Pommes à La Frangipane

A baked-apple pulp under a layer of frangipane — in the nineteenth-century sense, a thick flour-bound custard rather than the ground-almond filling the word now suggests. The apple part is straightforward; the cream is where attention is needed.

• Frangipane means custard hereIn British and French kitchens of this period frangipane is a pastry cream stiffened with flour and flavoured with almond, ratafia or orange-flower water — closer to a crème pâtissière than to the almond paste in a modern galette des rois. Expect a spoonable, sliceable cream, not a batter.
• Ribston pippinsAn old English dessert apple, aromatic and sharp, and traditionally said to be the seed parent of Cox's Orange Pippin. If none is to be had, use Cox, Egremont Russet or Braeburn; a cooking apple such as Bramley collapses to a much wetter, blander pulp and will need draining.
• Baking the applesThe recipe gives no temperature or time. Pared apples baked whole in a moderate oven — around 350F (180C) — will want 40 minutes or more before they are tender enough to pulp cleanly. Bake them covered so they steam rather than dry out, and pass the flesh through a sieve or beat it smooth — "pulp" here means a purée, not crushed segments.
• Four eggs to four spoonfuls of flourThat ratio makes a fairly firm cream. A tablespoon of flour is roughly 8-10 g, so something like 32-40 g of flour to four whole eggs, diluted with milk or cream to a pouring consistency before cooking. Whisk the flour into the eggs before any liquid goes in or it will lump — which is the order the recipe itself gives.
• Cooking the creamA flour-thickened custard must actually reach a boil for a minute or two, whisking hard, or the raw flour taste stays and the cream will thin again on standing. Cook it in a heavy pan over moderate heat and strain it before it goes over the apples.
• FinishingDishes of this type were often dusted with sugar and coloured briefly in a very hot oven or under a salamander, though the recipe as printed breaks off and says nothing of the finish. A few minutes is enough to glaze the top without curdling the custard beneath.