flipWine-Poached Pears with Spices
Wine-Poached Pears with Spices
Why this dish? The orchards of Versailles, designed by La Quintinie for Louis XIV, still provided famous pears in the time of Louis XVI. Poached in wine and spices, they kept well and closed the meal of the gourmand king, fond of sweets and pastries.
Pears melted in a red wine syrup perfumed with cinnamon and cloves: a preserve dessert that ends the meal on a sweet and sour note.
The King's Kitchen Garden gives us pears that seem cut for a prince's table. Let them confit gently in good wine, with sugar, cinnamon, and a clove, until they take on a beautiful dark robe. Thus prepared, they keep, and one enjoys them long after the season. I confess I have never been able to resist a sweet at the end of a meal; this one has always found favor in My eyes.
- •Firm pears — a dozen (main fruit)
- •Red wine — enough to cover (cooking syrup)
- •Sugar (or honey) — a good handful (sweetness, preservation)
- •Cinnamon, clove — to taste (spices)
- •Lemon zest — a little (acidic freshness)
Wine-Poached Pears with Spices
Pears melted in a red wine syrup perfumed with cinnamon and cloves: a preserve dessert that ends the meal on a sweet and sour note.
Why this dish? The orchards of Versailles, designed by La Quintinie for Louis XIV, still provided famous pears in the time of Louis XVI. Poached in wine and spices, they kept well and closed the meal of the gourmand king, fond of sweets and pastries.
The King's Kitchen Garden gives us pears that seem cut for a prince's table. Let them confit gently in good wine, with sugar, cinnamon, and a clove, until they take on a beautiful dark robe. Thus prepared, they keep, and one enjoys them long after the season. I confess I have never been able to resist a sweet at the end of a meal; this one has always found favor in My eyes.
Ingredients (period version)
- Firm pears — a dozen (main fruit)
- Red wine — enough to cover (cooking syrup)
- Sugar (or honey) — a good handful (sweetness, preservation)
- Cinnamon, clove — to taste (spices)
- Lemon zest — a little (acidic freshness)
Ingredients
- Firm pears (Conference type) — 6 (main fruit)
- Red wine — 500 ml (syrup)
- Sugar — 120 g (sweetness, preservation)
- Cinnamon stick + 2 cloves — 1 set (spices)
- Lemon zest — 1 strip (acidic freshness)
Method
- Peel the pears, keeping the stem. Bring the wine, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and zest to a simmer.
- Submerge the pears and poach for 25 to 35 minutes over low heat, turning them, until tender and colored.
- Remove the pears, reduce the syrup by half until it coats a spoon.
- Return the pears to the syrup, let cool: they absorb color and flavor.
- Serve warm or cold, drizzled with syrup. Keep for several days in the fridge.
How it was made : Fruits cooked in wine and spices are a classic of Ancien Régime desserts, inherited from spiced medieval cuisine. Sugar, still costly, served both to delight and to preserve fruits out of season, in a France where the King's Kitchen Garden of Versailles was a reference in arboriculture.
The contemporary twist : Place each pear on a quenelle of vanilla whipped cream and a crumb of gingerbread: the court dessert becomes a restaurant plate.
Sources : Menon, Les Soupers de la Cour, 1755 · Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, Instruction pour les jardins fruitiers et potagers, 1690
Louis XVI · Charactorium
