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Peach Tartlets
Roll half pound feuilletage on a lightly floured table to the thickness of a sixth of an inch. Then with a three-inch pastry cutter cut out six even pieces. Arrange on six scalloped tartlet forms, then with the thumb carefully press down the paste at the bottom and sides of the moulds. Place a teaspoon currant jelly at bottom of each mould. Peel, cut in halves and remove stones of six good-sized, sound, ripe peaches, then cut each half in three slices. Arrange six slices over each tartlet, sprinkle over, evenly divided, two ounces powdered sugar. Lay on a baking sheet, set in oven fifteen minutes. Bring them to the oven door, sprinkle a little more sugar around edges of the tartlets, reset in oven three minutes more. Remove, spread a teaspoon currant jelly over each tartlet, take them from the moulds and serve.
A straightforward puff-pastry tartlet, but the original assumes a professional pastry kitchen and gives no oven temperature. A few clarifications make it workable.
- FeuilletageThis is puff paste. Half a pound is about 225 g, roughly one sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed, though sheet weights vary by brand. Roll to a scant 1/6 inch, call it 4 mm.
- Oven heatNone is stated. Puff paste is generally baked hot; around 425F (220C) is a reasonable modern reading. Watch the pastry rather than the clock, since the original gives no temperature to calibrate the fifteen and three minutes against.
- Powdered sugarIn period usage this generally means a finely granulated sugar — closer to what is now sold as caster sugar — rather than modern confectioners' sugar with its cornstarch. Two ounces is about 1/4 cup, split between six tartlets.
- Tartlet formsScalloped tartlet moulds of roughly 3 inches; a shallow muffin tin works, though the fluted edge is lost. The three-inch cutter leaves very little overhang, so press the paste firmly into the corners or the sides will slump.
- The jelly at the bottomThe spoonful of currant jelly goes under the fruit, where it plausibly acts as a barrier between the pastry base and the peach juice. The recipe gives no reason, but the placement suggests it is doing more than decorating.
- Peach timingFifteen minutes suits fully ripe fruit sliced thin. Firm or underripe peaches will still be raw when the pastry is done, so use fruit that yields to a thumb; freestone peaches halve and stone far more easily than clingstones.
- FinishingThe second spoonful of jelly goes on hot pastry — warm the jelly slightly so it spreads rather than tearing the fruit. Unmould while warm; cooled jelly glues the paste to the tin.
- YieldSix tartlets, one per person, meant to be served the day they are baked. Puff paste softens within hours once the fruit is on it.
This comes from Alexander Filippini, long associated with Delmonico's in New York, whose cookbooks translated the restaurant repertoire of the late nineteenth century into instructions for the American household. The recipe is French in construction ,, individual moulds, a jelly glaze applied hot hough-portion pastry, was the standard restaurant format for showing off seasonal fruit. Currant jelly appears here as it does throughout period cookery, one of the clear glazes and moisture barriers kept on hand at the pastry station. The instruction to bring the tartlets to the oven door, sugar the edges, and return them for three minutes is a caramelizing trick.