Poaching fruits

[torakris]

I have recently discovered the simple joy of poached fruits.

I had a friend's version with equal amounts of sugar and water and last week made the Cook's Illustrated version with 1:3 (sugar to water) ration. I found this one lacking a bit in sweeteness while my friend's version was too sweet.

So today I am making a Mark Bittman recipe that calls for 1:2 ratio.

What is your favorite ratio and do you vary it depending on the fruit?

As to the technique, all of the recipes I looked at call for the water and sugar (and option flavorings) to be brought to a boil then the fruit added.

My friend made it by heating just the sugar until it was starting to brown then add the water and then fruit. This of course resulted in quite a thick sryupy dish.

Should the technique vary by fruits as well?

[bloviatrix]

In Room for Dessert, David Lebovitz suggests 1 part sugar for 4 parts liquid which is what I follow. Lately I've been poaching pears: 3 cups chenin blanc, one cup water, one cup sugar, a cinammon stick, several cardamom pods, some cloves and black peppercorns. and finally lemon zest. Bring poaching liquid to a boil and then add fruit.

My preference is to use wine in the poaching liquid. But, I recently learned that quinces poached in apple cider with added cinammon sticks is delicious.

Edited November 14, 2005 by bloviatrix (log)

[torakris]

1:4 wow that dosn't seem like much. How long are they cooked and then how long are they left to sit?

I just ate some pears I made with the 1:2 ratio and a vanilla bean, this was really good.

There is a lot of poaching liquid leftover though....

I just brought it to a boil again (after removing the pears) and added some persimmons and let them simmer a little longer than I wouuld have preferred and they became a bit syrupy. I will try them after they have cooled a bit.

--reminder to self not to read eGullet while cooking....

[bloviatrix]

I actually find that the 4:1 ratio produces a fairly sweet poaching liquid.

I cook them until I can easily poke with a knife - but you don't want it so soft that'll break apart when you're removing from the pot. As for resting - the longer the fruit sits in the liquid, the more flavor it absorbs. But, you can eat them right away if so desired. For the pears I made on Friday I made them at about 3:30 and they were eaten about 4 hours later. I had them on a warming tray in the meantime. Additionally, I kept the pears whole - scooping the seed packet out from the bottom instead of halving.

Lately, my husband has been drinking the remaining poaching liquid. He dilutes it a bit to reduce the sweetness and then brings to a boil. It's actually pretty good.

[MelissaH]

Lately, my husband has been drinking the remaining poaching liquid.  He dilutes it a bit to reduce the sweetness and then brings to a boil.  It's actually pretty good.

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I like to use the leftover poaching liquid to sweeten tea.

MelissaH

[torakris]

Lately, my husband has been drinking the remaining poaching liquid.  He dilutes it a bit to reduce the sweetness and then brings to a boil.  It's actually pretty good.

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I like to use the leftover poaching liquid to sweeten tea.

MelissaH

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This sounds great!

It seems like such a waste to throw it away and I can drink a little bit of it but it is sugar water after all..

[Bill Miller]

Just made this delicious dessert-- soak dried apricots in water overnite--drain. Mix the apricot water 1-1 with sugar--add juice of a lemon--simmer 10 minutes. Add 1 Tbls of rose water and add the apricots back--simmer 10 minutes. Let cool in the mixture.

Remove and drain. Make a slit in the apricots and stuff with marscapone cheese. I forgot where I saw this. Regards, Bill

[*Deborah*]

I've only poached pears, and I used a 1.25:4 ratio plus 1.5 tablespoons of lemon juice, and boiled for...it said 20 minutes, but it also said "till tender" so I think they were in there for about 45, very firm Boscs. The next day I used the same liquid to do 3 Bartletts and they were done more quickly, being riper.

That pear and lemon flavoured syrup would probably be awesome in cocktails...at the time, I couldn't think of anything I would want it for so I just tossed it.

[wattacetti]

I recently poached Seckel pears in a Syrah from the Languedoc, with cinnamon, fennel seed, cloves and a couple of lemon wedges. Used a 1:4 ratio for sugar and still found that the pears came out cloyingly sweet (then again, I don't eat a lot of desserts). Since I forgot to make the rest of the components for the dessert, the pears were served on their own with the poaching liquid reduced further to make a syrup to lacquer them with.

I've heard that the remainder of the syrup found a home as ice cream topping.