You might remember a post I wrote quite a few months ago, on mulled wine granita. Well, this week I’ve revisited the
wonderful world of frozen desserts: I had to poach some pears the other day
(for more on that, you’ll have to see November’s issue of The Field) and ended
up with rather a lot of leftover pear-flavoured syrup. Pear sorbet was pretty
much the first thing that sprang to mind. You don’t have to use pear syrup for
the recipe below, but if you’ve poached a few pears (as we all do once in a
while...) and happen to have some hanging around, sorbet is a great way to use
it up.
Some history and definition
Supposedly invented by the Romans (there’s a lovely story about the Emperor
Nero having buckets of ice passed by hand along the Appian Way to his
banqueting tables, where it was mixed with honey and wine), sorbet came to
Britain via Italy and France in the late 17th century. It’s made
from sugar syrup, fruit puree and often contains alcohol as well (woop woop). It’s
distinct from ice cream because it contains no dairy products, and from granita
because of its smaller ice crystals, which give it a smoother texture.
The science bit
When water freezes, it forms one solid mass of ice crystals – like an
ice cube, for example. Sorbet and ice cream are both water-based (which is why
they freeze) but in order for them to freeze into a lovely scoop-able softness,
you need to add other ingredients to the water. This reduces the freezing point
of the mixture so it doesn’t set as hard, and it then needs to be churned as it
freezes to break up the ice crystals, which gives a smoother texture and again
stops it from freezing solid. In the case of ice cream the addition is a diary-based
product like cream or custard, but with sorbet fruit purée and sugar syrup are
used. Alcohol also helps to lower the freezing point.
Unlike ice cream, sorbet doesn’t need to be constantly churned as it
freezes (although you can make it in your ice cream maker if you have one) – you
just have to give it a good stir with a fork every half an hour. This makes it an
easy option for those of us who are still waiting for that state-of-the-art ice
cream machine to appear in our Christmas stocking - all you need is a pan, a
sieve and a Tupperware (much cheaper...)
Variations
Since it’s based on fruit purée and sugar syrup, sorbet is open to a
whole variety of variations. You can vary the purée itself or mix two or three
different types of fruit, not to mention the variety of alcohols and flavoured
syrups at your disposal. I talked a bit about flavoured syrups in my blog on lemonade, and the ones you use for sorbets are no different.
You can infuse a huge variety of flavours into a syrup just by adding a
herb or spice and heating it through: so, for example, to make rosemary syrup
you mix add equal quantities by volume of sugar and water, throw in a couple of
sprigs of rosemary, then bring it briefly to a boil, cool, and strain. Rosemary
syrup goes well with pear purée in a sorbet.
You could also try strawberry sorbet with basil syrup or black pepper
syrup, or raspberry sorbet made with cassis or with mint syrup. Apple and mint
sorbet is pretty refreshing, and if you use rum as the alcohol element you’ve
pretty much got apple mojito sorbet. In fact, a lot of cocktail flavour
combinations work well as sorbets, so you can pretty much pick your favourite
cocktail and adapt it to make a sorbet recipe. As usual, get creative!
One last note
Just out of pure interest, there’s an awesome machine called a pacojet which you can read about here (no, they are not paying me...but they probably should be).
You can literally put whole pieces of fruit and sugar syrup in, freeze them,
and it micropurées them to make a perfect, fresh sorbet without even needing to
cook the fruit. And you can do it with meat to make perfectly smooth patés and
make sauces without ever needing to defrost the ingredients. How cool is that? If
I had £5,000, I’d be sorely tempted.
And without further expensive distraction, on to a recipe: simple
pear sorbet with vodka (or calvados). Enjoy!
Pear Sorbet with Vodka or Calvados
Ingredients
1kg pears, as ripe as you can get
200g sugar
200ml water
65ml vodka or calvados (apple brandy)
Method
Peel and quarter the pears (you don’t need to worry about coring them
though). Put the sugar and water in a large pan and stir over a fairly gentle
heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Add the pears and bring to a boil.
Simmer until the pears are so soft they’re falling apart. If they don’t fall
apart by themselves after half an hour or so, you can give them a hand with a
liquidiser!
Push the pear mush through a fine sieve to remove any pieces of core or
pips. You’ll probably have to push it through with a spoon and it might take a
little while, but I prefer doing this to having to core the pears beforehand –
you’ll have to sieve it either way, so why make extra work for yourself?
Once it’s all been through the sieve, you just need to mix in the vodka
or calvados, then pop it in a freezer-proof container, cover it (clingfilm is
fine) then put it in the freezer and give it a good mix with a fork every half
an hour.
It might seem like nothing’s happening for the first hour or so, but
eventually it’ll start to freeze around the edges. Just keep mixing every half
an hour to break up the ice crystals, and eventually it will be frozen all the
way through. It’s best served within a couple of days of making it, otherwise
the crystals start to get big again. It’ll keep for a week or so
in the freezer.
