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Steamed Apples
Core the apples, fill cavities with sugar and put in a saucepan with cold water to the depth of an inch. Cover and cook slowly, turning the apples over once. This will steam the apples, and, if they are red, will preserve their color. These resemble baked apples and are often preferred.
A short method that works as written; the only real decisions are pan size, heat and how long you leave them alone. Four to six medium apples fit a 10-inch saucepan or deep skillet in one layer.
- The hinge: keep the water barely simmeringThe apples are meant to cook in steam and a shallow bath, not to boil. A hard boil breaks the skins and the fruit collapses into sauce before the centres are tender.
- Pan and lidUse a wide, heavy pan with a tight lid, deep enough that the apples do not touch it. Check partway through and add a splash of water if it threatens to dry out.
- TimingThe original gives none. Figure 20 to 30 minutes for medium apples, turning once at the halfway point as directed. They are done when a knife slides into the flesh with no resistance but the fruit still holds its shape.
- Sugar in the cavitiesAbout a tablespoon per apple. Because the cavity sits in steam rather than dry heat, the sugar dissolves into syrup and runs down into the pan, which is why the cooking liquid is worth spooning over at the table.
- Choosing applesFirm cooking varieties hold up best: Braeburn, Jonagold, Rome, Northern Spy. Softer dessert apples such as McIntosh turn to pulp in the time the core needs.
- The point about red applesLeaving the skin on and cooking in a covered pan may help red apples keep their colour, as the recipe claims; brief, gentle, covered cooking is easier on skin pigment than dry oven heat. Core from the top and stop short of the base so the apple holds its syrup.
- Yield and servingOne apple per person, warm, with the pan syrup and cream. They reheat well.
The Butterick Cook Book came out of a pattern and magazine publisher. Baked apples were the standard, but they demand steady, even heat for the best part of an hour; the stovetop version needs only a covered pan and a low flame, which is presumably why the book says these "are often preferred." Filling the core with sugar is far older than this book and appears in English cookery writing well before 1900, often with butter, spice or a clove pushed in alongside.