Chef Juliette
Mayonnaise de Volaille
Cold roast chicken, ciseled lettuce, and a shining coat of homemade mayonnaise, arranged with capers, olives, anchovies, eggs, and lettuce hearts, then tossed at the table as the canon intends.
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Poires Cardinal
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2707, Poires Cardinal, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Poires Cardinal brings cold vanilla-poached pears under a scarlet raspberry and kirsch purée, with white almond splinters for contrast. The lesson is simple and exact: chill the fruit completely before it meets the sauce.
Salads
French
Dinner Party
Make Ahead
Date Night
20 min
Active Time
30 min cook•5 hr 30 min total
Yield4 servings
Poires Cardinal (vanilla-poached pears with raspberry and white almonds) teaches the discipline of temperature. The pears must be tender, fragrant, and quite cold before their raw raspberry coating touches them. Dress warm fruit and the purée loosens, dulls, and slides into the bottom of the bowl.
The original entry assumed a pastry station where vanilla syrup and Pêches Cardinal (No. 2697) were already waiting in brigade quantities. At home, four pears fit into one narrow saucepan, and a parchment cartouche keeps them beneath the syrup without demanding a great copper poacher or gallons of liquid. The large batch and separate pair of hands were scaffolding, so they can go. The cold vanilla fruit, scarlet raspberry, kirsch, and white almond contrast are the dish, so they stay intact. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Done properly, the pears arrive pale beneath a brilliant red coat, with fresh almond splinters catching against the purée. The poach is gentle work, but complete chilling is the step that decides the result. Give it the time it asks for.
Poires Cardinal belongs to the Parisian classical dessert repertoire, where syrup-poached fruit was dressed with named garnishes and served cold from a timbale. It is the pear extension of Pêches Cardinal (No. 2697): the sequence passes intact from peach to pear, while poaching gives the firmer fruit the tenderness it needs. Cardinal here refers to the scarlet raspberry coating and its white almond contrast, not to red wine, a common guess wherever pears and French dessert share a sentence.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small firm-ripe Bosc or Conference pears
Quantity
4 (about 1½ lb / 680 g)
water
Quantity
3 cups (710 ml / 710 g)
granulated sugar
Quantity
1½ cups (355 ml / 300 g)
vanilla bean
Quantity
1
Pêches Cardinal
Quantity
1 four-serving preparation Pêches Cardinal (No. 2697)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small firm-ripe Bosc or Conference pears | 4 (about 1½ lb / 680 g) |
| water | 3 cups (710 ml / 710 g) |
| granulated sugar | 1½ cups (355 ml / 300 g) |
| vanilla bean | 1 |
| Pêches Cardinal | 1 four-serving preparation Pêches Cardinal (No. 2697) |
Equipment Needed
- •Narrow 2-quart saucepan
- •Parchment paper for a cartouche
- •Melon baller or narrow apple corer
- •Cooling rack
- •Chilled deep serving bowl or timbale
Instructions
- 1
Build the vanilla syrup
Combine the water and sugar in a narrow 2-quart saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape its seeds into the pan, and add the pod. Warm gently, stirring only until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 2 minutes. The syrup is the foundation here: clear, fragrant, and sweet enough to season the fruit without turning it to confectionery.
- 2
Poach the pears gently
Peel the pears neatly, leaving their stems attached, then remove each core from the base with a melon baller or narrow corer. Lower them immediately into the syrup and cover their surface with a cartouche, a round parchment lid, to keep them submerged. Hold the syrup at the faintest tremble for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the pears occasionally, until a narrow knife reaches the centre with slight resistance. Remove each pear as it becomes ready. If the syrup boils and a pear begins to split, take the pan off the heat at once and let the fruit finish under the cartouche in the cooling syrup. Ça se rattrape.
- 3
Cool them in syrup
Return all the pears to the syrup and let them cool there completely, turning them once so every surface stays moist. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Don't drain them while warm: cooling in the syrup carries the vanilla into the fruit and prevents the exposed surface from drying or darkening.
- 4
Apply the Cardinal finish
Once the pears are quite cold, lift them from the syrup and drain them on a rack for 10 minutes. Arrange them upright in a chilled timbale, a deep serving bowl. Reach for the prepared Pêches Cardinal (No. 2697) and apply its finished dressing and garnish exactly as directed, replacing only its peaches with these vanilla-poached pears, as the present entry requires. If the raspberry purée slips from the fruit, the pears are too wet or not cold enough; lift them out, blot them gently, chill for 15 minutes, and coat them again.
- 5
Settle and serve cold
Chill the assembled Poires Cardinal for 20 to 30 minutes so the scarlet coating settles around the fruit while the almond splinters remain distinct and white. Bring the whole timbale to the table and spoon one pear with plenty of raspberry purée into each cold dessert bowl. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose pears that yield only faintly at the neck. A fully ripe pear may taste lovely from the hand, but it collapses before the vanilla reaches its centre; a hard green pear stays woody no matter how politely you poach it.
- •Use the narrowest saucepan that holds the pears in one layer. Less empty space means less syrup, and the cartouche keeps the fruit evenly covered without a professional fruit poacher.
- •The Pêches Cardinal (No. 2697) preparation must remain vivid and fresh-tasting. When good fresh raspberries aren't in season, frozen berries picked ripe are the honest classical pantry answer.
- •Keep the almond splinters white. Toasting would be fashionable interference: their fresh flavour and pale colour are the intended counterpoint to the scarlet fruit.
- •Serve with a demi-sec Champagne or a small glass of chilled kirsch. The dessert is already fragrant and bright, so it wants a restrained companion.
Advance Preparation
- •Poach the pears up to one day ahead and refrigerate them submerged in their syrup. Their vanilla perfume deepens overnight, and the syrup protects their colour.
- •Assemble the Poires Cardinal 20 to 30 minutes before serving. A much longer rest softens the almond splinters, so keep the pears and the Pêches Cardinal (No. 2697) preparation separate until shortly before dinner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 370g)
Calories
335 calories
Total Fat
1 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
5 mg
Total Carbohydrates
84 g
Dietary Fiber
10 g
Sugars
70 g
Protein
3 g
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