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Fig and Apple Tart
1/2 pound of figs 1/2 pound of apples 3 ounces of sugar 1/2 pint water Paste See that the figs are quite clean, then put them in an enameled stewpan with the sugar and water. Bring them very quickly to the boiling point, then put them where they will just simmer gently, keeping the pan covered for an hour and a half. Now turn them into a tart dish, and add the apples, which must be weighed after they are peeled and sliced. Mix them together and cover them with a paste. Bake in a hot oven. Raise the crust gently when it is sufficiently baked, and see whether the apples are tender. If not, let the tart stand on the top of the stove for a few minutes to finish them. Serve cold with plain cream or ice-cream on each slice.
A two-fruit tart with a single top crust, built on dried figs stewed to a jammy state before the raw apple goes in. The only real trap is the apple, which has to cook through under a lid of pastry.
- The hinge: apple thicknessThe figs arrive fully cooked, the apples raw, and the pastry sets long before thick slices soften. Cut the apples no thicker than 1/8 inch so they are tender by the time the crust colours, and the awkward finish-on-the-stovetop step never comes up.
- "Paste" means pastryIn books of this period paste is simply short or puff pastry dough. This is a top crust only, laid over a filled tart dish, so a single round of shortcrust rolled to about 1/8 inch is what is wanted.
- Hot ovenRead that as somewhere around 400 to 425F. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until the crust is well browned.
- Half a pint of waterAmerican books of this era mean 1 cup; a British source would mean 10 fluid ounces. Either works here, since the figs simmer covered for an hour and a half and you want them sitting in a thick syrup at the end. Start with 1 cup and add a splash if the pan runs dry.
- Enameled stewpanThe instruction is about avoiding bare iron or unlined copper, which react with fruit acid and dull the colour. Any non-reactive pan does the job.
- Dried figs, not freshThe long covered simmer points to dried figs; fresh ones would collapse to nothing in ninety minutes. Stem them and quarter them before they go in the pan.
- Weighing the applesThe half pound is specified after peeling and slicing, which is roughly two medium apples. A firm cooking apple holds its shape better than a soft eating variety.
- Yield and servingA pound of fruit in total, so a small tart dish and six modest slices at most. It is meant to be served fully cold, which lets the fig syrup set; cream or a scoop of ice cream on each slice is the original's own suggestion.
Dried figs were one of the reliable pantry fruits of the early twentieth century, shipped in pressed blocks or strings from Smyrna and later from California, and they turn up constantly in cookbooks of the period as a way of stretching or sweetening a dish out of season. Pairing them with apple is practical as much as a matter of flavour: the figs bring concentrated sugar and body, the apple brings acidity and fresh bulk.