Poires Hélène

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 3-quart (2.8-liter) saucepan in which the pears fit snugly
• •Small heavy saucepan and whisk
• •Parchment paper for a cartouche
• •Melon baller or narrow apple corer
• •Wire rack
• •Four chilled 8-ounce (240 ml) timbales or dessert bowls
• •Small warmed sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare pears and syrup

   Combine the poaching water, sugar, vanilla seeds, and vanilla pod in a wide saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring only until the sugar dissolves, then boil for one minute. While it heats, peel the pears neatly, leave their stems attached, core them from the base, and trim the bottoms just enough that they can stand upright.

2. 2

   Poach at a tremble

   Lower the pears into the syrup and press a parchment cartouche directly onto the surface so their exposed shoulders remain bathed. Hold the syrup at a bare tremble, never a rolling boil, and turn the pears every five minutes. Poach for 15 to 25 minutes, until a thin knife enters the thickest part with slight resistance. If one pear becomes tender before the others, lift it out and return it only after the pan leaves the heat; different pears keep different clocks, and forcing them to finish together gives you one collapsed fruit.

   A hard boil roughens the pear's surface and cooks the outside before the center. Lower the heat the moment the syrup grows busy.
3. 3

   Cool in the syrup

   Remove the pan from the heat, return any pear lifted early, and let everything stand for 20 minutes. Set the saucepan in an ice bath and cool it further, then transfer the pears, syrup, vanilla pod, and seeds to a shallow covered container. Refrigerate for at least two hours, until the fruit is cold through. Shortly before serving, drain the pears on a rack for 10 minutes and blot them gently. A wet pear melts the ice beneath it, so don't hurry this step.

4. 4

   Make the chocolate sauce

   Combine the sauce water, cream, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan and bring just to a simmer. Remove it from the heat, add the chopped chocolate, and leave it undisturbed for 30 seconds. Whisk from the center outward until smooth, then whisk in the cold butter a few cubes at a time to form a glossy emulsion. Do not boil the chocolate. If the sauce looks oily, grainy, or too thick, take it off the heat and whisk in hot water one teaspoon at a time. Ça se rattrape. Hold it warm over a shallow pan of warm water.

   The sauce should fall from a spoon in a continuous ribbon. It must be hot and fluid at service, but never scorching.
5. 5

   Build the cold base

   Chill four small timbales or dessert bowls. Let the vanilla ice cream soften for about five minutes, only until it can be spread, then place ½ cup in each bowl as a low, firm layer. Sprinkle the ice with the crystallised violets and stand one cold, dry pear in the center. If a pear slides, press a shallow hollow into the ice and settle it there. Return the assembled bowls to the freezer for no more than five minutes while you fill the sauceboat.

6. 6

   Pass the sauce hot

   Rinse a sauceboat with hot water, dry it thoroughly, and fill it with the glossy chocolate sauce. Carry the cold pears to the table immediately and send the sauce round separately. Do not pour it in the kitchen. Hot against cold is the point, and each diner should make that contrast with the first spoonful. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose Bosc or Conference pears that yield only slightly beside the stem. A soft pear turns woolly in syrup and won't stand upright; a hard pear can be poached longer, but an overripe one cannot be made firm again.
• •Good prepared vanilla ice cream is the honest home equivalent here, not a compromise. The source treats vanilla ice as a finished component, so choose one with a dense texture and a clean vanilla flavor, without caramel, nuts, or biscuit pieces.
• •Crystallised violets are part of the flavor, not stray decoration. Buy food-grade sugared violets from a confectioner, and never use flowers sold by a florist.
• •Keep the chocolate sauce looser than seems necessary in the pan, because it thickens as it meets the cold dessert. Warm water corrects the consistency without muting the chocolate.
• •Strain and refrigerate the leftover vanilla syrup. It is excellent for another batch of pears, brushing a sponge cake, or sweetening a fruit compote.

Advance Preparation

• •Poach the pears up to two days ahead and keep them covered in their vanilla syrup in the refrigerator. Drain and blot them only shortly before assembly.
• •Make the chocolate sauce up to three days ahead and refrigerate it covered. Reheat it over very gentle heat, whisking in hot water one teaspoon at a time until it flows in a glossy ribbon.
• •Chill the timbales for 30 minutes before serving, but assemble the ice cream and pears only at the last moment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 340g)