Compote of Fruit

A skeleton recipe of the kind common in early twentieth-century compendia, where the cook was assumed to know the proportions. The method is sound; only the numbers are missing.

• Syrup proportionsNo quantities are given. Equal parts sugar and water by volume gives a serviceable poaching syrup; about 1 cup each will cover roughly 1 lb of prepared fruit in a narrow pan. Firm or tart fruit takes the fuller measure; very ripe fruit needs less.
• "Boil until thick" the first timeThis means only that the sugar has dissolved and the syrup has begun to reduce slightly — a minute or two at a full boil, no more. Cooking it further before the fruit goes in will set you up for a syrup that candies rather than poaches.
• The hinge: keep it below a boil once fruit is in"Stew until tender" means a bare simmer with the surface barely trembling. A rolling boil breaks pears and peaches into mush and splits plum skins, and the whole point of a compote is fruit that holds its shape.
• Timing by fruitFirm pears want 15-25 minutes and quinces often considerably longer; apples 8-15 depending on variety; peaches, apricots and plums 5-10; berries only long enough to heat through. Test with a skewer, which should meet slight resistance rather than sliding through.
• Reducing the syrupAfter lifting the fruit out, boil the syrup down by about half, until it coats a spoon. It will thicken further as it chills, so stop while it still pours freely.
• Pared fruit and browningPeeled apples, pears and quinces darken fast. Hold them in water with a little lemon juice until the syrup is ready, and add a strip of lemon peel or a split vanilla pod to the syrup, both period-appropriate and useful against flatness.
• Chilling and yieldPour the hot syrup over the fruit and let it cool in the syrup, which draws the sweetness in and keeps the surface from drying. Covered and refrigerated, it keeps four or five days. A pound of fruit gives four modest servings.