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The Crust
Tarts may have a rather firm crust if they are to be filled with watery or semi-liquid material. For tarts of this kind a crust may be made of one cup of lard, one tablespoonful of white sugar, white of an egg, three tablespoonfuls of cold water, and flour added to knead stiff.
A short, sturdy tart shell meant to stand up to wet fillings rather than shatter like a dessert pastry. The flour is left to the cook's judgment, which is the one thing worth resolving before you start.
- The unstated flourThe original gives no quantity, only "knead stiff." With one cup (about 200 g) of lard and roughly 5 tablespoons of liquid (3 of water plus an egg white of about 2), expect somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 cups of flour; add it gradually and stop when the dough holds together without tackiness. Any single figure here would be invented.
- Firm, not flaky, is the pointKneading is deliberate. Working the dough develops enough gluten to give a crust that resists soaking, which is why this one is specified for watery fillings rather than the barely-handled flaky sort.
- Egg white does the sealingThe white acts as a binder and, once set, as a partial moisture barrier. Reserve a little of it to brush the inside of the shell after blind baking if the filling is very juicy.
- Lard and its substitutesLard gives a crisp short crust; leaf lard is the finest grade, though the recipe specifies only lard and household lard of the period was not necessarily leaf. Modern hydrogenated shortening works at the same volume; butter does not, since its water content and lower melting point change both hydration and handling.
- Keep everything coldThe water is specified cold for a reason. Chill the dough at least 30 minutes after kneading, or the gluten you have just developed will make it spring back and shrink in the tin.
- OvenNo temperature is given. Blind bake tart shells at 400F until the edges are set and pale gold, then fill and finish; a firm crust of this kind takes heat well and benefits from a hot start.
- YieldSince the flour is unmeasured the yield can only be approximate: on the estimate above, roughly enough for two 9-inch shells, or about a dozen individual tartlets. The dough freezes well wrapped tight.
Turn-of-the-century American cookbooks often distinguished between grades of pastry rather than offering one all-purpose recipe: something like a rich puff or flaky paste for covered fruit pies, a plainer paste for meat and vegetable dishes, and a firm, slightly sweetened, egg-bound paste like this one for open tarts holding custards, preserves or stewed fruit, though the divisions were never as tidy as that summary suggests. The concern behind it may well have been the soggy bottom, though that is a reading of the recipe rather than anything the period sources say outright. Sugar and egg white can be understood as working structurally here rather than for flavor, and the instruction to knead runs directly against the flakiness modern bakers chase, which is a useful reminder that "good pastry" was defined by the job it had to do. Lard was a common household fat for pastry in this period, cheap, widely rendered at home, and only displaced by vegetable shortening over the following few decades.