Anyone ever cook Asian pear-apples?

[Jenise]

A friend of mine has a tree that's loaded and invited me over to help myself. It's not a fruit I'm particulary fond of, though I'm not really sure why. Anyway, we got to talking about uses and I realized I'd never had one any way except raw. I can imagine that the grainy texture wouldn't lend itself to being a perfect pie apple substitute, but perhaps there are other good uses.

A bit of Googling didn't turn up much. In fact, I found one thread on another board where someone wondered if you could cook with them, and one of the answers was "Yes! Slice and put them in a salad!" Not exactly a qualified answer.

Anyone?

[Karen/NoCA]

Jenise, there are a lot of Asian Pears at the markets right now. I am not really fond of them either, however I do buy a few and enjoy them??? Not sure if it is the color, texture, crispness or what. I have sautéed them with butter, cinnamon and sugar, and they were a nice side to French Toast. Just last week I was poking around trying to find something interesting to do with them. This may inspire you.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5576770_cook-asian-pears.html

[Jeff Grossman/NYC]

I've never tried it but I suppose the way to work around the texture is to make applesauce!

[Barb Downunder]

Jenise you might try googling nashi fruit which is the name commonly used here for these things. An Aussie site you might care to start with
http://www.nashiaustralia.com.au/recipes-main.html

[Mike Filigenzi]

I like them in salads and such - they're nice in beet salads with goat cheese.

Maybe an apple butter?

[Jenise]

I'm sure they're great in salads, but not enough to put bushels to use!

Barb, that website has some ideas. Liked the chicken and nashi (cool name) stir-fry, I'm going to send that to the owner of the tree. Another recipe had them wedged, peeled and cooked in a bit of chicken broth (served as a side to a veal chop). Would be interesting to serve, I think, with a pork chop doused with a maple vinaigrette. Both items tangy and savory with a hint of sweet.



Chicken and Nashi Stir-Fry

Ingredients
1 - 2cm stalk lemongrass (white part), finely sliced
1 - 2cm piece ginger, peeled and diced
juice of 1 large lime
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp palm or brown sugar
1 large green chilli (optional)
2 large (450g) chicken breast fillets
2 large Nashi

Method
Combine the lemongrass, ginger, lime, fish sauce, sugar and chilli into a medium bowl. Mix well. Slice chicken into strips and toss in marinade. Slice Nashi into thin wedged strips.

Drain chicken, reserving marinade. Heat a large non stick pan or wok and fry chicken until golden. Add Nashi and continue cooking 2 minutes. Pour over marinade, toss well until hot, then serve.

Tip: the marinade can be made in advance, and the chicken marinated overnight

Serves 4

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

[Karen/NoCA]

Our grandson came home from work last night with some Asian Pears/apples. I've never had the local Redding varieties just plucked from a tree. All I can say is Wow, they are awesome. I would not want to do anything else with these but eat them cold and crisp. The lady who gave them to him said she also uses them ground up in sauces as a replacement for sugar.

[Carrie L.]

Len came home from a Costco trip once with way too many pears. I remember I found I recipe for Pear Bread from the All Recipe site. Just did a search on it but there are so many there now and I don't remember which one it was...The bread was amazingly good though, and of course freezes well.
Here's my search: http://allrecipes.com/search/default.aspx?qt=k&wt=pear%20bread&rt=r&origin=Home%20Page

[Bill Spohn]

I can't imagine cooking with them - not enough flavour.

I do like them quite a bit, but only one way. Keep them really cold in the crisper and eat them on a hot day (preferably outside). Very refreshing and love the crispness. Otherwise no contest - a non-Asian pear wins every time for flavour.

[David M. Bueker]

I've never tried it but I suppose the way to work around the texture is to make applesauce!

I've used them in applesauce - they make the texture notably grainy. Just two of them in a pot full of regular apples was notable. Edible, but weird.

[Dale Williams]

Add me to the chorus who haven't cooked Asian pears- and can't quite imagine it. I think of Asian pears as a substitute for jicama, which it resembles more than a European pear. We use in slaws and the like. I do remember a recipe for a marinade that included grated Asian pear, but that's it.

[Jenise]

can't quite imagine it. I think of Asian pears as a substitute for jicama, which it resembles

Agree completely. Now you have me trying to remember if I've had jicama in a stir-fry. I swear I did, and recall being very surprised that it was jicama because it seemed more like potato. Might have been in China. Or I might have dreamed it.

[Karen/NoCA]

That is interesting. I have never thought about cooking jicama, I've always eaten it raw. My parents liked to have jicama and Virginia peanuts with their cocktail before dinner. I was actually introduced to jicama at their home one year when we went to visit them. I must have been about 35.