Translating the French Recipe Gratin de Poires

Gratin de Poires

High school brings great adventures and this year I am taking French. One of our extra credit assignments is to translate French recipes, then prepare and serve them to our unsuspecting families, and then get them to comment on the dish. Gratin de Poires was the challenge provided by my teacher and as I write this, the scent of roasted pears wafts through my home. The first thing I needed to do was translate the recipe that called for roasted pears. What the heck is a roasted pear? Yep, I had to research that as well.

Here is the recipe in French:

Gratin de Poires

Before you get started on this tasty recipe, you should begin with the recipe for roasted pears:

How to Roast a Pear
Cut a pear into four lengthwise-quarters and remove the seeds.
Heat a skillet over medium-high, and when hot, add the butter.
Arrange the pears, flat side down, in the skillet and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
Turn pears to the other flat side and repeat.
Pears are done when they are browned slightly and softened throughout.

So, the pears were roasted, and I do recommend you use one of those splatter screens because the juice of the pears mixed with the hot melted butter caused more than one minor burn to everyone that neared the stove.

How to Roast Pears

It was kind of a running joke while making this dish. When I told my mom the name of the recipe was, she thought ÄúGratin was cheese. She wanted to know what a cheesy pear was, well, as it turns out, Gratin in French originally meant the tasty crust left behind in the pan after baking. Chefs ate it as their bonus treat!

Here is the translated recipe:
8 Pears
2 Cups of Milk
1 Cup of flour
1/2 Cup of sugar
1 Tablespoon of butter
4 Tablespoons of ground almonds
1 Packet of vanilla sugar or a table spoon of vanilla extract

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, vanilla and milk.
Roast pears and cut into strips.
Butter a dish that goes in the oven.
Place pears in the dish.
Pour batter over the pears.
Turn the oven on to 375 degrees F and cook for 30 minutes.
Serve warm with sprinkled almonds (My dad bought walnuts by mistake, but they work, too.) on top.

Pour Batter Over the Pears

The assignment was not for me to give my comments; the members of my family had that homework. I figured if I didn‚Äôt like it, there was still some leftover chocolate ice cream in the freezer for my dessert!

Here are the comments:
Mom: Incredibly sweet, just like Ally. I liked the combination of the crunchy, nutty tid bits blended with the baked pears and a sweet creamy ‚Äúgratin‚Äù holding it all together. My favorite part was the quality bonding time we spent in the kitchen as a family! Good job, Ally!!!

Dad: Very good!!! Interesting texture and taste, I liked it, but it was different. I am looking forward to the next recipe.

Ally: It was very good, but extremely rich. This serves way more than six people. I just might have to make this recipe again. (By the way, vanilla ice cream would be amazing served atop a warm dish of Gratin de Poires!)

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tommylee

Well done Ally. Exactly according to specs. I know the wallnuts work too but the recipe with almonds will amaze you beyond believe because pears and almonds complement each other in taste.

It's unfortunate that the kind of pear where not specified since this dessert calls for the Beurré Bosc or Bosc and is a cultivar of the European Pear (Pyrus communis) grown in the northwestern U.S. states of California, Washington, and Oregon, Australia as well as in British Columbia and Europe, where it is sometimes called Kaiser. It s less sweat than most other pears due to the "colder regions" of growth.

The history of pears go as far back in pre-historic times and even the Oddysey (Greek Epic Poem) by Homer and dated around the 8th century BC gives a great tribute to the pears in the orchard of Alcinous.

Pears is often introduced to infants as the first fruit due to its most hypo-allergenic trait of all fruits.

Great choice of recipe when served with a mellow Bordeaux wine from the town of Margeaux. An extremely rich and balanced wine with almond! taste as its most characteristic flavor.

Well done!!!