Ingredients
1 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup white wine
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp black peppercorns
3/4 inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1/8 tsp salt
1 pinch crushed red pepper
1 tsp wine vinegar
4 firm pears, peeled, halved and core, d
1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions
Ran across this recipe in an article in the Chron about weird taste
combinations and thought it worth passing on. (Never mind the
comments.) BTW, this is one of the first recipes I entered using
WordStar 7.0. When I ran the spell checker on it WS didn't recognize
"quart" or "vinegar" as words!!!! Amazing. "Nam Yuey" I can
understand, but "VINEGAR"?
These are wonderful served over ice cream or with pound cake. Combine
the water, wine, sugar, peppercorns, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt,
red pepper and vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil.
Add the pears and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes,
until the pears are tender, turning every few minutes so they cook
evenly.
When the pears are uniformly tender, remove to a plate. Reduce the
liquid in the pan by half. Strain into a bowl. Add the vanilla and
return the pears to the liquid to cool.
Serve at room temperature.
Serves 4.
San Francisco Chronicle, date unknown.
Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; May 19 1992.
Servings: 4 servings
Pepper Poached Pears Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Fruit; Pear
The History of Recipes
Food historians have traced the existence of recipes back into ancient history, in fact as far as the early Egyptians, and possibly even further. Having said that, these, early records were just very basic pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for meal preparation.
Fascinatingly, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to food historians is a series of clay tablets in Sumerian describing the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made people feel `blissful`. As we move into The time of the roman empire 25BC a man called Apicius created some documents showing how to cook the recipes prepared by wealthy roman citizens. He tells us how the roman meals were divided into starters, main meal and desserts, a very modern way of dining. This early Roman chef recounts how the Roman chefs were skilled in the use of a good variety of aromatic flavours, including some familiar names such as bay, mint and parsley. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years we have two books dating from the 1300s ; a book called `Forme of Cury`, and another named `Curye on Inglish`. Don`t be fooled by the titles though, they are unconnected to the indian curry that we all know today, but rather descriptions of the types of food on the menues of the rich and wealthy people of the time. In the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought back many new foods, spices and herbs from Arab countries, such as basil and coriander. These new culinary innovations was responsible for an eruption in books on cooking, most of which still exist in academic collections. Over the following few hundred years, the rich families of the West strove to lay on the most exotic banquets, and as a consequence, cooks and their recipe collections could command a high salary. Notwithstanding that, it was during the 19th century that fine cooking and recipe books became really popular. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, spent years to collecting, trying out, and writing down recipes for their fellow cooks to enjoy. By the arrival of the 20th century, cooking publications were starting to become popular due to more people being able to read, more free time and having more money to spend. The introduction of television brings us celebrity TV chefs and the accompanying recipe books. Which brings us neatly up to date and the internet revolution, allowing us all to access thousands of recipes such as those found on sites such as the one you are reading now. |
We hope you enjoy this Pepper Poached Pears recipe.
