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Active Time
1 1/2 hr
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Total Time
3 1/2 (includes making pasty)
可爱的塞克尔梨梨showp正在展出iece, but the essence of pear permeates the entire tart. Musky, honeyed Bartletts are juiced into white wine, creating a poaching liquid for the Seckels. Doubly infused with pear, that syrup becomes the base for thepoire William-spiked pastry cream and glaze.
Ingredients
Makes 8 servings
For tart shell:
For pears:
For pastry cream:
For glaze:
Make shell:
Step 1
Roll out dough on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 20-by 8-inch rectangle, reflouring surface as necessary. Transfer to tart pan, gently fitting dough into pan without stretching. Trim overhang to 3/4 inch, cutting off corners. Fold overhang inward to reinforce side, then trim flush with edge of pan. Reserve excess pastry for another use if desired. Prick bottom of tart shell all over with a fork and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
Step 2
Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.
Step 3
Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights, then bake until sides are set, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights and bake shell until golden brown all over, 15 to 20 minutes more. Cool completely in pan.
Poach pears:
Step 4
Put wine in a wide 4-quart pot and set a sieve lined with dampened flour sack cloth over it. Grate Bartlett pears (including skin) on large holes of a box grater into cloth, then bunch up cloth around mixture and squeeze as much clear juice as possible through cloth into pan with wine. Discard solids remaining in cloth. Transfer wine mixture to a 2-cup measure and add enough water, if necessary, to bring total to 2 cups liquid, then return to pan and stir in sugar.
Step 5
Carefully peel Seckel pears, leaving stems intact, then core through bottom with tip of vegetable peeler or a small knife to remove seeds.
Step 6
Bring wine mixture to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then add pears, in 1 layer if possible. Simmer, tightly covered, turning occasionally, until tender, about 20 minutes. Carefully transfer pears with a slotted spoon to a rack set over a 4-sided sheet pan to drain and cool, standing them upright. Transfer pear syrup to cleaned 2-cup measure, adding any juices from sheet pan under pears (you will have 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups syrup), and reserve for pastry cream and glaze.
Make pastry cream:
Step 7
Whisk together egg yolks and cornstarch in a small bowl, then whisk in 1 cup pear syrup. Transfer to a small heavy saucepan and scrape in seeds from vanilla bean, reserving pod for another use. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking, then cook, whisking, 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk inpoire Williamand butter. Transfer to a bowl and cool completely, its surface covered.
Make glaze:
Step 8
Stir togetherpoire Williamand gelatin in a very small bowl and let stand 1 minute.
Step 9
Bring remaining pear syrup to a boil in a very small heavy saucepan, then boil, if necessary, until reduced to about 1/3 cup. Stir in gelatin mixture until dissolved. Remove from heat.
Step 10
Remove side of tart pan. Whisk cooled pastry cream to loosen, then spread in shell. Stand pears upright on pastry cream, arranging them in 8 rows of 2 or 3.
Step 11
When glaze has cooled and thickened slightly (to speed cooling, set pan in an ice bath), brush it on pears. If glaze gels in pan, reheat very briefly.
•Tart shell can be baked 1 day ahead and kept (covered once cool) at room temperature.
•Seckel pears can be poached 1 day ahead and chilled, loosely covered.
•Pastry cream can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, its surface covered.
•Assembled tart can be kept at room temperature 1 hour or chilled 4 hours.
How would you rate Seckel Pear Tart with _Poire William_ Cream?
Leave a Review
Reviews (16)
Back to TopOn the first bite, this caused some moans at the dinner table... That said, it was worth the work. This is a very delicate dessert, rich in flavor yet light. I made it in the rectangular shape and the presentation is spectacular.
caguanadelmar
North Wales, PA
9/25/2012
Made this for New Year's and it was exceptional, though not without issues. Agree with previous reader that pastry cream was runny and with weight of pears and crunchy dough... well it a bit of a challeng to serve elegantly. Having said this, flavours were exceptional and got rave reviews. I will save this as part of my treasured recipes list, however will tweak pastry cream recipe next time to make it hold better. More cornstarch? Warning: remember to save 1/3 cup of syrup for the glaze if you're doing this in stages.
Anonymous
Montreal, Canada
1/2/2012
I made this tonight as a trial for an upcoming party. It was good, but I do feel like the past reviews are correct. I think it would be much better if made individually. The crust was too crisp/crunchy for the filling which was more like a pudding and there was no proper way to serve it. I couldn't find Seckel pears so I substituted Bosc, and I also skipped the poire William. My husband enjoyed it, but I felt it was lacking a bit.
roisinanne
San Jose, CA
12/29/2011
The tart has such a wonderful pear flavor. I did made one additional to the pastry cream to lighten it. I fold in half a cup of whip cream made the pastry cream lighter and smother.
Anonymous
New Jersey
12/25/2010
A dazzling crowd pleaser with excellent flavor. It's no secret this recipe takes at least 4 hours, but I found it easy and worth the effort for a special occasion. I prepared everything but the glaze one day in advance and followed the recipe (except I used 6 small forelle pears). The pear flavor is strong and overall it is a refreshing dessert, not too heavy or rich. Minor complaint is that this pastry dough recipe didn't work for me and I re-made it using the Gourmet Feb 02 version. Serving is tricky because the pastry cream is not a custard and is semi-liquid while the crust was rather hard. It was difficult for guests to cut it neatly themselves, so if I make it again, I would do the serving or use individual sized tart pans.
ginevra1
Boston MA
11/26/2010
I made this for a very special celebratory birthday dinner. It was a smash hit! Instead of making one large rectangular tart, I made 6 individual tarts in metal tart pans with removeable bottoms. One tiny glazed Seckel pear sat on top of each tart It was a beautiful presentation and as good as it was pretty I would love to post a photo. It presents much prettier than the one you have on the site.
mark262
Southern Oregon
11/10/2010
I followed this recipe closely, but not exactly and ended up with phenomenal results. The only 2 changes were the fact that I couldn't find seckel pears at my local supermarket, so I used the next best thing- fiorellos. I also didn't get the poire william. The pear tart ended up with a very intense and pleasant pear flavor. My dinner guests were floored. Seconds were to be had. I felt it was very much worth the effort. I think the key factor is getting the best produce possible. I will try this year with seckel pears as my new local supermarket carries them. The problem with seckel pears is that they often come unripe, so you should buy them a couple of days in advance to ripen at home before use. Also use ripe bartletts for maximum flavor. I think with that advice, you can't go wrong with this recipe. That being said, I think this recipe would work great with any pear variety. Note: Like me, if you can't get the poire William, just use some of the reserved wine/pear mixture and combine that with the gelatin. It works really well!
rshin
11/23/2009
This recipe will surely get you rave reviews. It is so beautiful and the sweet pastry dough is amazing. Yes - I agree that it is a lot of work, but you can always cheat a little by doing a quicker version of pastry cream. I used instant vanilla pudding powder and added 1 cup of 2% milk and whisked together. Then fold in some whipped cream until you get the right consistency. You can still add the Poire William to get the pear flavor. Follow everything else exactly and you will get a gorgeous and delicious tart. I have made numerous pear tarts and this is by far the best one.
Anonymous
11/12/2009
I made this recipe last year for Thanksgiving. The only changes I made was that instead of making pear juice, I bought pear juice at a health food store & that I made my own pear brandy. I also added a tablespoon of pear juice to the glaze & the pastry cream.
Anonymous
Florida
10/23/2009
LMAO @ A Cook 11/18/08
supremeros
1/21/2009
My friends always do the Gourmet Thanksgiving menus. And then we vote on the results of each item. The pear tart was all looks and no action. I great deal of work for little flavor.
Anonymous
Central NY
12/31/2008
I enjoyed making this tart...and i recieved lovey comments from those who indulged...i could not find a rectangular tart pan however i did have 12 individual serving tart pans which worked out perfectly and gave a beautiful presentation...all little extra work but well worth the effort
leticantu768
laredo, tx
12/1/2008
This tart is yummy, but not great. It's got a nice subtelty to it, but nothing really puts you over the edge about it. But the one thing that makes me batty about this recipe is the amount of TIME it takes to make. WAY too much time for a finicky pear tart. The amount of time it really takes to make something like this is really 5 hours with about 2 1/2 hours active time. The Poire William was a fun addition and makes a great display in the liquor cabinet, and I think the best part of this recipe experience is the conversation starter that I have with the pear in the bottle. (You DO know how they get the whole pear in the bottle, right?)
joshgarcia
West Hollywood
11/29/2008
This was good, not great. It looked wonderful but was missing something. After I poached the pears I did not have enough liquid for the sauce and the glaze. I added more water, orange juice, and extra pear brandy to make up for it.
rexanne3
san diego ca
11/28/2008
Well, unlike "A Cook from New England", I followed the recipe exactly and LOVED it!!!! Except that I didn't have any pears, so I used onions. And I was out of poire william, so I used V-8. And I didn't have an oven, so I made it in the microwave. It makes me nuts when people give 3 forks to a recipe they didn't follow and they then tell you how it would have been better if they only... hey... how about following the recipe!?!?! Maybe that woulda been better. OKOK I'm done. Just had to vent. I'll be all right. Thanks for listening.
Anonymous
11/18/2008
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