Apple Tart or Pie
INGREDIENTS for good sized tart.-2 lbs. of apples, 1/4 lb. of moist sugar, 1/2 teaspoonful of finely-minced lemon-peel, 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice.
AVERAGE COST, 10d.
Make puff-paste by either of the given recipes, with 1/2 lb. of flour place a border APPLE TRIFLE. of it round the edge of a pie-dish, and fill the dish with apples pared, cored and cut into slices; sweeten with moist sugar, putting it between the apples, add the lemon-peel and juice, and 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of water; cover with crust, cut it evenly round close to the edge of the pie-dish, APPLE TART. and bake in a hot oven from to hour, or rather longer, should the pie be very large. Whisk the white of an egg to a froth and when three-parts done, brush the pie over with this; then sprinkle upon it some sifted sugar, and then a few drops of water. Put the pie back into the oven, and finish baking, and be particularly careful that it does not catch or burn, which it is very liable to do after the crust is iced. If made with a plain crust, the icing may be omitted. The flavouring of an apple pie may be varied by a few spoonfuls of sherry, which very much improve the taste; a few cloves, or a few slices of quince.
TIME. hour before the crust is iced; 10 to 15 minutes afterwards.
APPLES AND RICE.
A straightforward deep-dish apple pie with only a top crust, finished with a meringue-style egg-white glaze. The sugar and one or two of the times have not survived intact in this printing, so work from apple weight and appearance.
- Sugar quantityThe sugar is given only as a fraction of a pound that has dropped out of the text. For 2 lb of apples, something in the region of 4-6 oz (roughly 1/2 to 3/4 cup) of light brown sugar is a reasonable reading; use less with dessert apples, more with cooking apples such as Bramley.
- Moist sugar"Moist sugar" is unrefined or partly refined soft brown sugar, damp and clumping. Light brown sugar is the closest modern equivalent; granulated white will work but gives a thinner, less caramel flavour.
- Oven temperatureThe book gives no temperatures; "hot oven" is usually taken today as somewhere in the region of 425-450F. Bake at that heat until the crust is set and colouring, then drop to about 375F if the apples need longer, so the pastry does not darken before the fruit softens.
- Baking timeThe times have lost their fractions. In practice a deep pie of this size takes 35-45 minutes before icing, then 10-15 minutes more after the egg-white glaze goes on. The pie is done when a skewer meets no resistance through the vent.
- The iced crust burns easilyThis is the instruction that matters. Sugar sprinkled over egg white scorches fast, so once glazed the pie needs watching, and a loose sheet of foil laid on top if it is colouring before the fruit is cooked.
- Pastry quantityHalf a pound of flour made into puff paste gives enough for a single lid plus the strip pressed round the dish rim. One sheet of bought all-butter puff covers a 9-inch pie dish.
- The border stripThe band of pastry laid round the wet edge of the dish is what the lid seals to. Damp the rim, press the strip down firmly, then lay the lid on and trim flush; a well-sealed edge stops the juices boiling out underneath.
- Yield and servingServes six to eight. Serve warm rather than hot with cream, custard or plain unsweetened whipped cream, which suits the sweet glazed top.
Apple pie under a raised border of puff paste was the standard English fruit pie of the nineteenth century, and Mrs Beeton's version is distinguished mainly by its finish: whisked egg white brushed on part-way through baking, dusted with sifted sugar and flicked with water to make a pale crackled icing. The variations offered at the end are a good map of Victorian taste in sweet apple cookery, where sherry, cloves and quince were all standard partners; quince in particular was still commonly grown in English gardens and was valued for the perfume it lends a few slices at a time. The costing of tenpence, given as a matter of course, reflects the book's purpose as a manual for households running to a budget rather than a collection of set pieces.