Sometimes the visual element of cooking is so overpowering that how a dish tastes becomes nearly an afterthought. This pear clafoutis (pronounced claw-foo’-tee) looks as if it belongs in a Dutch still life, with ethereal-looking Bosc pears poking out of a golden custard as if they’re rising from the earth. It evokes a primal memory, like Stonehenge or Carnac: the solstice beckons. Emerson once said “There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect […]