Asian Pears
{Spicy, juicy and crisp}
With their skin ranging from pale gold to russet to the brilliant orange of a leaf in fall, Asian pears are one of the speckled glories of the season. The best of them are crisp, bursting with a winy, floral juice (think Gewurtztraminer wine crossed with the peariest pear). Perfect for eating out of hand or as an accompaniment to soft ripened cheeses, the fruits, in my opinion , are best peeled. And for a simple rustic seasonal dessert, if poached in fragrant brewed Chinese black tea, they take on even more complexity, particularly when the poaching liquid is amped up with fresh ginger and a few drops of delicate rose water as it is in the recipe below. (With their botanical relation to roses, apples, pears, and Asian pears, harmonize well with the distilled extract of the flower.) The key is to cook the fruits, cored, sliced, halved or whole, as desired, fully submerged in liquid, at the barest simmer, only until somewhat softened. Cooking times will vary according to the size of the pieces. The goal here is to allow the fruit to retain a bit of its pleasantly granular texture. The poaching liquid is then reduced to a light coating consistency and drizzled under and on top of the fruits when plating the dessert.
