Poires Marquise

Poires Marquise (jelly-glazed pears on a molded custard pudding) teaches the patience of a proper cold glaze. The pears must be chilled and absolutely dry, while the raspberry-flavoured redcurrant jelly must be thick enough to cling but fluid enough to brush. One coat beads and slides. Four or five thin coats make the ruby lacquer the dish requires.

The original did not need a saucier, a stock never off the fire, or a salamander. Its brigade luxury was a pastry station with poached fruit, stiff jellies, burnt almonds, and a finished Diplomatic Pudding ready at command. Here an 18 cm manqué mould replaces the banquet mould, two good market jellies form the glaze, and a small measure of gelatin firms commercial apple jelly so its croûtons cut cleanly. The gelatin and compact schedule are scaffolding. Repeated glazing and the order of assembly are the dish, so they stay.

Croûtons here means triangular pieces of set apple jelly, not fried bread. The pudding chills while you poach the pears and prepare the almonds, which brings the old arrangement within reach of one cook, one stove, one evening of active work. The decisive step is drying and chilling the pears before the first brush of jelly. Do that properly, and the glaze behaves.