Salt-Baked Pears
- Total Time
- 1 hour and 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:Serves 8
- 12egg whites
- 1box Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 8Bosc pears, ripe but still firm, with stems intact
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
147 calories; 0 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 20 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 531 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 275.
- Step 2
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy and tripled in volume.
- Step 3
Stir in kosher salt, and mix well with a stiff whisk until slightly clumpy.
- Step 4
When too difficult to whisk, use your hands to blend the salt mixture until it becomes uniformly wet, heavy and slightly sticky. In other words, like the worst snow-shoveling day of your life.
- Step 5
With a sharp knife, trim a sliver, as needed, from the bottom of each pear so they stand upright on their own.
- Step 6
Pack the salt mixture around each whole pear, including the bottom, to create a thin and even encasement.
- Step 7
Gently place the pears on a lined baking sheet and bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Use a cake tester to test for doneness, piercing through the very top of the pear at the stem. We like the pears a little al dente — cooked through but with some tooth. We don’t want applesauce.
- Step 8
Pears can be held warm in the oven at the lowest possible setting until ready to serve.
- Step 9
To serve, crack the salt crust and discard. Take care to brush off any clinging salt with a clean dish towel, and serve the roasted pear with wet black walnuts (see recipe).
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
BotanyBoy
Are the guests supposed to crack off the shells at table? Isn't that messy? If not, then what is the photo showing?
Jr
Could you please tell us how much salt this box contains (for those of us outside the US)? Thanks!!
mecky
kosher salt comes in 3 pound boxes
Adam
Perhaps so you can see what it would look like if you had some kitchen craftsmanship skills?
Adam
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is a large-grained (but not flaky) salt, larger in grain size than free-poring salt that comes out of a saltshaker.
It comes in 3-pound boxes. For those people living in the rational part of the world that has adopted metric measure, that's about 1.4kg.
I'd bet the precise salt you use in this recipe doesn't matter much. If you could get a large-flaked salt to retain its structure when making the coating paste it would be gorgeous.
c
"Step 9
To serve, crack the salt crust and discard. Take care to brush off any clinging salt with a clean dish towel."
sounds delicious!
meinmunich
Just made them for a dinner party. They must needed to be peeled, otherwise, the peels too tough and bitter. Was a spectacular fun to show and serve, but the pears didn't have a magic I hoped for. I used a regular walnut for the sauce and this was special. Guests loved them for what they were, but not really for pears' sake.
M.B.
Oh dear. This was my biggest dessert fail ever. No Bosc pairs at the store so bought Anjou instead. But the peel of an Anjou is much smoother and slippery than Bosc, salt would not stick. Took idea of another poster and peeled them, the salt stuck well to the flesh. They looked lovely. Removed the crust and took a bite. It was like eating a spoonful of salt in pear form. Inedible. We joked that they would survive a transatlantic trip in the 1600s, like salt cod. Definitely do not peel these.
colin
These were interesting but didn't really impress. They tasted like a nice baked pear but I'm not sure you couldn't have gotten a similar result in a much simpler way by just tossing them in salt/butter and baking them in foil. I also tried this with peaches, tomatoes, apricots, plums, and nectarines. The nectarine tasted amazing like it came out of a pie, but again, is using SO MUCH salt and egg whites really worth the result? Maybe there is a very specific use for this technique, but idk what.
M.B.
Oh dear. This was my biggest dessert fail ever. No Bosc pairs at the store so bought Anjou instead. But the peel of an Anjou is much smoother and slippery than Bosc, salt would not stick. Took idea of another poster and peeled them, the salt stuck well to the flesh. They looked lovely. Removed the crust and took a bite. It was like eating a spoonful of salt in pear form. Inedible. We joked that they would survive a transatlantic trip in the 1600s, like salt cod. Definitely do not peel these.
meinmunich
Just made them for a dinner party. They must needed to be peeled, otherwise, the peels too tough and bitter. Was a spectacular fun to show and serve, but the pears didn't have a magic I hoped for. I used a regular walnut for the sauce and this was special. Guests loved them for what they were, but not really for pears' sake.
Gigi
There are different sizes of the salt. What is the box size?
jae
Sounds a tad pretentious; but, then, I haven't tried it. Out of curiosity I shall do ONE -- although it seems work intensive.
Since the salt's been prized off in the kitchen, what's up with the illustration?
Adam
Perhaps so you can see what it would look like if you had some kitchen craftsmanship skills?
Katherine
To Stsimon: Yes, 12 whites is a lot. And perhaps even some work. But then you get to make ice cream with the yolks!
SamG
Are the pears to be peeled or eaten with the peel?
BotanyBoy
Are the guests supposed to crack off the shells at table? Isn't that messy? If not, then what is the photo showing?
c
"Step 9
To serve, crack the salt crust and discard. Take care to brush off any clinging salt with a clean dish towel."
sounds delicious!
Jr
Could you please tell us how much salt this box contains (for those of us outside the US)? Thanks!!
mecky
kosher salt comes in 3 pound boxes
Tim
I checked the Diamond Crystal website and the only box size listed is 3 pounds. There are two smaller can sizes that are obviously wrong. 3 pounds would be about 1 1/3 kg.
Adam
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is a large-grained (but not flaky) salt, larger in grain size than free-poring salt that comes out of a saltshaker.
It comes in 3-pound boxes. For those people living in the rational part of the world that has adopted metric measure, that's about 1.4kg.
I'd bet the precise salt you use in this recipe doesn't matter much. If you could get a large-flaked salt to retain its structure when making the coating paste it would be gorgeous.
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