Which pears are best?

[pilches]

I am making a crisp with fresh pears and dried cherries. The recipe says 3 1/2 lbs of pears.
When I wen to the market there were 4 or 5 varities. Which would be best?

[rainey]

Are apple pears or Asian pears one of the choices? I've never make a crisp with pears but these have a sturdy crisp consistency like apples so I'm guessing they'd hold up. I've used them in a braise before and they held up to that heat. I think they have very nice light flavor even if it isn't as assertive as a ripe Bartlett. Maybe you could goose it with a little vanilla or a splash of brandy.

[visciole]

I personally would choose Bosc pears, which are firm and usually have very good flavor. To me, Asian pears are nice and crisp, but don't have that much taste. If you could get Seckel pears they would also be fabulous, but they aren't usually so readily available.

[jeremyn]

Agree on the bosc. You want to pick them out just barely soft... in other words, much firmer than your typical bartlett.

[jsaimd]

Depends on the texture you want. If you want a pear that will stay together - then bosc is the way to go. They should be fragrant and still firm - maybe give just a bit above the stem. They have a nice florally flavor. Anjou will also cook well, with a less grainy texture, but a milder flavor. Comice have the smoothest texture, and a great flavor, but will be soft. Bartletts will turn to pear sauce - I make lots of pear sauce out of these.

Of course i really love Warren pears, smooth fantastic flavor - but hard to find.

I love pears - can you tell?

Asian pears work, but I much prefer them raw - they lose some sweetness in cooking, although they do hold up. If you do use them, I find them best slice very thin.

[classylady]

I dont know the type of pear I have in my garden. I believe it is Anjou but it made the best pear crisp. This year I have a bounty of pears enough to feed the hungry animals nearby.

[jeremyn]

Bosc pears do have a floral flavor, especially when slightly under-ripe. I don't get this impression from jsaimd, but many people pick out way under-ripe bosc pears because they always hear that they are supposed to be firm. Pick ones that are firmer than bartletts, but NOT rock hard. I would personally pick out a bosc pear slightly riper than what jsaimd describes.

[jsaimd]

I think people eat most fruit way under ripe. Most pears and stone fruit shouldn't crunch. It drives me crazy to hear that.

My fruit CSA farmer says to pick pears that have a wrinkled appearance by the stem.

[visciole]

Well, how ripe you like your fruit is a matter of taste. I often prefer sweet varieties of apples when they're under-ripe, since I like them less sweet. As for Bosc pears, to me, once they're getting soft they taste too sweet and perfumey. But then again I love a peach so ripe it's almost rotting. YMMV.

[todao]

Bosc or Anjou - just remember that pears don't ripen on the tree (they simply rot from the inside out) so you want to select them while they're pretty fresh and firm.

[Andrew_Cookbooker]

There's a good roundup at the NYTimes about pears here: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/pears/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier

This is linked to from a recent Mark Bittman recipe for maple pear upside down cake which I am going to cook when my anjou pears ripen a little more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/din...