No. 3329

Cherry Tartlets

Tartelettes aux Cerises

Pick the stalks and stones from a few handfuls of fine sour cherries; lay them in a basin, strew over sugar and leave to steep. Line two dozen hollow spindle-shaped tartlet molds with foundation paste (No. 135); fill with the cherries and bake in a brisk oven; unmold as soon as done and leave stand till cold, then cover with a thin layer of currant jelly (No. 3670) dissolved in a little syrup.

← No. 3328 Bordelaise Tartlets Small Cakes for Entremets No. 3330 Columbia Tartlets →

For the Modern Kitchen

A barquette of sour cherries under a jelly glaze, written in the shorthand Ranhofer used for cooks who already knew his numbered base recipes. The details below fill in what the cross-references and period vocabulary leave out.

The hinge: drain the cherriesMacerating in sugar draws out a great deal of juice, and if that juice goes into the shell the pastry turns to paste. Steep for 30 minutes to an hour, then lift the fruit out with a slotted spoon and reserve the syrup — it is exactly what you want later for loosening the currant jelly.
"Spindle-shaped tartlet molds"These are the pointed, boat-shaped tins now sold as barquettes for petits fours, commonly a few inches long. Round tartlet tins of similar capacity work; the recipe specifies two dozen molds, each holding only a small spoonful of fruit.
Foundation paste (No. 135)Ranhofer's lining paste, given elsewhere in the book; a firm short pastry rolled thin. Any sturdy sweet shortcrust does the same job; it must be strong enough to unmold hot without collapsing.
"A brisk oven"A hot oven, in modern terms somewhere around 400-425F. Small shells with wet fruit need heat fast enough to set the pastry before the juice soaks in; bake until the edges are properly colored, not pale.
Sour cherriesMorello or Montmorency, not sweet Bings, which cook to mush and lack the acidity the sugar and jelly are balanced against. Frozen sour cherries are a fair substitute; thaw and drain them hard before sugaring.
Unmolding hotThe recipe says to unmold "as soon as done" and then leave the shells to stand till cold. Left in the tin they are likelier to steam and soften; turned out immediately, they crisp as they cool.
The currant jelly glazeWarm red currant jelly with a spoonful of syrup or the reserved cherry juice until it just flows, then brush it on cold tartlets in a thin coat. It should set to a shine, not pool. If it will not thicken again, it has been thinned too far.
ServingTwenty-four small pastries, meant as one item among several on an entremets or petits fours tray. Glaze them the day they are served; the shells go soft overnight.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its structure explains the terseness here: nearly four thousand numbered entries, each leaning on the others, so that a tartlet recipe can be four sentences because the paste and the jelly live elsewhere in the book. Barquette molds and a currant-jelly finish are standard French pastry practice of the period — the thin glaze both sealed the fruit and gave the tray of small cakes the gloss expected on a nineteenth-century dessert service.