île-de-France yielded firm pears ideal for cooking. Poached in wine and honey, they keep for several days — a gentle way to preserve autumn fruits — and offer Pascal's austere table a simple, permissible pleasure without the luxury of expensive sugar preserves.
Whole pears gently poached in wine perfumed with spices and honey until tender and glossy. Left to steep in their syrup, where they keep.
When the late season comes and pears abound, here is how to keep them from spoiling. Choose firm ones, peel them without breaking them, and cook them over a low fire in wine in which you have dissolved honey and thrown a little cinnamon. Let them steep in their syrup: they will keep for several days. It is a modest pleasure, and permissible, for there is no pride in tasting what nature gives in its season.
- •Firm pears — half a dozen (fruit)
- •Red wine — enough to cover (cooking bath)
- •Honey — a good spoonful per pear (sweetness and preservation)
- •Cinnamon and clove — a little (flavor)
- •Verjus — a dash (brightness)
Pears Poached in Auvergne Wine and Honey
Whole pears gently poached in wine perfumed with spices and honey until tender and glossy. Left to steep in their syrup, where they keep.
Why this dish? The orchards of Auvergne and Île-de-France yielded firm pears ideal for cooking. Poached in wine and honey, they keep for several days — a gentle way to preserve autumn fruits — and offer Pascal's austere table a simple, permissible pleasure without the luxury of expensive sugar preserves.
When the late season comes and pears abound, here is how to keep them from spoiling. Choose firm ones, peel them without breaking them, and cook them over a low fire in wine in which you have dissolved honey and thrown a little cinnamon. Let them steep in their syrup: they will keep for several days. It is a modest pleasure, and permissible, for there is no pride in tasting what nature gives in its season.
Ingredients (period version)
- Firm pears — half a dozen (fruit)
- Red wine — enough to cover (cooking bath)
- Honey — a good spoonful per pear (sweetness and preservation)
- Cinnamon and clove — a little (flavor)
- Verjus — a dash (brightness)
Ingredients
- Firm pears (Conference, or slightly firm Comice) — 6 (fruit)
- Red wine — 50 cl (cooking bath)
- Honey — 5 tbsp (sweetness)
- Cinnamon stick — 1 (flavor)
- Cloves — 2 (flavor)
- Verjus (or grape juice / lemon juice) — 1 tbsp (brightness)
Method
- Peel the pears, leaving them whole with the stem.
- Heat the wine with the honey, cinnamon, and cloves until the honey dissolves.
- Place the pears in the syrup and poach at a gentle simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, turning them occasionally.
- Remove the pears, reduce the syrup by half to a napping consistency.
- Add the dash of verjus, return the pears to the syrup, and let cool in the liquid.
- Keep refrigerated in the syrup for up to 4 or 5 days; serve warm or cold.
How it was made : Poaching and preserving fruits in wine or syrup was one of the main preservation methods before sugar became widespread. 'Compotes' and fruits in wine appeared in the dessert service, the final part of the meal where fresh, dried, candied fruits, and preserves were presented. Auvergne and Île-de-France were known for their keeping pears.
The contemporary twist : Serve a glossy pear on a mirror of reduced syrup, with a quenelle of whipped fromage blanc — the 'thinking reed's dessert', simple and elegant.
Sources : François Pierre de La Varenne, Le Cuisinier françois, 1651
Blaise Pascal · Charactorium