You’ve been munching pears all winter: Other than biting into one, perhaps you enjoyed a baked pear with sugar in the beginning of winter or sank a fork into a pear crumble after a holiday dinner. But to truly experience the flavors of a cooked pear, you’ll want to prepare it properly. The pros at Ferrandi Paris, the French School of Culinary Arts and Hospitality, have mastered the art of poaching pears, which deepens the flavor, softens the flesh and gives it an appetizing, very Instagrammable appearance. (Bonus: Poaching pears will fill your kitchen with a divine aroma.) The school’s top chef instructors share the steps below to achieve a perfectly poached pear.
Want more kitchen inspiration from Ferrandi chefs? You’ll find plenty (and some cooking pointers) in the upcoming book Fruits & Nuts: Recipes and Techniques from the Ferrand School of Culinary Arts (Flammarion, 2022).
Poached Pears
Ingredients
- 3 pears, preferably Conference
- juice of ½ lemon
- 4 cups water
- 8 oz. raspberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
Equipment
- chef’s knife
- vegetable brush
- small square food-grade stainless steel mesh
- large oven-safe saucepan
- immersion blender
- fine-mesh sieve
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 175°F. Wash and peel the pears without removing the stems. Slice off the bases so they are flat.
- Fill a bowl with cold water, add the lemon juice and submerge the pears to prevent them from browning. Scrub the pears with the vegetable brush to encourage them to soak up the poaching liquid.
- Gently rub the stainless-steel mesh over the pears to remove any bumps and ridges.
- The surface of each pear should be perfectly smooth.
- Pour the four cups of water into the saucepan and add the raspberries, sugar and vanilla bean and seeds. Mix with the immersion blender, then strain through the fine-mesh sieve.
- Pour back into the saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the pears.
- Cover the pears with a disk of parchment paper with a small hole cut out of the center, folding up the edges so it fits neatly inside the pan. Transfer the pan to the oven for about 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let the pears cool in the syrup. Drain, then strain the poaching liquid through the fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher.
- Stand the pears upright on a serving dish and pour the syrup over them.
All photos and recipe are reprinted with permission from Fruits & Nuts: Recipes and Techniques from the Ferrandi School of Culinary Arts, Rizzoli New York, 2022. Photography © Rina Nurra.