A watercolour of halved pale pears in a pool of yellow custard with toasted flaked almonds
Generated with OpenAI gpt-image-1
Adapted from Poached pears with custard

Pears with ginger custard

An established dish converted to shelf-stable ingredients. Every substitution is documented below.

How long it keeps

About 12 months, set by Pears (tinned, in juice).

Indicative, for planning a build before you buy. The answer for a pack you already own is the best before date printed on it, and that only holds if it has been stored as the label says.

Serves
2
Burners
1
Pans
1
Water
0.05 L
Active
8 min
Total
12 min

Ingredients

  1. Almonds toasted dry in the pan, two minutes, out.
  2. Pears with about half their juice into the pan with the ginger, cinnamon and syrup. Bare simmer, five minutes, turning once, long enough for the spice to get into the fruit.
  3. Lift the pears into bowls. Let the juice bubble another two minutes until it thickens slightly, then pour over.
  4. Custard warmed through in the same pan, off the direct flame if it is fierce, it catches easily, and poured around.
  5. Almonds over.

Reducing the pear juice rather than pouring it straight over is the difference between a syrup and a puddle.

Serves 2.

What this was adapted from

Poached pears with custard: the British pudding

  • pears poached in spiced syrup for 30 minutes → tinned pears warmed in their own juice with ginger

    Poaching is where the fresh fruit takes on the spice, and tinned pears are already cooked. Warming them in their juice with ginger for five minutes gets some of the way; they are softer and less perfumed than poached fruit.