Modern Pear Tart by Mathias Boirie

(This recipe appeared in the Fall 2021 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)

When I was a child, our family had a pear tree, and every year we would collect the pears and make tarts and jam or fruit salad with them. Inspired by that memory, I present to you a modern pear tart in the shape of a pear and with the flavor of yuzu inside, which gives it a fresh flavor and character.

Yield: 24 servings

Sweet Dough

• 240 g unsalted butter
• 165 g confectioners’ sugar
• 5 g salt
• 55 g almond flour
• 90 g liquid eggs
• 450 g cake flour, sifted

1. Cream together the butter, sugar, salt and almond flour. Slowly add eggs, scraping down bowl halfway through. Add sifted flour and mix until combined.

2. Spread onto parchment-lined sheet pans and chill in cooler. Sheet and fit into 3ʺ (7.6 cm) tart rings. Bake at 330˚F (165˚C) for 15 minutes.

Poached Pears

• 1000 g water
• 500 g pear liqueur
• 500 g granulated sugar
• 50 g vanilla paste
• 5 g lemon zest
• 5 pears, peeled

1. Pour the water, pear liqueur, sugar, vanilla paste and zest into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Immediately add the peeled pears and simmer for 4 minutes. The pears are cooked when you can insert the tip of a knife without resistance.

2. Cut the pears into cubes.

Tres Leches Cake

• 285 g unsalted butter
• 535 g granulated sugar
• 255 g liquid eggs
• 340 g all-purpose flour
• 7 g baking soda
• 4 g baking powder
• 5 g salt
• 310 g buttermilk
• 15 g vanilla paste
• 300 g poached pears, cubed

1. Cream the butter and sugar with a paddle until light and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs, beating until just combined. Alternately adding the sifted dry ingredients with the buttermilk and vanilla paste, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined. Spread 1700 grams evenly onto sprayed parchment-lined sheet pam. Sprinkle with poached pear cubes. Bake at 350˚F (180˚C) until done, about 25 minutes. Cool.

2. Cut out rounds with 2.4ʺ (6 cm) cutter.

Yuzu Curd

• 70 g egg yolks
• 70 g unsalted butter
• 70 g granulated sugar
• 20 g vanilla paste
• 5 g lemon zest
• 70 g yuzu juice

1. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook, whisking, until thickened. Cool, then mix.

Vanilla Pear Gelée Insert

• 2 g gelatin powder
• 14 g water
• 8 g glucose
• 8 g trimoline
• 35 g granulated sugar
• 425 g pear purée
• 10 g vanilla paste
• 200 g poached pear cubes

1. Bloom gelatin in the water.

2. Combine glucose, trimoline, sugar and the purée in a pot. Heat until the mixture is hot and the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the bloomed gelatin and vanilla paste. Cool, then add pear cubes and pipe into silicone sphere molds. Freeze until set.

Pear Mousse

• 10 g gelatin sheets
• 90 g egg whites
• 150 g granulated sugar
• 30 g water
• 370 g pear purée
• 370 g heavy cream, whipped

1. Bloom gelatin.

2. Make an Italian meringue with the egg whites, sugar and water.

3. Warm some of the puree, then mix in the gelatin until dissolved. Add the remaining puree.

4. Mix a small amount of the whipped cream into the meringue. Fold in the puree, then the remaining cream. Pipe into molds. Insert frozen Vanilla Pear Gelée Insert. Make mousse level. Freeze.

Coating Chocolate

• 500 g cocoa butter
• 250 g Valrhona Ivoire 35% white chocolate
• 250 g Valrhona Yuzu Inspiration
• Food coloring

1. Melt the cocoa butter and chocolates in a bain-marie. Mix in food coloring; use at 95˚F (35˚C).

Crystallized Pear

• 3 firm pears
• 180 g granulated sugar
• 20 g glucose
• 200 g water
• 20 g yuzu juice

1. Slice the pears with a mandolin to 0.12ʺ (3 mm).

2. Heat the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the pear slices and cook for 4 minutes. Drain and place the slices between 2 silicone baking mats on a sheet pan. Bake at 210˚F (100˚C) for 2 hours.

Pear Glaze

• 230 g granulated sugar, divided
• 200 g dextrose
• 604 g water, divided
• 100 g pear purée
• 50 g glucose
• 15 g pectin NH
• 1 g citric acid
• 4 g water

1. Whisk together 200 g of the sugar with the dextrose.

2. Add the sugar-dextrose mixture to 400 g of the water and the purée in a pot and heat to 104˚F (40˚C).

3. Mix the pectin NH with the remaining 30 g sugar and add to the syrup.

4. In a cup, combine the citric acid and 4 g water and warm in microwave. Bring the syrup to a boil and add the acid solution, allowing it to boil for 2 minutes. Pour into a bowl and add the remaining 200 g water, then Burr-mix. Keep in cooler overnight before using.

Yuzu White Chocolate Chantilly

• 6 g gelatin powder
• 36 g water
• 360 g heavy cream 36%, divided
• 100 g yuzu purée
• 20 g unsalted butter
• 230 g Valrhona Yuzu Inspiration
• 45 g Valrhona Chocolate Ivoire 35%
• 5 g vanilla paste

1. Bloom the gelatin powder with the water.

2. In a saucepan, bring 160 g of the cream, the purée and butter to a boil. Remove from heat and mix in the softened gelatin. Pour over the chocolates and Burr-mix. Add the remaining 200 g of the cream (cold) and the vanilla and blend. Strain. Reserve in the cooler overnight before using.

Assembly

1. Pipe some Yuzu Curd in the bottom of the tart shells and top with frozen Tres Leches Cake and then more Yuzu Curd. Smooth the top and freeze.

2. Whip the Yuzu Ganache with a whisk. Place the tart on a cake turntable and pipe the whipped ganache onto the tart starting from the center and moving towards the perimeter.

3. Have the pears frozen at -4˚F (-20˚C) and coat with the Coating Chocolate, using different colors to make small spots with a stiff bristle. Prepare glaze and glaze the pears, quickly wiping off excess. Place on top of tart and garnish with Crystallized Pear.

About Mathias Boirie

Mathias Boirie is the Executive Pastry Chef of Norman Love
Confections, Fort Myers, FL. His signature pastry style is modern, with revisited recipes and interesting flavors.