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Jam Tart, Open
Make some pastry, as directed for JAM PATTIES, or as follows. Rub six ounces of butter into the same quantity of dried and sifted flour. Add a pinch of salt, half a tea-spoonful of baking-powder, a tea-spoonful of pounded sugar, and make it up into a smooth paste with the yolk of an egg beaten up with a little cold water (about a quarter of a pint will be required). Roll out the pastry to the thickness of a quarter of an inch. Butter an ornamented tart-pan and line it with the pastry. Trim the edges neatly, and prick a few holes in the bottom with a fork. Bake in a moderate oven until lightly browned, then take the tart out, let it cool a little, spread the jam on it, and ornament the top with a few leaves or stars of pastry which have been baked separately. Time, about half an hour to bake. Probable cost, 10d. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A late-Victorian open jam tart: a rich shortcrust shell baked blind, filled with jam after it comes out of the oven so the preserve keeps its colour and set. A few points of translation are needed.
- The water quantity is suspectA quarter of a pint (5 fl oz / 140 ml) is far more liquid than 6 oz of flour will absorb without turning to batter, and it is unclear whether the figure is meant for the water alone. Beat the yolk with cold water and add it a spoonful at a time, expecting to use 2-3 tablespoons in all.
- Equal butter and flourSix ounces of each (170 g and 170 g) is a very short, biscuity paste closer to a sweet pastry than a plain shortcrust. Keep the butter cold, rub it in quickly, and rest the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before rolling or it will shrink and slump in the tin.
- "Dried and sifted flour"Victorian cookery books routinely direct that flour be dried before the fire before use, flour being liable to take up damp in storage. Modern bagged flour needs nothing but sifting.
- Moderate oven350F / 180C. About 25-30 minutes for the case, as the original allows.
- Blind bakingPricking alone will not stop a rich pastry from bubbling up and sliding down the sides. Line the case with parchment and baking beans for the first 15 minutes, then remove them and finish uncovered until lightly browned.
- Pounded sugarSugar crushed fine with a pestle before caster sugar was universally sold; use caster.
- The ornamented tart-panA shallow fluted tin, not a deep flan ring. Anything 8-9 inches across and about an inch deep suits the quantity of pastry given.
- Filling the caseBecause the jam goes in after baking, warm it gently first so it spreads without tearing the pastry, and let it cool before cutting. Roll and bake the leaves and stars on a separate tray at the same time.
- YieldThree or four portions, as stated. The cost of tenpence is the compiler's own reckoning and gives some sense of how cheap a dish it was thought to be.
The open tart was for generations the standard use for a jar of preserve that had already been made at home. The technique of baking the case first and filling it afterwards is what separates it from the older enclosed jam turnovers and patties the entry cross-references: the jam is not cooked twice, so it stays bright and does not scorch at the edges. Commercial baking powders became widely available in Britain from the middle of the nineteenth century, so their appearance in a shortcrust here is consistent with a recipe of the later Victorian period. The decorative pastry leaves and stars baked separately reflect a period taste for tarts that looked ornamental on a tea table rather than merely fed people.