youtube pinterest twitter facebook instagram vimeo whatsapp Bookmark Entries BURGER NEW Chevron Down Chevron Left Chevron Right Basket Speech Comment Search Video Play Icon Premium Nigella Lawson Vegan Vegetarian Member Speech Recipe Email Bookmark Comment Camera Scales Quantity List Reorder Remove Open book
Menu Signed In
More answers

Pears Belle Helene

Asked by bappel. Answered on 16th May 2019

Full question

I just wondered, when making the Pears Belle Helene with canned pears, if you could add some vanilla to the canned pear liquid and let the pears sit in it while making the chocolate sauce?

Image of Nigella's Pears Belle Helene
Photo by Lis Parsons
Pears Belle Helene
By Nigella
  • 14
  • 2

Our answer

Nigella's recipe for Pears Belle Helene (from HOW TO EAT) poaches pears in a vanilla flavoured syrup. When poaching fruit you can add flavourings to the cooking liquid as the flavour will infuse into the fruit. The vanilla poaching syrup can also be used a second time to poach another set of pears.

You can substitute drained, canned pears for the poached pears and the recipe specifies pears canned with fruit juice. Unfortunately we don't believe that adding some vanilla extract to the juice will really affect the flavour of the canned pears as there isn't enough time for the pears to absorb the flavour while the sauce is being made. However you could add some vanilla extract to the chocolate sauce instead, if you want to add an underlying note of vanilla. The sauce already has coffee in it, to help enhance the flavour of the chocolate, but you could add a teaspoon of vanilla extract when you add the cream to the pan. Use natural vanilla extract and not vanilla essence. Vanilla essence is often a synthetic flavouring and doesn't have the complexity or depth of flavour of vanilla extract.

Tell us what you think