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Seasonal foods/ Pears

tjdubas

Hey Everyone!

I am supposed to be entering a competition with the focus being to highlight the pear. I am allowed to use red or green Anjou or Bosc pears. Now here is my thought: though its a competition held in spring (and pears are a fall/winter fruit) I think my best bet would be to go with a fall seasonal protein. I also need a local item on the plate (local as in Canada/ parries); so I was thinking something like wheat berries, Maple, or beef/bison and possibly saskatoons?

If anyone could help me with other seasonal protein or anything that would be fantastic! Also I think the idea here is it has to be more or less doable in an average home or something so I cant be liquefying and reverse spherifying a pear because apparently not everyone has that stuff in their kitchens!

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Comments

michaelnatkin

You could definitely use this red-wine poached pear (http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/red-wine-poached-pear) as a component on a savory plate; maybe back down the sugar slightly, but it isn't overly sweet to begin with.

Matt_67991

What about making a refined pemmican?

tjdubas

Both things I have thought about, I forgot to mention, It has to be able to be prepared within 3 hours. There is a regional and national level, the regional just needs a recipe and photo, then the national is an actual execution. I can enter anything I want but the reason I want to do a savory dish is because I think it will have a bit of an edge as its a touch harder to do.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Some good Canadian duck would be great with pears I think.

tjdubas

Actually @Brendan, I've been mostly wanting to do a fowl type item since I'm really having a hard time figuring out how to work pears and beef (I'm from Alberta) so next step is I'm thinking fowl. I would totally want to do a chestnut puree to go with it. Now my dilemma is how do I highlight the pear in it instead of making it just a piece of the dish?

Brendan_Lee_56950

Maybe by highlighting the pear in various textures/flavors. So like pear vinegar, pear gastrique, pear mustarda (i use this a lot and love it), all of which I think would go great with fowl or even our great alberta beef (i'm originally from there too!). I know you said it has to be accessible to the home cook but would pickling the pears be acceptable?

Matt_67991

@TJ Maybe just dress a nice plated salad with a bit of duck confit and pears with some nuts and cheese.

Are there any other rules? What sort of contest is it?

tjdubas

Well from what I've been told its to highlight pears, it seems kind of like something USA pears can essentially buy off me (by winning) and post it on their website. As such we are limited to those three pears, three hours to cook said dish and it has to have one local ingredient. That said whats good for poaching is good for brineing/quick pickling, which is another thing I thought about (brined watermelon is a thing in the US?). So I was thinking maybe like pear mosaic (brined pear, pickled pear, and poached pear) topped with a piece of lets say chicken or duck breast brined in the same brining liquid as the pear and then adding a pear/balsamic gastrique. Then lastly doing something starchwise such as maybe a wheatberry and saskatoon risotto or something. This is about as far as I've come... any thoughts?

P.S. I really appreciate this everyone, it's helping me out A LOT!

tjdubas

UPDATE!!! Ok scratch the previous. Now I'm thinking a pork roulade (I would do wild boar but as if people can just get that at a supermarket) stuffed with pear and some type of cheese?) wrapped in sage and prosciutto. Cut into medallions, on top of a saskatoon, wheatberry ragu garnished with brined pears and pear balsamic gastrique.

Thoughts?

tshewman

Pork goes well with the pears as does lamb (although not on your list). If you want the judges to go a bit out of the box without shocking them, I suspect a bison (or beef) with coffee poached pears would go nicely. Though not common, you could also give it more of a pudding texture (think coffee poached pear puree and add agar agar and blitz) and stuff the bison/beef with it as well. If Pork, my preference (completely personal preference) would be the red wine pears. Food for thought (pardon the pun).

tjdubas

I could definitely see that working, at that point I could turn the poaching liquid into a gastrique to add the needed acidity to the plate. I like the idea of the pear puree, and agar agar being heat resistant, however it still has to be doable by the average housewife or whatever. I definitely want to poach the pear that is going into the pork, so I think poaching it in something that would contrast the colour nicely would be the way to go.

tshewman

the agar agar for the puree is VERY easy and doable by the average housewife etc. I'm just a home cook and it's easy, even for me. JMHO.

Samuel_68313

If you're trying to show off pears be careful doing something too fancy with meat because meat is almost always the focal point on a dish.

If you're going the savoury root though then obviously you need multiple preparations of pears. So a pear gastrique sounds great, maybe a caramelised pear compound butter with smoked salt, pear crisps, caramelised pear slices, etc.

Maybe a dish like pork rolled with pear, anchovy and thyme stuffing, finished with a pear butter. Caramelised pear slices, pear crisps, confit fingerling potatoes, and pear gastrique.

tshewman

@TJ, was using some left over purees tonight and remembered your pear and pork (or other) dish thoughts. Below is a pic of what was done, pork loin with pear pearls and pear balls stuffed with beet and caramelized fennel puree with crispy pulled pork and puffed cous cous. If they have a melon baller and a blender, all can be done with usual dishes at home. Hope this helps with more ideas.

tjdubas

Thanks for all the input everyone! I just submitted my entry and am really pleased with it. check it out!!

Johan_Edstrom_5586

The color is great, I like the saucing, skin looks crisp. Good luck!

tshewman

Very nice!

Jack_Mayer_85396

@TJ - great looking plate/dish! good luck!

Manfred_18311

Good luck with it, it looks nicely balanced.