"I know the look of an apple that is roasting and sizzling on the hearth on a winter's evening, and I know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with some sugar and a drench of cream."
--Mark Twain
What is a tart?
A tart is a pastry that is filled with a savory or sweet filling that has an open top, unlike a pie that can be enclosed.
When does the term "tart" first make an appearance?
According to the food history timeline tarts and tartlets are first mentioned in the "Forme of Cury" and refer to both sweet and savory items.
What about pies?
According to the food history timeline, the first recorded use of the word "pie" was in 1303.
Why call it a tart?
The Online Etymological dictionary believes that the word tart referencing a "small pie," can be traced to the late 14c., from Old French tarte "flat, open-topped pastry" (13c.), possibly an alteration of torte, from Late Latin torta "round loaf of bread"
Where do you find inspiration?
Sometimes I find something I want to do, for example, a menu, or a recipe that would be interesting to recreate. At other times, I might find disparate recipes that "fit the pattern" of a period menu. There is also my research into Harl MS 279.
In this case, it was a couple of snippets from Le Menagier de Paris (Platter: Grapes and peaches in little pies.) that sparked the imagination. That snippet led me to research further into his menus and I found this:
For dessert: compete, with red and white sugared almonds placed on top: rissoles, flans, figs, dates, grapes, nuts
The Grape and Peach tarts were served as part of the vigil for Fiadnata, and the roasted apple tarts were served at Appolonia's vigil.
I also like to look for unusual recipes when I am researching a menu, and these three stood out to me for different reasons. The method of roasting the apples for the apple tart. The similarity between how to make the peach and the grape and raisin tarts, and lastly, the unusual ingredients in the grape and raisin tart.
Do you make your own pie/tart shells?
I have to put the caveat here that no, I do not. I purchase the store brand double crust pie dough, bring it to room temperature, flour it, and roll it out with a rolling pin so that it is slightly larger and thinner. I also use the top of a wide-mouth mason jar (4 or 16 ounces, I'm not picky) as my template. Done correctly, I can get between 12 and 14 tart shells from one pie crust, and 24 to 28 for a double, which saves me the bother of making my own! Knowing this, when I plan for a feast, I know that I can fill three tables with one double-crust store-brand pie shell. Which I believe makes me a cleverly lazy cook ;-)
Original Recipe - Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin (1553)
Ain gúten dorten von braten epffel zú machen
Schellen die epffel vnnd schneiden die jn 4 stúck, schneiden
den bútzen heraús vnnd thents darnach jn ain haffen,
der oben woll zúdeckt sey, vnd lands jn ainem haffen demfen,
doch das man offt darzúlúog, das sý nit verbrinnen, darnach
so streichs aúff den boden, der aús schenem mell gemacht
seý, vnnd thent ain halb pfúnd zúcker, ain lot zimerrerlach
daran, klaingestossen.
Translation
125 To make a good tart with roasted apples. Peel the apples and cut them into four pieces, cut out the cores, and put them in pot, which should be well covered, and let them stew in the pot. One should watch them frequently, so that they do not scorch. Afterwards spread them on the pastry shell, which should be made of good flour, and put a half pound of sugar and a half ounce of finely ground cinnamon therein.
Ingredients
1 9" pie crust of your choice
2-3 apples, peeled, cut in quarters, and cored
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
** Couple of tablespoons of water
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Add your apples to your pot. I like to use a combination of apples in my pies. For example, this pie was made with opal and a green apple. I did add a little bit of water to the pot, covered it with a lid, and cooked the apples until they were soft enough to mush.
The apples will release liquid as they cook. Add the sugar and the cinnamon to the apples once they are cooked enough and stir through.
Allow the apple mixture to cool. While the apples are cooling, ready your tart shells. I prefer a rustic look so I fold the dough over the filling instead of putting the tarts into a pan.
Add the apple filling to the tart shells a teaspoon at a time. Bake your tarts at 400 degrees until they start to turn golden.
Original Recipe - Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin (1553)
Wiltú ain weinpertorten machen
Nim die weinber vnnd die ziwiben aúch darúnder/ nims
also gantz, thúo zúcker daran vnnd zimerrerlach vnnd
schwings woll vmb vnnd thúo es aúf ain bedellin/ laß ain
klain weil bachen/ darnach thúo ain wenig ain malúasier
daran vnnd lasß noch ain weil bachen, so ist es gemacht, wan
dú die weinber jn torten thon wilt, so thús for jn ain pfannenn
vnnd thúo nichts daran, weder wein noch wasser, vnnd
rest sý woll darin herúmber, so geschwelens fein aúff, darnach
thús erst jn torten, wie dú sý haben wilt.
Translation
93 If you would make a grapetart. Take the grapes, with raisins mixed among them. Take them whole, put sugar thereon and cinnamon and shake it well together and put it on a pastry shell. Let it bake a little while. Then put some Malavosia (white wine) thereon and let it bake a while longer, then it is ready. When you put the grapes on the tart, then put them beforehand in a pan and put nothing in it, neither wine nor water, and fry them, stirring them all around well therein, then they will swell up nicely. Only after that put them in the tart, as you would have it.
Ingredients
2 cups grapes, washed, cleaned, and picked from the stem (I used the gum drop grapes)
1 cup raisins
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup red wine
1 tsp. cinnamon
**a couple of finely chopped orange peels per cook's prerogative
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place grapes in a pot and heat, keeping an eye on them so that they do not burn, or burst. Cook them for approximately 5 -7 minutes. They will swell up and become *very* fragrant.
Add the raisins to the grapes along with the wine and cinnamon. Cook until most of the wine has been absorbed by the raisins. As an alternative, you could soak the raisins in the wine overnight, and then cook off the alcohol after adding the raisins to the grapes.
Proceed as above.
Original Recipe - The Good Housewife's Jewell, (England, 1596)
To make all maner of fruit Tarte. You must boyle your fruite, whether it be apple, cherrie, peach, damson, peare, Mulberie, or codling, in faire water, and when they be boyled inough, put them into a bowle, and bruse them with a Ladle, and when they be colde, straine them, and put in red wine or Claret wine, and so season it with suger, sinamon and ginger.
Ingredients
5-6 peaches
1/4 cup red wine
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Peel, core, and quarter your peaches and place them in a pot with the red wine and cook until your peaches have softened and are starting to fall apart.
Add the sugar, and the spices and cook a few minutes more until the sugar has melted and the mixture begins to thicken.
Proceed as above, filling your pie or tart shells and cooking until the shells begin to turn lightly brown.
Thoughts
The tart fillings can be made in advance and frozen. This allowed me to have these fillings readily available when I needed them, and to make them when the fruit was at its peak and least expensive. They make excellent offerings for day-boards, and vigils and to serve at the end of a meal. Additionally, they are modern enough in taste that many diners are surprised to discover the origins are from the mid to late 1500s. I have brought them to pot lucks at work and there have been no leftovers!
Sources
"Das Kochbuch Der Sabina Welserin (C. 1553)". Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, 2022, https://www.uni-giessen.de/fbz/fb05/germanistik/absprache/sprachverwendung/gloning/tx/sawe.htm. Accessed 18 Oct 2022.
Medievalcookery.Com, 2022, https://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/ghj1596.txt. Accessed 18 Oct 2022.
"Tart | Search Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.Com, 2022, https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=tart. Accessed 18 Oct 2022.
Food Timeline FAQs: pie & pastry. 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpies.html#tarts> [Accessed 18 October 2022].
Comments