No. 3054

Mirlitons of Pears a la Bienvenue

Mirlitons de Poires a la Bienvenue

Butter and line a dozen deep tartlet molds with fragments of puff paste (No. 146); range them on a baking sheet and keep in a cool place. Put into a basin four ounces of powdered sugar, four ounces of sifted flour and two tablespoonfuls of orange flower water; dilute with a pint and a half of cream and strain the whole through a fine sieve. Place a piece of butter the size of a half-inch ball in the bottom of each mold, and set the baking sheet at the mouth of the oven door, then fill the molds with the above preparation; dredge sugar over and push the sheet gently into a warm spot. In the meantime peel a dozen fine small sickle pears; empty out the insides with a vegetable spoon (Fig. 91) and cook them in a light syrup: drain well and fill the insides with well-washed candied apricot cut in small squares. Lay one pear in each tartlet and cover with an apricot and kirsch sauce. Bestrew shredded pistachios over and dress in a circle on a round dish, filling up the center with compoted cherries; serve an apricot sauce with kirsch and brandy (No.3001) apart.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes for a brigade with cross-references at hand; the whole thing is really three preparations assembled at the last minute. Read the batter carefully before you begin, because it does not behave like a modern tartlet filling.

The batter has no eggsFour ounces each of sugar and flour loosened with a pint and a half (3 cups) of cream will thicken only from the flour, so it sets soft and slightly pasty rather than custardy. Mirliton batters are usually bound with eggs; if you want the familiar set, add three or four whole eggs and treat it as a flan batter.
Puff paste No. 146Ranhofer's own puff pastry recipe. A good frozen all-butter block puff is a fair substitute; "fragments" means the trimmings and offcuts, pressed together and rolled, of which a working kitchen would have had a supply.
Oven heatThe recipe gives no temperature; "a warm spot" in a coal range suggests no more than a moderate heat, perhaps around 350F. Puff pastry lining deep molds may benefit from a hotter start -- say 400F for the first ten minutes to set the layers, then down to 350F until the filling is just firm -- but the timing will depend on your oven.
Why the sheet sits at the oven doorPresumably so the butter in each mold softens before the batter goes in, and so the molds are filled where they stand. Fill them in place on the sheet and slide the sheet in without tilting it.
Orange flower waterTwo tablespoonfuls is a great deal by modern standards, and bottled orange flower water varies a good deal in strength; start with a teaspoon or two and taste.
Sickle pearsSeckel pears, a very small variety, green with a red-brown blush, generally around 2 to 3 inches. Any small firm pear will do; poach in a light syrup (roughly 1 part sugar to 3 parts water) until a skewer just enters, then drain well or the tartlets will weep.
Vegetable spoonA parisienne scoop, what we call a melon baller. Use the small end to core the pears from the blossom end, leaving the shell intact.
"Well-washed" candied apricotCandied fruit of the period was stored in heavy syrup and had to be rinsed in warm water and dried before dicing, or it turns the filling to sugar. Modern glace apricot benefits from the same treatment.
Yield and assemblyTwelve tartlets, one pear each, so a dozen servings. It is a plated dessert: the tartlets ringed on a round dish, compoted cherries heaped in the middle, and the kirsch-and-brandy apricot sauce (No. 3001) passed separately in a sauceboat. Assemble at the last moment, since the pastry softens quickly under the sauce.

A Little History

Mirlitons are traditionally traced to Rouen, where small puff-pastry tartlets filled with an almond-scented cream and glazed with sugar have long been a local specialty; the name is the same word as the toy reed pipe, and is generally explained by the shape of the pastry case, though the connection is folk etymology as much as anything. Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of the restaurant's repertoire, and his version is characteristically inflated: the plain Norman tartlet acquires a whole poached pear stuffed with candied apricot, a kirsch sauce, pistachios and a center of compoted cherries. The suffix a la Bienvenue, "of welcome," reflects the period habit of naming a garnished dish for the occasion or the guest it was built for, a practice that fills hundreds of entries in this book and rarely tells you anything about the cooking.