Make Ahead
Fennel Pear Compote
Popular on Food52
10 Reviews
ummmBacon
December 13, 2022
Yeah, I noticed nobody who commented before me actually MADE this recipe.
There is essentially NO caramelization, which I didn't expect anyway, given the huge volume of wine that is added to the butter and honey. There is some minimal thickening that occurs, but you have to crank the heat to high to make that happen and it takes way longer than the 1 minute that the recipe claims. I ended up making a triple batch in 3 separate cookings, and each set of cooked pears I dumped into a 9x13 uncovered glass casserole and popped in the oven at 400 to keep warm while I kept cooking. This allowed the liquid to bubble in the oven and continue to cook off so that it thickened a little bit more.
The pears don't sizzle when you add them, especially not at the medium-high temp they tell you to use! Mine didn't even sizzle on batches 2 and 3 when I turned the temp up to high. And zero browning of the pears occurred, in contradiction to what the picture on the website shows. With so much liquid in the pan, there is no way you are going to get browning.
I used a 10" saute pan as the recipe recommended, and was sorry. There is way too much crowding of the pears, and the liquid came up so high in the pan that it made a mess of my stove. Next time, if I were to actually make this again (which I won't), I would use a 12" cast iron pan with a tall side to better corral the mess an to allow the liquid to spread out better.
All in all, this recipe seems like it wasn't tested well. Also, the instructions tell you to add cardamom, but I assume they meant fennel as listed in the ingredient,s but screwed that up too. Do better, Food52
There is essentially NO caramelization, which I didn't expect anyway, given the huge volume of wine that is added to the butter and honey. There is some minimal thickening that occurs, but you have to crank the heat to high to make that happen and it takes way longer than the 1 minute that the recipe claims. I ended up making a triple batch in 3 separate cookings, and each set of cooked pears I dumped into a 9x13 uncovered glass casserole and popped in the oven at 400 to keep warm while I kept cooking. This allowed the liquid to bubble in the oven and continue to cook off so that it thickened a little bit more.
The pears don't sizzle when you add them, especially not at the medium-high temp they tell you to use! Mine didn't even sizzle on batches 2 and 3 when I turned the temp up to high. And zero browning of the pears occurred, in contradiction to what the picture on the website shows. With so much liquid in the pan, there is no way you are going to get browning.
I used a 10" saute pan as the recipe recommended, and was sorry. There is way too much crowding of the pears, and the liquid came up so high in the pan that it made a mess of my stove. Next time, if I were to actually make this again (which I won't), I would use a 12" cast iron pan with a tall side to better corral the mess an to allow the liquid to spread out better.
All in all, this recipe seems like it wasn't tested well. Also, the instructions tell you to add cardamom, but I assume they meant fennel as listed in the ingredient,s but screwed that up too. Do better, Food52
See what other Food52ers are saying.