143. Poached Pears in Spiced Syrup  [Haudutettuja päärynöitä maustesiirapissa] Medieval Kitchen:  Recipes from France & Italy,  Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban, Silvano Serventi, Patricia gl Smith 212

Pears in syrup. Boil pears so that they are quite tender; peel them and cut them into ry pieces. Take a great deal of cinnamon; put it through a sieve three or four times with good wine, into a pot. Add a great deal of sugar, anise, cloves, and mace and, if you like, chopped dates and currants. Put it on the fire; when it boils add the pears; let them boil together. When it has boiled enough, make sure it is brown with cinnamon, and add a great deal of powdered ginger; make sure it is rather sweet, and serve. (Hi 65)

Our English manuscripts include excellent recipes for pears cooked in wine with spices; these are not found in French texts of the period. Indeed, there is little mention of this fruit in French, Latin, or Italian culinary sources. There was a clear distinction between pears to be eaten raw and those to be cooked. Some of the latter were used as vegetables - in the words of the author of Le Ménagier de Paris, "like turnips." Although several French and Italian menus refer to "Pears with Hypocras"  - cooked in spiced wine - not until the fifteenth-century edition of Le Viandier of Taillevent do we find a recipe for this. Candied pears were served at the end of the meal every day at the series of banquets organized at Siena in 1326 for the knighting of Francesco Bandinelli (see above, p. 6).

143. Poached Pears in Spiced Syrup

Imperial	Metric	Ingredient
2 ¼ lbs	1 kg	firm pears, just ripe
3 cups	0,75 l	good red wine
4 tbsp	4 tbsp (50 g)	sugar
1 tbsp	1 tbsp	ground cinnamon
½ tsp	½ tsp	whole anise seeds
3 piece	3 piece	blade mace
2	2	cloves
½ tsp	½ tsp	ground ginger
1/3 tsp	1/3 tsp (60 g)	currants or raisins (optional)
12	12	dates, pitted and coarsely chopped (optional, but not recommended)

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Poach the pears in simmering water just until they begin to become tender. Peel them, cut them into quarters, remove the cores, and reserve.

Whisk the cinnamon into the wine and leave to steep for about 10 minutes. Strain through a very fine sieve into a stainless steel or other non-reactive saucepan. Add the sugar, the anise, the mace, and the cloves. If you are using the raisins and/or dates, add these as well. Bring to the boil, skimming if necessary, then lower the heat. Add the pears and simmer until completely tender and beginning to turn translucent and amber-colored. Add the ginger, remove from the heat, and allow to cool before serving.

If you use a softer variety of pears, do not precook them, but peel, core, and quarter them raw before adding to the spiced wine mixture. The reason we do not recommend using dates is that their skins come off during the cooking, making the dish look rather unattractive.