Savory Things to Make with Sweet Pears

April 24, 2015 11:35 AM

My fiance's dad gave us a large amount of homemade sweet canned pears for Christmas last year. I want to get them off the shelf, but I don't like sweets all that much. What can I do with these poor, neglected things?

While I don't love sweets, I do love sweet/savory dishes and would love to use the pears that way. I love to cook and will eat any sort of weird combo but the pears are so overwhelmingly sweet I'm just not sure how to make it happen. I work best with recipes but am down with very specific suggestions. Any ideas?

posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Best answer: Something like this? http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/endive_salad_with_walnuts_pears_and_gorgonzola/

My mom recently made an appetizer with homemade canned pears, blue cheese, walnuts, and olive oil in endive. It was great, and the recipe above seems similar.
posted by punchtothehead at 11:39 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have not tried this with pears specifically, but I would use them in some recipes for savory relishes and chutneys. I think recipes that call for apples would be delicious with pears. In particular, to cut the sweetness, look for recipes with onion, garlic, mustard, chiles, and other savory elements and cut down or eliminate the sugar they call for. Your pears are cooked, so you wouldn't need to cut a relish so long. These two recipes are the sort of thing I have in mind.
posted by TrarNoir at 11:43 AM on April 24, 2015

I love cottage cheese with canned pears. Easy breakfast/snack.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:46 AM on April 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I would try something like this recipe for braised pork with pears. The ginger and vinegar should reduce the sweet effect. You could use wine vinegar to make it even less sweet, or mix something like carrots or apples with the pears.
posted by yarntheory at 12:04 PM on April 24, 2015

Replace the fruits in some tagine recipes with your pears. Seriously, if sweet/savory is your thing, tagines are a _must_.
posted by bfranklin at 12:05 PM on April 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Mush em up and spread it on some nice crusty bread with brie. Add some proscuitto if you're really feeling it. Invite me over.

Pretty much any application with a nice flavory cheese is going to be delicious.
posted by phunniemee at 12:13 PM on April 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

Pears in green salads are delicious. Offset with a vinaigrette, the sweetness isn't as cloying.
posted by cecic at 1:19 PM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

You could turn them into a gastrique/agrodolce kind of thing. Cook them down with some vinegar--basically a chutneyesque idea. Would go beautifully with stank-ass cheeses and/or foie gras and/or pates and terrines of all sorts.

If you drink, preserved pears are lovely in a white sangria.

You could puree them down, probably strain somewhat, and dilute with soda water for a refreshing drink.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 2:19 PM on April 24, 2015

Sweet canned pears are perfect for roasting with chicken or slathering on pork before or after cooking. (Says the vegetarian)
posted by Toddles at 3:37 PM on April 24, 2015

Make a pear shrub to use in cocktails -- google "pear shrub" for a million recipes.

I was also thinking brie -- you could get some phyllo tarts, put in brie and pear, and bake as an appetizer for a dinner party.
posted by chickenmagazine at 5:51 PM on April 24, 2015

Cut them into strips and wrap some prosciutto around them. The taste is a revelation! You're welcome. :)
posted by arishaun at 3:57 AM on April 26, 2015 [1 favorite]