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Stewed Pears
Peel and cut into quarters six medium, sound, fresh pears; remove the seeds, place in a small saucepan with three ounces granulated sugar, one gill claret, one gill cold water and half stick cinnamon. Cover the pan and boil for thirty minutes. Remove the cinnamon, pour into a dish and serve either hot or cold.
A short, plain compote that depends almost entirely on the fruit being firm enough to hold its shape. Two measures and one instruction need translating.
- A gill4 fluid ounces, half a cup, in American measure (a British gill is 5 fl oz). The recipe uses one gill claret and one gill water, so roughly a cup of liquid for six quartered pears — little enough that a small pan is needed for the fruit to sit in the syrup.
- ClaretThe British term for dry red Bordeaux. Any dry, moderately tannic red works: Cabernet, Merlot, or a Rhone blend. Avoid anything sweet or oaky, since the sugar is already accounted for.
- Three ounces sugarA weight, not a volume — about a scant half cup of granulated. Weighing is worth the trouble here because the syrup's thickness at the end depends on it.
- Choose firm pearsBosc and Anjou hold their quarters through half an hour of cooking. Bartlett at eating ripeness will collapse into sauce. Slightly underripe fruit is the right choice for stewing.
- "Boil" means simmerA hard rolling boil for thirty minutes will break up the fruit. Keep it at a bare simmer, covered, and turn the pieces once halfway so both cut sides take colour from the wine.
- DonenessThe pears are done when a knife tip slides in with no resistance — usually 20 to 30 minutes depending on ripeness. If they finish early, lift them out and reduce the syrup separately to a light coating consistency.
- The pan mattersUse stainless or enamelled cast iron. Bare aluminium or unlined copper reacts with the wine's acid and dulls both colour and flavour.
- YieldSix pears serve four to six. Served cold the syrup thickens further; a spoonful of the liquid over each portion is the point of the dish.
Pears poached in red wine with sugar and a stick of cinnamon appear in medieval and early modern cookery long before they were codified in French kitchens as poires au vin rouge. "Claret" was the standard English word for red Bordeaux, though it was in common use in American cookbooks of the period as well, and The International Cook Book was itself an American publication. The pairing has practical roots as well as culinary ones: poaching in an acidic liquid softens fruit that is unpleasant raw, and the wine both tenderises and stains the flesh the deep garnet colour that is the dish's whole visual appeal.