[chefbk]

Hi-
I have been working in fine dining and I just got back into hotels....more$$
And I want to be much more creative in the banquet kitchen. So I made a salad with fresh pears on it. Our salads are done 2 hours before the banquet. Pineapple juice, lemon water and even mt. dew work on the apples to keep them from turning brown. I tried lemon water on the pears for about 15 min before putting them on the salad and they turned in about 50 min.
Anyone have any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
BK

 

[kuan]

Try soaking the pear slices in ice cold lemon water. That might slow down the reaction. Either that or cook them in caramel or something.

 

[suechef]

Try using Fruit Fresh which is a powdered dextrose/ascorbic acid product used in canning and found in most every grocery store this time of year. I'm not sure how long it will hold the fruit, however I use it in for prepping fruits for salsas for maybe a 2 hour max period.

 

[bluefinecaterin]

Here's where you can buy the citrus oils.
http://www.boyajianinc.com/citrus.html

Be sure to call customer service and ask for samples of the oils along with a wholesale price list.

Note: Citrus oils are powerful and you only need a third of a cap to 2 cups of olive oil to prevent oxidation and add incredible flavor.

John Carman
www.bluefinecatering.com

 

[pete]

I know it seems kinda passe, but what about poaching them? It leaves you with a cooked product instead of a fresh product but it eliminates the browning.

 

[cookmonster]

An honest answer - anyone who has been in fine dining should know that keeping apples, pears, etc in water with lemon juice is the method to keep them from browning

 

[pete]

CookMonster, but that doesn't answer the question as to how to keep them from turning brown when you have to pre-plate the salads. As he stated he has tried that method and it doesn't work when holding the salads for a longer period of time. Also I am not a fan of using the lemon juice and water method, as I find that over the course of a couple of hours the apples and pears tend to become waterlogged and lose quite a bit of flavor.

 

[keeperofthegood]

Hey oh

Not to mention that they tend to taste less and less like apples and pears and more like lemons.

 

[cookmonster]

But you're not supposed to drown them in lemon juice...