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Autumnal recipe: spiced poached pears
A delicious seasonal dessert from the latest culinary volume from the esteemed Ferrandi Paris cookery school
Spiced poached pears
This is a creative twist on a traditional French recipe. Ripe, slightly firm pears are poached in syrup, then sliced and reassembled to create a visually striking dessert.
Serves 6
PREPARATION TIME: 50 MINUTES
COOKING TIME: 30 MINUTES
Equipment
Apple corer or melon baller
Ingredients
12 ripe but slightly firm Curé, Bosc, or Conference pears
1 cup (250ml) red port wine
¾ cup (5oz./150g) sugar, divided
4 whole cloves, divided
2 star anise pods, divided
2 bay leaves, divided
6tbsp (1¾oz./50g) black peppercorns, divided
3½oz. (100g) fresh orange zest, cut into julienne, divided
2 cups (500ml) water
6 juniper berries
Method
1. Peel the pears. Carefully remove the core from each pear using the apple corer or a melon baller, starting from the bottom and ensuring the pears remain whole. In a large saucepan, bring the port wine to a boil. Add ¼ cup (1¾ oz./50 g) sugar, two cloves, one star anise pod, one bay leaf, 3 tbsp (25 g) peppercorns, and 1¾ oz. (50 g) of the orange zest.
2. Place six of the pears in the saucepan and cover with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit snugly inside the pan. Cook the pears over low heat for about 30 minutes, until tender but not falling apart.
3. Meanwhile, in a separate large saucepan, bring to a boil the two cups (500 ml) water, then add the remaining sugar, spices, orange zest, and the juniper berries. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then add the remaining six pears and cover with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit snugly inside the pan. Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, until the pears are tender but not falling apart. When the pears are done, transfer them to a rack.
4. To serve: Carefully cut out four slices lengthwise from each port wine-poached pear. Cut out four identically sized slices from the pears poached in water. Insert the slices from the port wine-poached pears in gaps in the pears poached in water, and vice versa, to create a striped effect. For each serving, ladle some of the spiced port wine poaching liquid into a shallow bowl, add two pears, and scatter over some orange zest.
Extracted from The Complete French Cooking Course: Master Recipes and Techniques from the FERRANDI Paris School of Culinary Arts by FERRANDI Paris (Flammarion, 2026); Photography: Éric Fénot.
