Jacques Pepin's Braised Pears in Caramel Sauce

Recipe from "A French Chef Cooks at Home"

Adapted by Florence Fabricant

Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Rating
4(37)
Comments
Read comments

Featured in: PLENTIFUL PEARS:A GUIDE TO BUYING AND EATING THEM

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
    Subscribe

  • Print Options

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:6 servings
  • 6medium-size pears, not too ripe
  • 4tablespoons sugar
  • ⅓stick sweet butter
  • 1cup heavy cream
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

316 calories; 20 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 27 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 18 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by
Cooking Newsletter illustration

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

  2. Step 2

    Peel pears and cut in half lengthwise. Remove cores. Place pear halves flat side down in single layer in 1 or 2 large baking or gratin dishes. Sprinkle sugar over pears and dot with butter.

  3. Step 3

    Place in oven and bake 35 minutes. By this time sugar should have caramelized and pears should be tender when pierced with point of knife. If pears are not tender continue cooking 5 to 10 minutes. Pour cream over pears and return to oven. Bake 10 to 15 minutes more, basting every 5 minutes with cream.

  4. Step 4

    Cream should have reduced and thickened and turned nice ivory color. If sauce seems to be separating, add a tablespoon or two of hot water.

  5. Step 5

    Remove pears from oven, allow to cool slightly. Serve directly from baking dish.

Tip
  • This dessert takes 45 to 50 minutes to cook and should be served within 10 minutes of leaving the oven.

Ratings

4 out of 5
37 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

Laura

Sorry! Here is the link: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/jacques-pepin-says-following-a-recipe-...

Laura

This is a wonderful video of Jacques Pepin demonstrating how a recipe needs to change with different circumstances. He uses THIS recipe. Quite lovely.

Jason

Monseur Pepín put this recipe in one of his cookbooks and recommended finishing it with a small amount of chopped pistachio. Highly recommended!

Tender vittles

had a bunch of windfall pears so decided to cook this. Though I'm not "anti-sugar" by any means, only added 2-3 tablespoons, and a scant 2 tablespoons of butter plus a vanilla been that had been soaked in vodka but had no more seeds. Roasted for ~30 minutes, removed pears from pan and reduced liquid until it became caramel. A bit more liquid came out of resting pears so I added that. Very, very good- despite no cream. Will try again with rosemary, as I had that in a milk chocolate pear thingy

kim

I’ve made this many times over the years. Fantastically easy and delicious.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Credits

Adapted from "A French Chef Cooks at Home," Simon & Schuster

Recipe Tags

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.