Poire à la Beaujolaise
 | |
| Type | Dessert |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | France |
| Region or state | Beaujolais |
| Main ingredients | Pear, red wine, sugar |
 Cookbook: Poire à la Beaujolaise  Media: Poire à la Beaujolaise | |
The Poire à la Beaujolaise or pear in wine is a traditional dessert of the wine-growing region of Beaujolais, and belonging to the cuisine of Burgundy and Lyon.
Characteristics
This dessert offers a way of consuming fruits which are not ripening satisfactorily on the tree: their flesh becoming grainy, they have to be picked when they are barely ripe, in order to allow the starch to turn into sugar.
History
This dessert with old connotations, somewhat out of fashion has undergone considerable evolution. In the early 19th century, a recipe already existed, known as "housewife pear compote". The pears were cooked in a pan with red wine, sugar, a piece of cinnamon and cloves. Once they were cooked, the pears developed wrinkles, thus the name "bonne femme" ("old wife"). But the cooking did not always result in the desired red color. So a little cochineal was added and it was preserved with a thin spoon inside the jar> this is explained by Gaston Bachelard, in his book Rational materialism: "Tin has the property on enhancing the red color of vegetable matter; this fact is known by cooks, who never fail to put a tin spoon in pear compote, in order to give it a good red color".
Varieties
The varieties most used during the 19th century were the Messire-Jean pears and the Bon-Chretien pears, white and red. These days, pears used are Passe-Crassane and Conference.
Ingredients
To prepare the pears with red wine, a fruity wine (in this case, Beaujolais) should be used. The other ingredients are: sugar or honey, cloves, peppercorn, a piece of cinnamon stick, a small vanilla pod and some orange zest. It is also possible to add ginger and green cardamom, and to maintain the red color with a little raspberry or blackcurrant liquor.
Preparation
Poaching is done in syrup full of wine, with the spices and zests. The mixture is brought to the boil; the pears need to stay slightly firm. They are then drained, thus allowing the wine to be reduced by letting it boil and become a thicker sauce. The dessert is served cold or lukewarm.