Autumn or early winter cooking, what does this means for you? I heard yesterday someone saying this was the return of roasts in their households. For some others it is chestnuts in the fire-place or a glass of red wine by the fire. For me at home it is the return of pears, lemons, chestnuts, apples, wild mushrooms and in terms of dishes this is the return of soups and more slow cooked meat dishes or casseroles.
Pears variety in Australia
The main stream pear varieties are the beurre bosc pear, the packham pear and the corella pear. Those varieties are also referred as “european pears”. The William pear comes from the beurre bosc and is a northern America pear where it is known as the barlett. It is classified as a european pear.
There is a good fact sheet on the varieties and their availability through the Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) website.
The beurre bosc is elongated golden to 
light brown skin pear. The skin is quite thick, the flesh is compact , yet very tasty.
The william pear arrives earlier in the season, late summer to early autumn. It is of medium size, not so elongated as the beurre bosc with quite a round belly. The william is green when unripe and becomes yellow with or without red parts when ripe. It is a good pear to eat raw, it can also be cooked.
The packham pear is a parent of the
william pear and looks quite like it. It is a medium so large size pear, green when unripe and a beautiful yellow when ripe. When ripe it is juicy and very tasty. The pear is consumed raw or cooked.
Corella pears are quite small, yellow to red in colour. Their flesh is juicy and milder in flavour than the william, beurre bosc or packham pear. This pear variety is also good both for cooking and raw.
There is also the nashi pear also called “asian pear” variety which is currently found on markets. The nashi pear is small, quite round, of light colour. It is very juicy with quite a bland taste.
Pear & Nutmeg Cake with Chocolate Sauce
I loved for a while those cake with the pears standing upright directly inside the cake. So last week, apparently it was my “mother’s day cake” made by me for me ….and family.
The cake recipe is based on a “quatre quarts” recipe, a French classic cake where flour, sugar, eggs and butter are at equal weight. I decreased the quantity of sugar, swapped a little flour for hazelnut meal (which I don’t think made much of a difference), added cocoa and a little nutmeg. The pears can be pre-cooked in a sugar syrup if not ripe, else, it is not necessary to cook them.
The cake is cooked until just set, which will leave the middle soft and gooey. The cake is served with a warm chocolate sauce.
The recipe is HERE.
