Pepper poached pears

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1½ cup Water
1½ cup White wine
1 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Black peppercorns
¾ Inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
1 Cinnamon stick
2 Cloves
⅛ teaspoon Salt
pinch Crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon Wine vinegar
4 Firm pears, peeled, halved and cored
½ teaspoon 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.

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