No. 3287

Apricots with Cream of Almonds

Abricots a la Creme d'Amandes

Line a few tartlet molds with fine foundation paste (No. 135); fill them level to the top with almond frangipane (No. 44), and lay a well-drained compoted half apricot (No. 3691) over each; bake in a moderate oven, and when done and partly cold dress an imitation apricot made of Italian meringue (No. 140) on top of each one. Place them again in the oven to dry the meringue, and then let cool. When cold glaze over with a yellow rum icing (No. 102), fasten a stalk of angelica into each, and rub each one with a little carmine on cotton to color it.

← No. 3286 Apple Cake Small Cakes for Entremets No. 3288 Babas with Rum—Small →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer writes in shorthand, assuming you have his numbered component recipes to hand. Translated, this is an almond-frangipane tartlet topped with a poached apricot half, capped with a piped meringue dome and glazed to look like a whole apricot.

The cross-references, decodedNo. 135 foundation paste is a sweet short pastry; No. 44 is his almond frangipane; No. 140 Italian meringue is whites whipped with hot sugar syrup; No. 102 is a rum-flavored glazing icing thinned to pouring consistency. Ranhofer's own versions may differ in detail from modern ones, so consult the numbered recipes where you can.
Moderate ovenConventionally read today as around 350F. The tartlets are done when the frangipane is set and springs back and the pastry edge is pale gold; timing depends on the size of the molds.
The hinge: drain the apricots hardRanhofer says "well-drained" and means it. Compoted fruit carries enough syrup to weep into the frangipane and leave the pastry base soggy, and the wet surface will also stop the meringue adhering. Blot the halves dry on a cloth before setting them in place.
Drying the meringueItalian meringue is already cooked by the hot syrup, so the second stint in the oven is only to firm and dry the surface so it will take the glaze. Ranhofer gives no temperature; a low oven, with the door ajar, stopping before it colors, is the safe reading.
Angelica and carmineCandied angelica stems, once a standard confectioner's green, are now specialty items; a strip of candied citron peel or a real short stem works for the stalk. Carmine is cochineal, still sold as a food color. Apply it with a small dry brush rather than cotton, and only as a blush on one cheek of each "apricot."
Yield and serviceRanhofer gives no quantities, so scale the component recipes to your tartlet tins. These are entremets pastries for a dessert plate, and they are best eaten the day they are glazed, before the meringue softens.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and this recipe shows the house style exactly: a small, technically layered pastry whose whole purpose is to look like the fruit it is made from. Trompe-l'oeil sugar work of this kind descends from French confectionery practice of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where meringue, marzipan and pastillage were routinely modeled into fruits, and it carried over into grand hotel kitchens. The entremets heading is worth noting: the word originally meant a dish served between courses, but by Ranhofer's day it had settled on the sweet course, and his "Small Cakes for Entremets" chapter is essentially a petits-fours list. The reliance on numbered cross-references, rather than a self-contained ingredient list, is also of its period, addressed to a professional who already had frangipane and fondant standing ready in the pastry section.