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Jargonelle Pears, to Bake
Pare, core, and divide four large pears into quarters. Weigh them, and put them into a baking-dish with their weight in sugar, as much cold water as will barely cover them, three or four drops of cochineal, four cloves, and the thin rind of half a lemon. Put them into a moderate oven and bake them until they are tender, but be careful not to let them break. Lift the pears carefully into a glass dish, boil the sauce two or three minutes, strain it, and pour it over the fruit. A glass of sweet wine may be added or not. If a little isinglass or gelatine is dissolved in the hot syrup, it will when cold form a jelly round the pears, and make a pretty dish. Time, one hour or more to bake. Probable cost, 8d., exclusive of the isinglass. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A Victorian compote baked rather than stewed, with the option of setting the syrup to a jelly. Almost all of it translates directly; the sugar quantity and the colouring are what need thought.
- Moderate oven350F (175C). At that heat four quartered pears in a shallow covered dish will take the full hour, sometimes longer if the fruit is firm. Cover with a lid or foil so the exposed tops do not dry and discolour.
- Jargonelle pearsAn early pear, soft-fleshed and short-keeping, rare now outside heritage orchards and specialist nurseries. The name is French and the variety is usually said to be of French origin, though the pear grown as Jargonelle in England and the French pear of that name are not the same fruit. Any firm cooking or slightly underripe dessert pear works better here: Bosc, Conference, or an unripe Bartlett. A fully ripe soft pear will collapse, which the recipe specifically warns against.
- Their weight in sugarFour large pears come to roughly 1.5-2 lb pared and cored, so this asks for the same weight again in sugar - a heavy syrup by any modern standard. Half that weight gives a syrup that still holds the fruit's shape and tastes of pear rather than sweetness. Much below half and the pears will be softer, since sugar helps them hold their shape.
- CochinealCochineal (carmine, E120) is still sold, though many liquid colourings labelled cochineal are now synthetic; either way three or four drops is all it takes. Presumably it is there because baked pears go a dull beige; a few gratings of beetroot, a splash of red wine, or nothing at all will do as well.
- IsinglassSturgeon swim-bladder gelatine, long since displaced in the kitchen. Use powdered gelatine: about 1 teaspoon per cup of strained hot syrup for a trembling set, 2 teaspoons for something that slices. Stir it into the syrup off the heat, as boiling weakens gelatine.
- The hingeDo not let the pears break. Lift them with a slotted spoon rather than pouring the dish out, and arrange them in the serving dish before reducing the syrup - once the fruit is cold it firms up and handles more easily, but the syrup must go on hot if you are setting it.
- Sweet wineA wine glass in this period is usually reckoned about 2 fl oz, though period tables vary and some give more. Madeira, Marsala or a sweet sherry suits the cloves and lemon. Add it to the syrup after straining and off the boil so it does not cook away.
- Yield and costThree or four servings, as the original says. The 8d. is the 19th-century price for the fruit and sugar and is of historical interest only.
Cassell's is a dictionary rather than a cookbook, so entries are filed by ingredient, and the Jargonelle got its own heading because it was one of the best-known summer pears in Victorian Britain - an old variety often said to be French in origin, generally traced to the 17th century, ripening in July and going sleepy within days of picking. That short window may well be one reason a household would bake it: fruit too soft to store went into the oven with sugar. The cochineal and the isinglass jelly sit alongside tiered jellies and moulded creams, where a dish of stewed fruit was expected to arrive at table looking deliberate; a glass dish, a rose-coloured syrup and a wobble of jelly turned thrift into a dessert course.