The Tarte Tatin Topic

[curlywurlyfi]

dammit, now I'm going to have to make a red onion Tarte Tatin,  served warm with salad,for a summer evening supper.

hear hear. One of the Books For Cooks compendia has a fantastic recipe for slow roast tomato tarte tatin with shallots and parmesan. which I would (a) attribute more precisely and (b) go into further details over IF ALL MY BLOODY COOKBOOKS WEREN'T IN A DEPOT IN ESSEX.

wooo, rant over, more coffee now.

I think it's important (and simpler) to cook the apples and sugar butter together - preferably in a straight-sided saute pan - that way you get an apple flavoured caramel, rather than caramel with apples.

Actually, I'm going to disagree with you on this one. If you make it with sufficient water-based caramel and then dot the butter over separately, the apples cook in the caramel and are beautifully translucent, then the butter melds with the remaining caramel and lo, you have sauce. But I do completely agree about the caramel. Must be live-on-the-edge verging on burnt. Mmmm.

And, of course, the whole thing to be served with cream, "to cut the richness" (© Fi's Mama, circa all of her life).

Fi

[MobyP]

I think it's important (and simpler) to cook the apples and sugar butter together - preferably in a straight-sided saute pan - that way you get an apple flavoured caramel, rather than caramel with apples.

Actually, I'm going to disagree with you on this one. If you make it with sufficient water-based caramel and then dot the butter over separately, the apples cook in the caramel and are beautifully translucent, then the butter melds with the remaining caramel and lo, you have sauce. But I do completely agree about the caramel. Must be live-on-the-edge verging on burnt. Mmmm.

And, of course, the whole thing to be served with cream, "to cut the richness" (© Fi's Mama, circa all of her life).

Fi

Ok - first of all - you're not allowed to disagree with me because I'm very very important around here, and with a snap of my fingers... well, let's not find out what would happen, shall we?

Secondly, we might have to have a competition. And when I say competition I mean a highly scientific and well-moderated objective doo-dad where I leave you begging for mercy at the very perfection of my tart. Hmm, that didn't sound quite right. Still, it's the feeling that counts. Ok, maybe not. (And that last one you had wasn't my best game, so I demand at very least a rematch!)

Tarka-the-judge is off to Chicago for a month. Now I'm not saying I'm competitive, but who'd be on for a death battle of tarte tatins? How do we arrange it? How do we judge it without going into insulin shock?

And it has to be cox apples. Their main benefit is their sturdiness. They're not over-sweet, and hold-up under high temperatures.

[MobyP]

Jackal - could you give us your red onion tarte tatin recipe? That sounds amazing. I've done it with endive before. How long (and at what temp) do you cook the onions?

[curlywurlyfi]

Now I'm not saying I'm competitive

oooooh such lies.

And it has to be cox apples.

are you setting out this morning to provoke me? Braeburns! Braeburns!

How do we judge it without going into insulin shock?

God, Moby, who cares? I'm in! you can lay in the insulin supplies and the pancreas massager, I'll bring the cream and extra sugar and butter.

Fi

[MobyP]

And it has to be cox apples.

are you setting out this morning to provoke me? Braeburns! Braeburns!

Braeburns? Braeburns! You dare to insult my grandmother?!? My family crossed the Russian Steppes to bring me to this country and you say Braeburns!!

Right - now where do I get those illicit insulin medical supplies. I know nothing about anyone who would agree to massage a pancreas.

[culinary bear]

I've had good results with Coxes - the New Zealand season is in full swing and they're fairly tasty, but they don't have the aniseed overtones of a november English Cox.

I have had to physically restrain the pastry chef at work from using Golden Delicious, or worse, Bramleys. The prole.

I find Braeburns get a little mushy, and Gala, PInk Lady and Fuji are just plain wrong in a tatin.

One presumes for authenticity's sake that Orleans Reinettes might be a good choice?

Moby - There's a good red onion tatin recipe in Jean-Christophe Novelli's "Your Place or Mine"...

[MobyP]

One presumes for authenticity's sake that Orleans Reinettes might be a good choice?

Have you found these in the UK?

[culinary bear]

I have, but only in Kent - I can't remember the name of the company which supplies them.

I'm off to Rungis Market iin Paris in a few weeks; I'll see what I can find there.

Edited June 8, 2004 by culinary bear (log)

[CheGuevara]

Jackal -  could you give us your red onion tarte tatin recipe? That sounds amazing. I've done it with endive before. How long (and at what temp) do you cook the onions?

please - that does sound excellent. the onion tarte tatin i'm referring to.

my onion tarts are always traditionally made - dough, then cooked ingredients. there is something about the sweetness of onions with cream and egg and salt and pepper.....this is no day to be inside this office!

i'd be up for a tarte tatin pgi-out - is location a problem?

curly - if its any consolation - i've had everything stuck in storage for nearly 5 weeks now.....i'm almost sleeping inside my suitcase by now.

-che

edit: can't find my way inside a message field

Edited June 8, 2004 by CheGuevara (log)

[kitwilliams]

*howls with anguish*

heresy!

how on earth can you contemplate cooking the pastry separately?

*keening noise*

that's akin to making a stew by making the gravy and then tossing pre-cooked lumps of beef in it and warming it through before serving.

You can howl with frustration all you want, I truly feel guilty about it too as I am usually a stickler for tradition, but not so guilty that I won't do it again and again. I want my pastry crispy to begin with and then the apple-y caramel begins to ooze and soften it up a bit. You'll never have a tough little undone spot of puff pastry in the middle of your Tarte Tatin.

If I were in London, I'd sign up for Moby's competition in a heartbeat and show all of you how good it is. Also, you then wouldn't need anyone else to bring all the insulin suppies because I'm a type one diabetic and will have plenty with me!

[curlywurlyfi]

perhaps we can have a similar thing to the Costco-a-go-go cook off - pick a date when eGulls throughout the land band together in small groups for a pan-UK tatin cook-off. Then retire wounded four hours later, several stone heavier and lightly fragranced with apples and butter. Post the photos and comments on the morrow. Bags me at Moby's house. Let him put his pippins where his mouth is.

we'd have to have a really snappy name. Tatination For The Nation? The Tarty Party? (Obviously neither of these ARE snappy, but I'm pointing you in the general direction.)

[culinary bear]

Documented on film by Jacques Tati(n)? :)

Edited June 8, 2004 by culinary bear (log)

[curlywurlyfi]

Documented on film by Jacques Tati(n)? :)

and perhaps Gwyneth Paltrow's new baby can have a starring role.

[culinary bear]

You know why Gwyneth called her Apple, yes?

She spent nine months in cider.

*hides*

[YKL]

yet again, another thread to remind me why eG is the most joyous of all my web discoveries! ever!

perhaps we can have a similar thing to the Costco-a-go-go cook off - pick a date when eGulls throughout the land band together in small groups for a pan-UK tatin cook-off.  Then retire wounded four hours later, several stone heavier and lightly fragranced with apples and butter.  Post the photos and comments on the morrow.  Bags me at Moby's house.  Let him put his pippins where his mouth is.

Hmmm ... my difficulty with the above is that I feel that you do need actual tasting to get the full effect, and for a fair judgement. So, if there is need for a roving taste martyr ... could I possibly put my name forward? or at least can I carry Tarka's bags since she would obviously be first choice.

Living in Leeds means I could be in London in a few hours, or northwards up the A1 for the north east or Scotland. Might even be prepared to cross the pennines if there is decent tatin there. and with my mum in Birmingham, could also make use of excellent transport networks there. Oh yes, and I'm a greedy gannet - is that suitable qualification?

Actually - all this is making me think I should be brave and attempt my first tatin this weekend. Was looking at my cookbooks last night, and apart from all the suggestions here, seem to remember that I have teh Ramsay and Tamasin Day Lewis recipes. and possibly even the Roux brothers one somewhere. hmm ....

[MobyP]

Be bold and great forces will come to your aid!

[culinary bear]

YKL - one of the best tatin recipes I've come across was in Alastair Little's "Keep it Simple"... pretty foolproof.

[curlywurlyfi]

i'd be up for a tarte tatin pgi-out - is location a problem?

where are you? because I too can travel! Fi - Prepared To Go The Extra Mile (If There Are Butter Apples + Pastry Involved).

I'm getting keener and keener on this idea. woo yeah. if we're really serious, what about 17 or 18 July? And where is Tarka, the Tatin Tarte?

[MobyP]

I think the thing that trips up most first timers is not (as Rowley Leigh says) being brave enough. You really have to let that caramel head towards the deep golds and early browns before you throw it in the oven with the pastry.

[YKL]

YKL - one of the best tatin recipes I've come across was in Alastair Little's "Keep it Simple"... pretty foolproof.

Oh S***! I have that book as well!

and since I am working away this week, thought I'd bring a couple of my latest books for cooks compendia for reading in the evening so will see if they are the ones with the tomato one curlywurlyfi refers to ...

Anyway - point of this new note was to suggest a crap title for the competition (can't do snappy or stylish) - how about .....

Tarte Tatin Titans?

[culinary bear]

Clash of the Tatins?

[curlywurlyfi]

I Am Happily Being Appley?

[curlywurlyfi]

Clash of the Tatins?

that is magic

[CheGuevara]

Clash of the Tatins?

nice one - immediately rcognizable.

i'm in for this cook-off....wherever, whenever...so long as it's not over the week of the 17-27 june as i'll be way down sout in motherland...that reminds me, we have seriously good apples down there....:)

i can bring a pan if needed - unfortunately the oven is a bit more complicated. will we draw straws for "oven usage order"?

-che

[Suzi Edwards]

Right - now where do I get those illicit insulin medical supplies. I know nothing about anyone who would agree to massage a pancreas.

i'll bet a few people on here would eat one though.

i am so excited about this. however i see my dream of being a uk size twelve slipping still further away...

i'm back in the UK 2nd week of july but am more than happy to do a tatin tasting in chicago in the interim :-)

it's just give, give, give with me you know.