Fruit tart

“ Pile the fruit high in the dish, as it shrinks very much in the cooking; put in the sugar, cover with crust, ornament the edges, and bake the tart in a well-heated oven from 1/2 to 3/4 hour. If wanted very nice, brush it over with the white of an egg beaten to a stiff froth, then sprinkle on it some sifted sugar, and put it in the oven just to set the glaze: this should be done when the tart is nearly baked. A small quantity of lemon-juice, and a little of the peel minced, are by many persons considered an improvement to the flavour of rhubarb tart. ”

“ They are very good. The proportion of sugar must be regulated by the nature of the fruit; and that of the almonds can be diminished when it is thought too much. A delicious tart of the kind is made by substituting for the raisins and candied orange-rind, two heaped tablespoonsful of very fine apricot jam.
CRÊME PATISSIÈRE, OR PASTRY CREAM. To one ounce of fine flour add, very gradually, the beaten yolks of three fresh eggs; stir to them briskly, and in small portions at first, three-quarters of a pint of boiling cream, or of cream and new milk mixed ”

“ Arrange them in close layers in a deep tart-dish which holds about a pint and a half, and strew amongst them four ounces of sugar and the grated rind of a fine fresh lemon; add the strained juice of the lemon, and pour the bread-crumbs softly in a heap upon the apples in the centre of the dish, and with the back of a spoon level them gently into a very smooth layer of equal thickness, pressing them lightly down upon the fruit, which must all be perfectly covered with them. ”

“ Pare, quarter, and slice three medium-sized tart apples. Peel, remove the seeds, and cut in quite fine pieces three oranges. Put the fruit in alternate layers in a glass dish. Sweeten a cupful of fresh or canned raspberry juice with the flavored sugar, and turn it over the fruit. Put the dish on ice to cool for a half hour before serving.
Grape Apples.—Sweeten a pint of fresh grape juice with a pint of sugar, and simmer gently until reduced one third. Pare and core without dividing, six or eight nice tart apples, and stew very slowly in the grape juice until tender, but not broken. ”

“ Try them with a fork, and when done, put them on a dish, and if sour fruit, grate white sugar over them. Sweet ones need to bake much longer than sour. Serve them in a saucer with cream, or a thin custard.
2. Take tart and large apples, and peel them; take the cores out with an apple corer, put them in a tin, and fill the openings with sugar, and a small bit of orange or lemon peel, or a bit of cinnamon. Scatter sugar over the top, and bake till done, but not till they lose their shape. Try with a fork. ”

“ A tart with a huge gap is an unsightly object, but it presents an altogether different appearance when the fruit is placed at the bottom of a glass dish, with the pastry cut in sections and arranged at equal distances on the top of it. ”

“ If nothing more remains, there are usually small scraps left over from the trimming of the edge. These should by all means be put to some good use, for the material is equally as good as that which has been used in the pie and there is no reason why it should be wasted.
24. TARTS.-A very good way in which to utilize these scraps is to make tarts of various kinds and shapes out of them. There are a number of attractive ways in which jam, jelly, marmalade, fruit butter, fresh fruits, apple sauce, stewed prunes, or other cooked or canned fruit may be utilized for the making of tarts. ”

“ Mode.—Make an apple tart by the preceding recipe, with the exception of omitting the icing. When the tart is baked, cut out the middle of the lid or crust, leaving a border all round the dish. Fill up with a nicely-made boiled custard, grate a little nutmeg over the top, and the pie is ready for table. This tart is usually eaten cold; is rather an old-fashioned dish, but, at the same time, extremely nice. ”

“ Taillevant speaks of cream, almonds, and rose-water, as the accompaniments of Darioles, a kind of custard; and of Talmouses, a sort of cheese-cake, made of cheese, eggs, and butter, coloured with the yolks of eggs. [XXIV_42]
Platina cites tarts made with radishes, quinces, gourds, elder-berry flowers, rice, oatmeal, millet, chesnuts, cherries, dates, May-herbs, roses, and, lastly, the white, or cream tart. ”

“ Tarts have been made in the same fashion at this Oxford college for several hundred years, in order, the cook explained, with a twinkle in his eye, that the students might get what they wanted, when they slipped down on a night tart raid. It is the nick in the edge that has told generations of students the contents of the tart; an apple has only one nick, a mince has two at each end, a gooseberry three, and so on until a student who has learned the rule can choose his favorite in the dark. ”

“ How did I like them?
"Well, my idea of an apple tart is that there should be so much lemon in it that it tastes of lemon rather than apple."
"Mine, too," she said. "I always put a lot of lemon in."
"And," I went on, "wherever the tart doesn't taste of lemon I like it to taste of cloves."
"I was just going to say the same. I always put in plenty of cloves."
"In short, the whole duty of a cook who is given an apple to cook is," I said, "to see that every scrap of the divine—of the flavour of the apple is smothered and killed." ”

“ Small tarts may, in this way, be baked empty, for patty-pans, and filled with ripe fruit, such as [472] strawberries, raspberries, or grated pine-apple, made very sweet, and creamed on the top—or you may fill the shells with any sort of sweetmeats, either preserves or marmalade, or with mince-meat. Shells may be made thus, and filled with stewed oysters, or reed-birds, cooked previously, and served up warm; or with nicely-dressed lobster. ”

“ Pick the stems out of your cherries and put them in an earthen crock, then set them in the oven until they get hot. Take them out and seed them. Make tarts with or without tops and sugar to your taste. The heating of the fruit gives the flavor of the seed, which is very rich, but the seeding of them while hot is not a delightful job. Made this way they need no water for juice.
SNOWBALLS Pare and core nice large baking apples, fill the holes with some preserves or jam, roil the apples in sugar and cover with a rich pie crust and bake. ”

“ Make a nice pie crust, raised with yeast, or not, as you desire; divide it into six parts, and roll each part thin; have ready six good-sized tart apples, pared and cored; fill up the cores with sugar and butter. Close the dough neatly around the apples, and turn that side down in a deep dish. If they are made with raised dough they should stand one hour; if with unleavened paste, sprinkle some sugar over them, also a little grounded cinnamon or other spice, and set them in the oven to bake. Spread a little batter over each of the dumplings as they go to the oven. ”

“ Take fair pippins and pare them, then cut them in quarters, core them and stew them, in claret-wine, whole cinamon, and slic’t ginger; stew them half an hour, then put them into a dish, and break them not, when they are cold, lay them one by one into the tart, then lay on some green cittern minced small, candied orange or coriander, put on sugar and close it up, bake it, and ice it, then scrape on sugar and serve it. ”

“ All sorts of fruits may be blended. Put them into a saucepan, and to each pint of this fruit allow one quart of water and a palatable seasoning of sugar, and you may flavor it with a little grated lemon or orange rind; bring to boiling point. During this time put one pint of flour into a bowl, add a half teaspoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of baking powder. Beat one egg until light, add to it a half cup of milk, then add this to the flour; there should be just enough to moisten and make a dough. ”

“ No. 2.—When a small part only of an open tart has been eaten, divide the remainder equally into triangular slices, place them at regular intervals round a dish, and then fill the intermediate spaces, and cover the tart entirely, with slightly-sweetened and well-drained whipped cream. ”

“ Fruits have affinities the same as human beings. Witness the excellent agreement of grape fruit and rum. Nothing else, not the finest liqueur, so brings out the flavor. But there are other fruits which, conjoined to the grape [213] fruit, make it more than ever delicious. Strawberries for example. They must be fine and ripe. Wash well, pick, wash again, halve if very large, and mix well in a bowl with grape fruit pulp, freed of skin and seed, and broken to berry size. Add sugar in layers, then pour over a tumbler of rum, let stand six hours on ice, and serve with or without cream. ”

“ When this has simmered long enough to extract all the flavor, and the parings are broken to pieces, strain off the water through a thick cloth. Put the quinces into the preserve-kettle when this water is almost cold, pour it over them and boil, stirring and mashing the fruit with a wooden spoon as it becomes soft. The juice of two oranges to every three pounds of the fruit imparts an agreeable flavor. When you have reduced all to a smooth paste, stir in a scant three-quarters of a pound of sugar for every pound of fruit; boil ten minutes more, stirring constantly. ”

“ Apple and Quince Tart.—Lay a disc of puff paste on a round tin, and place a strip of paste all round it as for an ordinary jam tart. Spread on the inside a layer of quince marmalade 1⁄4 in. thick. Peel and core some apples, cut them in slices 1⁄4 in. thick, trim all the slices to the same shape, dispose these slices over the marmalade, overlapping each other, and in some kind of pattern; strew plenty of sugar over, and bake in a quick oven till the apples are a good colour. ”

“ Meanwhile, stew the pumpkin, cut into dice, with a little water until tender. Add sugar and Lemon juice, and cover the paste, which should have been previously brushed over with white of egg, and bake the tart until the crust is done. ”

“ To make Smyrna Raisin Wine.
Take currants, both red and white, gooseberries, red and green, mulberries, raspberries, strawberries, of different sorts, cherries, but not little black ones, and grapes, red and white; all the fruits must be full ripe, and take an equal quantity of each; throw them into a tub, and bruise them lightly; take golden pippins and nonpareils, chop and bruise them well, and mix them with the others; to every two gallons of fruit put one gallon of spring water, and boil it all together twice a day for a fortnight ”

“ Sour apples, cranberries, and peaches, all make nice tarts. Stew, and strain them when soft. Peach tarts require a little lemon-juice, without they are sour. Grate in lemon peel, add brown sugar to the taste. Put in each pie one beaten egg, to make it cut smooth. Bake the pies on shallow plates, with an under crust and rim of pastry—ornament the pie with very small strips of pastry. When the crust is done, remove the pies from the oven. ”

“ Add grapes, halved and seeded, gooseberries, nibbed and washed, blackberries, peaches pared and quartered. Currants are best left out, but by no means slight plums. The big meaty sorts are best. Add as much sugar as fruit, and from time to time more brandy—there must be always enough to stand well above the fruit. Add spices also as the jar grows, and if almond flavor is approved, kernels of all the stone fruit, well blanched. Lay on a saucer or small plate, when the jar is full, to hold the fruit well under the liquor. ”

“ But, in such seasons as it has occurred to any one to go in for more extensive gardening, we rejoice in a profusion of carrots, turnips, parsnips, onions, taro, beet-root, and sundry other things.
Fruit can hardly be looked on as a food; it is merely an ornamental accessory to it, in our opinion. We are great fruit-consumers, but we look on such trifles as only refreshers for odd moments, and not as having anything to do with the serious business of eating. ”

“ The best are made from hard-skinned fruits, whose whole pulp is liquified by piercing the rind before the fruit is fully ripe, and closing the orifice with a wax-like substance, almost exactly according to a practice common in different parts of Asia. The drinks are made, of course, at home. The farinaceous fruits are sold to the confectioners, who take also a portion of the milk and all the meat supplied by the pastures. Many choice fruits grow on shrubs, ranging from the size of a large black currant tree to that of the smallest gooseberry bush. ”

“ It too frequently happens, however, that what fruits gain in size they lose in flavour. Every good judge of fruit is quite opposed to the idea of monster fruit, fish, flesh, or fowl; convinced that average-sized turbots, bullocks, turkeys, and fruits, are among the very best.
The dried fruits are, of course, never produced [227] at dessert, when fresh fruits can be obtained. A very common French dessert in the winter months is composed of almonds, raisins, and figs ”

“ If there is any objection to the appearance of the pudding, then a beaten white of egg can be spread over it just before removing from the oven.
German Apple Tart.—One and three-quarter pounds of apples, quarter of a pound of dates.
Peel, core, and cut the apples into small pieces, stone and quarter the dates, and put them in a pan with a very little water and stew till soft. Then stir in two tablespoonfuls of sugar, one ounce of butter, one teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, half a teaspoonful of ginger. Beat smooth, then turn out to cool. ”