No. 3028

Crusts with Pears a la Douglas

Croutes aux Poires a la Douglas

Cut some half-inch thick slices from a kitchen loaf and form them into rounds with a plain cutter two and a half inches in diameter; remove the center of these rounds with another cutter an inch in diameter so as to make them into rings. Put two egg-yolks into a basin and dilute with a pint of good cream, adding two ounces of sugar flavored with half a grated orange peel and pass the whole through a colander over the bread rings. After they have well soaked, drain and dip them in pulverized macaroons, then in beaten eggs and lastly roll in white bread-crumbs; fry to a fine color in clarified butter; drain and mask the surface with apricot marmalade (No. 3675); throw over a pinch of powdered burnt almonds and dress in a circle on a dish; fill the center with fine pears cooked in syrup, some Malaga raisins and candied orange peel cut in small shreds and combined with apple jelly (No. 3668) and maraschino. Serve separately a sauce-boat of kirsch syrup thickened with a few spoonfuls of dissolved apple jelly and the pulp of two oranges free of their white skin and seeds.

← No. 3027 Crusts with Peaches or with Pears Hot Entremets — Puddings, Fritters & Soufflés No. 3029 Cupola a la Madison →

For the Modern Kitchen

A fried custard-soaked bread ring, glazed with apricot and filled with poached pears — Ranhofer's assembly of three or four separate preparations onto one dish. Read it as components rather than a single sequence.

The hinge: soak, then dryThe rings must absorb enough custard to taste of it but stay firm enough to handle and breadcrumb. Soak briefly on both sides, drain on a rack until the surface is no longer wet, and coat at once; a sodden ring tears when you dip it and drinks fat in the pan.
Kitchen loafRead as a plain white loaf with a tight, close crumb; the book does not define the term, but an open, holey crumb will not cut into clean rings or hold custard as well. Day-old bread cuts better than fresh.
The pint of creamTwo yolks to a US pint (16 fl oz / 475 ml) makes a very thin custard, which is what is wanted for soaking rather than setting. The recipe does not say how many rings it dresses; at home you will probably need less custard than a pint for a domestic batch.
"Pass through a colander"Best read as a straining step (the French passoire covers both colander and strainer); a fine sieve will hold back the grated orange peel and any strands of yolk so the custard soaks in evenly.
Pulverized macaroonsDried almond macaroons ground to crumbs; Italian amaretti, crushed fine, are the closest thing on a shelf today. They go on before the egg wash, so keep them dry and press them on firmly.
Burnt almondsNot scorched almonds but praline — almonds cooked in caramel, cooled hard and pounded to powder. A pinch is a garnish, not a coating.
Frying in clarified butterThe recipe gives no temperature; around 340F (170C) will brown the crumbs without scorching. Plain butter will blacken before the coating colors; a neutral oil with a spoonful of clarified butter is a reasonable substitute.
The two jellies and the sauceApricot marmalade means sieved apricot jam warmed to a brushing consistency. The apple jelly is used twice: loosened with maraschino to bind the pear filling, and dissolved into kirsch syrup to thicken the sauce. Any clear apple jelly works; warm it gently so it stays glossy.
Yield and servingThe recipe gives no yield; work from the number of rings your loaf provides. It must go out hot, as the fried rings soften within minutes of being glazed, so poach the pears and mix the filling in advance and fry last.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of the restaurant's repertoire, which is why recipes like this one cross-reference numbered preparations elsewhere in the book — the apricot marmalade at No. 3675, the apple jelly at No. 3668 — rather than repeating them. Croûtes, in nineteenth-century French practice, were sweet entremets built on a base of fried or oven-dried bread, a respectable use for the day-old loaf that a large kitchen always had on hand; the neighboring numbers here give the same treatment to peaches. The suffix "à la Douglas" may reflect the era's habit of naming dishes for patrons, though Ranhofer rarely explains who such people were, and the dedicatee cannot be identified now. The Malaga raisins, candied orange peel, maraschino and kirsch are the standard luxury pantry of the period, signals that this was a dish for a paying dining room rather than a household kitchen.