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TART, FRUIT (English way)
Spread some puff-paste over the table with a rolling-pin; cut a piece the size of the dish. and out of the trimmings cut some strips; brush the edge of the dish with dorure, and stick the strips on it: then put the fruit into the dish with some sugar and a little water; roll the paste on the rolling-pin, and lay it over the fruit. Before you put the paste on, brush the strips with some beaten egg to make it stick. When you have trimmed the dish all round, brush some white of egg over the tart, and sift some sugar over it: then dip the paste-brush into water, and shake it over the tart. Bake it properly, and serve up cold. Apples, however, are an exception, as they are better hot. Instead of brushing the tart with white of egg only, you may use yolk and white beaten together, which is called dorure, and should be borne in mind. When this has been done, take a small knife and ornament the paste with figures according to your fancy; then put the tart in the oven, and if it begins to have too much colour cover it with paper. When done, spread over it some fine sugar through a sieve, replace it in the oven to dry the sugar, and with the red salamander glaze the tart of a bright colour. You must prepare all kinds of fruit in the same way; if you use the paste for tarts, the strips are not essential.
A method rather than a fixed recipe: puff paste over sugared fruit in a deep dish, glazed twice. Cassell's assumes you know the quantities, so the notes below fill in what the text leaves out.
- DorureSimply egg wash — the book defines it mid-recipe as yolk and white beaten together. Whole egg gives the deepest colour; the white-only glaze mentioned first sets to a paler, crisper shine under the sifted sugar.
- The dish and the stripsThe text says only that the paste is cut to the size of the dish and that strips of trimmings are stuck round its brushed edge, which suggests a rimmed pie dish rather than a shallow tin. The strips give the lid something to grip; the book says that if you use "the paste for tarts" the strips are not essential.
- Oven heatThe book gives no temperature: it says only "bake it properly." As a modern starting point, puff paste wants a hot start — around 425F to lift the layers — then a drop to about 375F until the fruit is tender. The instruction to cover with paper when it colours too fast is the period's version of a foil tent.
- The red salamanderA cast-iron plate heated in the fire and held over the surface to caramelise sugar. A broiler on high for a minute or two does the same job, or a blowtorch; watch it constantly, since sifted sugar goes from amber to black quickly.
- Sugar and water for the fruitNo quantities are given. For about 2 lb of prepared fruit, 4-6 oz sugar suits apples, plums or gooseberries, and 2-3 tablespoons of water is enough — juicy fruit needs none at all, and too much liquid will lift the lid and boil out at the rim.
- The shaken waterThe recipe says to dip the paste-brush in water and shake it over the sugared top, but gives no reason; water and sifted sugar together set to a crisp sugar glaze. Any account of the exact effect intended is conjecture.
- Vent the lidThe knife-cut "figures" are described only as ornament, left to fancy. If the cuts go through the paste they will also let steam out, which is a sensible modern precaution against the lid doming and splitting at the edge.
- ServingNo dish size or number of servings is given. The recipe says to serve up cold, with apples as the stated exception: "they are better hot."
Cassell's labels this the "English way": the fruit buried under a lid of paste in a dish, as against an open French tart built on a base of pastry with the fruit arranged on top — the covered form is what is now generally called a fruit pie. The band of paste stuck round the dish's edge with egg lets a single sheet of puff paste cover a deep filling without lining the sides, and a raised rim helps hold the juice. The salamander named in the recipe was a genuine piece of kit: a thick iron plate on a handle, reddened in the coals and passed over the surface. The list of fruits is left open, and the aside about apples reflects the English habit of eating apple tart hot and soft-fruit tarts cold.