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Apples in Pastry
Peel and core 2 pounds of apples. Put them into a pint of cold water with 2 pounds of loaf sugar, a little cinnamon, the juice of a small lemon, and a little butter. Boil to a pulp. Well oil a pie-dish; line it with good pastry about half an inch thick, and bake it in a quick oven. Place the apple pulp inside, pour custard over it, and ornament with alternate dots of red jelly and white of egg. Lift the pastry out of the dish before serving. Time to bake the pastry, twenty minutes. Sufficient for five persons.
An apple compote spooned into a separately baked pastry case, in the Victorian manner where the crust is a vessel rather than something baked with the filling. Two details need attention before you start: the sugar quantity and the fact that the pastry is baked empty.
- The sugar is a preserve ratioTwo pounds of sugar to two pounds of apples gives something close to apple marmalade, not a modern compote. Half a pound to three-quarters is enough for eating apples; go up only if you want the near-candied sweetness the original intends.
- Loaf sugarSold as a hard cone that was nipped into lumps and prized for purity. Ordinary granulated white sugar is the direct equivalent, weight for weight.
- A quick ovenBroadly 400-425F, though period glosses of the term vary. At that heat a half-inch pastry shell will colour fast, so watch it from about fifteen minutes.
- Blind baking is the hingeThe case is baked empty and the filling added after, so it must be weighted. Line the pastry with paper and baking beans or it will slump and blister in twenty minutes at that temperature.
- Half an inch of pastryThicker than anyone rolls today, and deliberate: the case has to hold its shape once lifted free of the dish. Chill it well before baking and butter the dish generously, as the instruction to "well oil" it is about release, not flavour.
- Boil to a pulpA pint of water with that much sugar takes a long while to reduce. Expect 30-40 minutes over moderate heat, stirring near the end, and let it cool before it goes into the pastry or the crust will soften.
- The white of egg ornamentDots of unbeaten or lightly beaten raw white are never cooked here. If you want them, use pasteurised white, or pipe a stiffly whisked meringue and flash it under a hot grill until set and lightly coloured.
- CustardA pouring custard of egg yolks, milk and sugar, thickened on the stove and cooled - not the set baked custard the word suggests to some readers now.
- YieldFive servings, as the recipe states. No dish size is given.