Peeres in Confyt

Pear in Wine Sauce

This week it’s another trip through time. Dan was asked to shoot a cover for the Society for Creative Anachronism’s quarterly magazine, Tournaments Illuminated. The nice people at Medieval Cookery very kindly allowed us to use the Peeres in Confyt recipe for the cover photo and have given us permission to post it here. You can find this and many other fun historical recipes on their web site at medievalcookery.com

The original recipe is from Forme of Cury, S. Pegge (ed.):

PEERES IN CONFYT. XX.VI. XII. Take peeres and pare hem clene. take gode rede wyne & mulberes oþer saundres and seeþ þe peeres þerin & whan þei buth ysode, take hem up, make a syryp of wyne greke. oþer vernage with blaunche powdour oþer white sugur and powdour gyngur & do the peres þerin. seeþ it a lytel & messe it forth.

The redaction we used is:

4 pears
3 cups red wine
water (for poaching)
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. ginger

Peel pears, leaving the stems on, and cut a small amount off the bottoms so they will stand upright. Poach in water flavored with one cup of wine. Remove pears from water when they are just tender and place upright in a serving bowl. If desired, slice each pear in halves or quarters leaving about a half inch from the top uncut so the parts will remain attached. Make a syrup of remaining wine, sugar, and ginger. Bring syrup to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer. Pour syrup over pears and serve hot.

This is really a very easy recipe and is quite good. It would be perfectly at home on the table for your holiday parties, Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

Explore history through food and have a little adventure in time!