Port Wine Poached Pears

Pears have been poached for some time.  Archaeologists have found ancient mummies with perfectly poached pears just so they can take them into the afterlife.  It is even said that the ferry man (Charon) on the River Styx can be bribed with a Port Wine Poached Seckel Pear (what is he supposed to do with 2 coins in the afterlife?).

Fortunately poaching is not especially difficult and pears are almost made for poaching.  This recipe makes less than ripe pears edible.  This particular recipe features Ruby Port, in this case an inexpensive one.  The flavors of pear, cinnamon, port, honey and vanilla all come through in the final product.  There is a slight sweetness and strangely a certain amount savoriness from the Port.  This has not been prepared to be a particularly rounded flavor as it will be combined with a few more things.  The rich color comes from allowing the pears to soak in the poaching liquid over night.

Ruby Port, Sugar, Seckel Pears, Honey, Cinnamon, Vanilla and a Straight Sided Sauce Pan

Peeled and Cored Poached Pears with a Melon Baller and Peeler

A shot of the deeply Melon Balled Pears ready to hit the Hot Tub

The Ingredients combined in the Sauce pan.  Notice that the pears are nearly immersed.

A small plate covers the Pears to insure that they stay immersed in the poaching liquid.

The pears, now tender, are separated from the poaching liquid to cool more quickly.

The Pear after soaking in the Poaching Liquid over night with Poached Pear Ice Cream and Pear Creme Brulee

General notes:

Total Time: 24 hours, actual hands on prep time: 20 - 30 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

6 Seckel Pears (or whichever you like)

750 ml Ruby Port Wine

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1/2 cup Honey

1 Tsp Vanilla

Written Instructions:

• Combine ingredients except Pears in a medium straight sided sauce pan
• Peel Pears, leaving stem attached for presentation purposes
• Using a melon baller remove core of Pear from the bottom of the pear, taking care not to break pear
• Carefully add Pears to the sauce pan with the other ingredients, try not to splash as it might stain your clothes)
• Bring Pears and Liquid up to a boil and quickly drop to a gentle simmer.  In other words small bubbles that will not move the Pears around very much
• When the Pears have become tender, test this by inserting a thin knife into one of the pears, if it goes in easily, the Pear is tender
• Remove the sauce pan form the heat and put somewhere that you can easily remove the Pears from the liquid
• Remove the Pears and place in a separate container that will fit the Pears, the Liquid and fit in your refrigerator
• Let the Pears and Liquid cool for a few minutes, recombine and put into your refrigerator
• Ensure the Pears are immersed in the poaching liquid, by weighting them slightly if need be
• Forget about them until the next day
• Take them out, drain and make it happen in your tum tum, or add them to your favorite dish, or stuff with cheese

Pear Creme Brulee

Chances are your parent's favorite dessert to order in a restaurant is Creme Brulee. It seems like a daunting and horribly time consuming task that can only be accomplished with professional grade equipment. Well, the sad news is that most home cooking equipment is of better quality than most kitchen equipment and most professional cooks have no more skill than the average home cook. They do have far more burns, cuts, and scrapes though, which must amount for something. The digression ends and on to the dish at hand...Pear Creme Brulee.

This is not a 30 minute meal, in fact it is not even a 60 minute meal, however it is not difficult nor is there a lot of hands on time. This recipe is an adaptation from a Creme Brulee recipe from Le Cirque, one of the World's greatest restaurants. The only hope is that this does it justice. You will notice that this version uses a deeper ramekin, as that is what was on hand. The pear flavor is subtle, but noticeable. This can be enjoyed on its on or used as a component in a larger more ambitious dessert such as the one in the last picture (Pear Creme Brulee, Ruby Port Poached Seckel Pear with Ice Cream made from the Poaching Liquid). Recipes for the rest of that will follow this post.

2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream is added to a Sauce Pan and placed over Medium-Low Heat

The Heavy Cream is brought to a simmer with diced Pears, Vanilla, and Salt

While the Cream is heating, Whisk together Eggs, Sugar and Honey in a Metal Mixing Bowl

The simmering Cream mixture

The various Custard filled Ramekins in the Oven in a Water Bath

The Baked Custard cooling on a Wire Rack

Pear Dessert Trio, Port Poached Pear, Pear Creme Brulee and Poached Pear Ice Cream

General Notes
4 servings if using 6 ounce Ramekins
Total Time: 4 1/2 Hours, Hands on Time: 20 - 30 minutes
The Pears are separated out in the ingredients as their omission and eliminating any pear related steps, will yield a plain vanilla creme brulee.

Ingredients
2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract or if you Roll Deep 1/2 Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise
4 Egg Yolks
1/3 cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Honey
Pinch of Kosher Salt
4 additional tbsp sugar for topping

2 Pears, as always the best quality that you can find and your budget allows

Written Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 300 degrees
• Fill a kettle or pot of water and begin heating it to a simmer while working on the rest
• Peel, Core and Dice the 2 Pears and momentarily set aside
• In a medium Sauce Pan combine the Cream, Vanilla, Salt and Pears and bring to a simmer over medium heat
• While the Cream mixture is heating, combine the Egg Yolks, 1/3 cup Sugar and Honey in a metal mixing bowl
• Whisk the Egg Yolk mixture together until well blended and lightened in color
• Remove the Cream mixture from the stove when it has just begun to simmer and add it to a blender, or food processor, put the lid on but not all the way and cover the lid with a towel (This is to puree the pear and release even more Pearness). Also make sure that the Cream mixture does not fill more than half of the blender/processor. Other wise you can find yourself covered in HOT Cream in a very bad way when the blender/processor starts up
  
• CAREFULLY turn the blender/processor onto its lowest setting and blend until smooth
  
• A little at a time (maybe a quarter of a cup), add the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture taking care not to scramble the eggs by adding too much hot cream the first time
• Once you have added maybe half of the hot Cream mixture to the eggs, at which point the eggs should be pretty hot but not scrambled, feel free to add the hot Cream mixture more aggressively. Oh, and by the way this is basically "Tempering the Eggs"
• Next, strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a vessel suitable for pouring
• With any luck your water is simmering and your oven is preheated at this point so put your ramekins into a high sided oven safe pan that is water tight and comfortably accommodates the ramekins
• Add the custard base into the ramekins filling them to just below the top of the ramekin
• Open the oven and keep the door completely open, slide the middle rack out about half way, ensuring that it will hold the weight of the pan etc.
  
• Place the custard filled ramekins on the oven rack and add your simmering water to the pan such that the water comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins
• Loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for about 1 hour
  
• Remove the whole operation when the custard is firm at the edges but still a little wobbly in the middle. It will have some more carry over cooking to finish up after you take it out
• With an oven safe mitt, remove the ramekins to a wire rack to let them cool
• When cooler, cover individually and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 3 days
• When ready to enjoy and they are very cool and set up, turn on the broiler of your oven or break out the blow torch
• Put one tablespoon of Sugar onto each custard and broil right under the burner until the sugar is bubbly and lightly browned, or torch them spinning the whole while ensure even browning
• Turn off the Broiler and carefully remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly
• Time to make it happen in your tum tum, and please be sure to crack the sugar topping with a spoon. it is one of the greatest but most simple pleasures.