French · Authentic-ish French
Poires Belle Helene
252 kcal a serving, against 655 for the traditional version. That is 403 kcal off, or 62%, with 9.7g of protein. Serves 6. 45 minutes.
What the traditional version is
Whole pears peeled and boiled in a thick syrup made from hundreds of grams of sugar, water and vanilla. Once soft, they're served hot with a rich ganache made by melting a huge block of 70% dark chocolate into bubbling double cream. It's usually finished with toasted almonds and vanilla ice cream.
What changed, and what each change costs
300g of sugar down to 50g
Pears are already sweet. Boiling them in what is essentially pure liquid sugar is entirely unnecessary. A tiny bit of sugar in the water is enough to help them soften and carry the vanilla flavour into the fruit.
What it costs you. You lose that sticky, glossy coating on the outside of the fruit. The pear tastes like a pear, not a boiled sweet.
Double cream and a mountain of chocolate for cocoa powder and a fraction of the chocolate
A traditional ganache is just fat mixed with more fat. I make a leaner syrup using cocoa powder for the deep chocolate flavour, water, and just 50g of dark chocolate to give it the right texture.
What it costs you. You end up with a thinner sauce. The version that's a thick, luxurious ganache is still out there and still better. It lacks that heavy, mouth-coating dairy richness.
Vanilla ice cream for fat-free Greek yoghurt
Ice cream just adds more fat and sugar to a plate that's already swimming in it. Cold, sharp Greek yoghurt cuts through the dark chocolate beautifully and adds a massive hit of dairy protein to the pudding.
What it costs you. Greek yoghurt is sour. If you're expecting the sweet, comforting melt of vanilla ice cream, you'll be disappointed.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 655 | 252 |
| Protein | 5.9g | 9.7g |
| Fat | 30.9g | 6.5g |
| Saturated fat | 16.2g | 2.7g |
| Carbohydrate | 90.5g | 40.8g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 0.9g | 3.9g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish French prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. milk, nuts.
The method is in the book
This is one of the rare times where I think the stripped-back dish actually beats the original. The classic version is just too sweet and too heavy. The bitter punch of the cocoa and the sharp tang of the yoghurt balance the soft, sweet pear perfectly. You get all the flavours of a classic French dessert without feeling like you need to go and lie down in a dark room.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish French, along with 54 more. Buy the paperback