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Green Gooseberry Tarts, Etc
and some shred lemon-peel, and squeeze in some lemon juice, or a glass of cider if the apples have lost their freshness; then put in the rest of the apples, sugar, and the liquor that has been boiled. Cover with either of the plain pastes (sée pages 200-1). Some add quincemarmalade, or orange-paste, to the apples as an improvement. Apples should never be cut smaller than in quarters, or they do not become tender in baking; nor should they be long exposed to the air after peeling, as they put on a dark colour, and the surface becomes hard.
What survives here is the filling and finishing of a covered apple tart, plus two rules about apples that still hold. The instructions assume a deep dish, a top crust only, and a cook who will judge sweetness by taste.
- The hinge: quarter the apples, no smallerThe recipe's own reason is that smaller pieces do not become tender in baking; quarters also hold their shape under a lid of pastry. Use a firm cooking apple such as Bramley, Northern Spy or Granny Smith.
- Keep the cut fruit from the airThe warning about darkening and a hardened surface is sound. Drop the quarters into water with a squeeze of lemon as you go, and drain them before they meet the sugar.
- The boiled liquorThe excerpt begins mid-recipe and does not say what was boiled to make it; it goes into the dish along with the remaining apples and the sugar. Reduce it until it coats a spoon, or the tart will be watery.
- Cider as a corrective'a glass' is not a fixed measure, but something in the region of 4 fl oz; in this period cider would have been the alcoholic kind, used for acidity when stored apples have lost their freshness. Modern unfiltered apple juice with extra lemon does the same job.
- Quince marmalade and orange-pasteQuince marmalade of this period was often a stiff, sliceable fruit cheese rather than a spreadable preserve; two or three tablespoons of quince paste, chopped small, is the nearest equivalent. Orange-paste appears to have been a comparable stiff orange conserve, closest today to thick marmalade with the peel chopped fine.
- Plain pasteThe recipe cross-refers to the plain pastes on pages 200-1, which are not reproduced here. Any all-butter shortcrust works; roll it thicker than a pie base since it carries no filling weight.
- Oven and timingThe recipe gives neither. As a modern working guide, about 400F for the first 15 minutes to set the crust, then 350F for a further 40 to 50 minutes, until a skewer passes through the fruit without resistance. Cut a vent in the lid or the steam will lift it off the filling.