TARTE TATIN

Apple tart is perhaps the most beloved dessert in western cultures and 'tarte tatin' is surely its prettiest version. I was introduced to French upside down apple-tart nearly 20 years ago in Paris but whenever I tried to re-create it at home, I failed. Even though it seems easy to make (caramelize the sugar, throw in the fruit, cover with pastry, bake, and reverse on a dish), it's not. Today's post features a little bit of its history and not so much the instructions on how to make a perfect tarte tatin since there are hundreds of excellent recipes that you can find in books & sites all over the world.

 

Boulevard Montmartre in Paris (Camille Pissarro, 1897)

Stéphanie & Caroline Tatin

The original recipe became popular in the 1880s. It's said to have been developed by chance in the kitchen of two sisters named Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin, owners of the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, although its beginnings are rather obscure. Food historians believe that it was not launched by the Hotel Tatin and that its popularity is basically owed to food critic Maurice Edmond Sailland (pen-named Churnonsky) and the Paris restaurant Maxim's, where 'tarte tatin' became the fashion during the 1920s. The historic region of Sologne, where Lamotte-Beuvron is situated in north-central France, was already known for the delicious tarte solognate, which is filled with halved apples in a caramelized mixture of honey & spices, and the upside down tart was featured in the menu of the Hotel Tatin under this name. In any case, 'tarte tatin' was very much discussed, and very much admired.

Whether the sisters developed the recipe or not, tartetatin.org shares a version that was recorded by a close friend of theirs, who must have seen the dessert prepared in the Hotel Tatin. According to Ms. Souchon, 'tarte tatin' was made in a copper tin, on which you placed some butter and sugar, layers of apples, more sugar, and finally a thin layer of dough. Unfortunately, she gave no details for the amount of ingredients used. The number one problem in kitchens without ovens supplied with upper & lower heating elements, was how to bake the upper part well. According to Ms. Souchon, this was achieved by lidding the tin and covering with hot embers.

 

 

TARTE TATIN

Even though we have better equipment than late 19th century housewives, making the apple tart Ms. Souchon described requires great skill. And with historic recipes, it's either you follow the original plan or you make a contemporary version. For the tarte tatin pictured above, I used the original ingredients, adjusting the quantities to my baking pan. The shell is made with pâte brisée. Puff pastry that modern recipes favor is a complicated type of dough for which Ms. Souchon would probably have given a hint (or a method) and she does not so perhaps it was not used by the sisters. Upturning tarte tatin is always the most difficult part. I baked in a metal tin as per the original recipe but using a glass one with a round-edged bottom would be optimal.

 

I n g r e d i e n t s

for the filling:

1kg apples

125g butter

125g sugar

for the dough:

200g flour

80g butter

water

 

M e t h o d

1. Melt the butter and sugar in a heavy-bottomed pan. 2. Add the fruit, thickly sliced, and cook gently, until the syrup is lightly caramelized. 3. In the mean time, prepare the dough by rubbing the butter into the flour until crumbs are formed and binding with 3-4tbsp cold water. Roll out into a thin disc that's large enough to also cover the sides of a 20cm round baking pan. 4. Butter the pan, fit in the cooked apples, lid with the dough and bake at 180C for about 30 minutes or until golden. 5. Turn upside down on a plate and serve warm.