No-one does saucy tarts better than the French. While I’m referring to the culinary variety, I can’t help thinking of the other kind. If there was a prize for the sauciest French tart in that category, it would have to go to Shirley MacLaine who starred in the 1963 movie Irma La Douce (Irma the Sweet). I remember being captivated by her signature green stockings and searching futilely across town to find some (which my mother, deeply suspicious of anything offbeat, would have forbidden me to wear even if I had).

Rather in the vein of Pretty Woman, Irma becomes redeemed through the love of a good man and presumably exchanges the green stockings for an apron.

As I mentioned in my post French desserts a couple of years ago, my passion for sweet things is unbridled and only grows more voracious with age. And it’s the French we must thank for creating the sweetest of sweet things. Not surprising when you consider that in France, dessert cuisine, especially pâtisserie, is a strictly regulated component of la cuisine Française, a discipline which represents the culmination of centuries of history, culinary knowledge, tradition and culture. 

A classic French dessert that’s rich in history and also an example of the happy synergy between crisp, buttery pastry and luscious golden bronze caramel is Tarte Tatin. Basically it’s an upside down caramelised apple tart and while it’s not difficult to prepare, it does demand a certain precision and care in composition. While I’ve always been intrigued by it, until recently I hadn’t tried to cook it.

Rich as it is in taste, its history is even richer, to the extent that you can’t talk about it without referring to its varied stories of origin. Popularly accepted wisdom is that the dish owes its genesis to two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin, who, in the 19^th century, ran a hotel-restaurant in a village called Lamotte-Beuvron in the Loire-et-Cher region, 169km south of Paris. (The establishment still exists under the name “La Maison Tatin”.)

There are two stories about what happened, both based, perhaps unfairly, on culinary blunders committed by Stéphanie, who was the cook. Allegedly, one day, under pressure, she botched an apple pie by forgetting the apples she’d left simmering in butter and sugar. Alerted by the smell of burning, she quickly slapped the pastry base over the charred apples and popped the dish into the oven. Once cooked and inverted onto a plate – voilà – an upside-down tart which was a big hit with her guests. The second version has it that she succeeded in getting her apples into the pie dish but forgot to line it with dough first. She did remember the top however and once the “pie” was baked, flipped it over.

Despite the charming idea that something magical came out of a mess, both scenarios seem pretty implausible to me. Any cook worth her salt would know charred apples and overcooked caramel would taste terrible, and an experienced cook forgetting the pastry base for an apple pie? Unthinkable. The more likely provenance of the dish is that it originated with the tarte solognote, a much earlier specialty of the Sologne region adjacent to Lamotte-Beuvron.

Antoine Carême, the 19th century French chef widely considered to be the very first celebrity chef, also made mention of gâteaux renversés glacés au caramel made with apples in his book Pâtissier Royal Parisien published in 1815.

Legends aside, the consensus among food historians is that it was the celebrated restaurant critic Maurice Edmond Sailland, known as Curnonsky, the Prince of Gastronomy, who in true Michelin style included the dish in his regional travel guide, “Gastronomic France: Guide to the Culinary Marvels and the Good Inns of France”, describing it as “the famous apple or pear tart from the demoiselles Tatin of La Motte-Beuvron”. Allegedly this resulted in its inclusion on the menu at the illustrious Maxim’s in Paris.

The first published recipe for the dish is attributed to Paul Besnard from the Sologne region who included it in a 1921 article in a local newspaper from the city of Blois, located on the banks of the Loire River (Blois, Loire-et-Cher).

Once set on making my first ever Tarte Tatin, I went looking for a recipe online. Entering “tarte tatin” into a search engine will yield around five million results, so if there is, in fact, one authentic version, it will be hard to find. Julien Mainguy, a gourmand based in Vancouver, claims on the website “Best of France” that his version is the one. I was interested to see he uses puff pastry, while the traditional French recipe calls for a form of shortcrust called pâte brisée (meaning ‘broken pastry’). This is richer and more elastic than standard shortcrust and so doesn’t crack when pressed down over the apples. It also copes better with the hot caramel. stays crisp after flipping and is easier to slice. Ingredients include flour, cold butter, salt and ice water. 

Puff and shortcrust pastry have the advantage in that frozen ready-made versions are readily available from supermarkets, while you have to make pâte brisée yourself (although it’s easy – if I can do it, anyone can!)

Naturally, among the several million recipes, there are several million variations in everything from the variety of apples recommended, to whether the baked tart should be left to cool in its dish before upending or whipped out straight away. In other words, it’s largely a matter of trial and error, or experimenting until you achieve that elusive result, Tarte Tatin perfection.

While this isn’t a recipe blog, I loved this tart so much I feel obliged to pass on how I made it, so you can enjoy it too.

Pastry (Pâte Brisée)

Ingredients

• 200 g plain (all-purpose) flour
• 2 g fine salt (½ tsp)
• 10 g caster sugar (2 tsp)
• 120 g cold unsalted butter, cut into 1–1.5 cm cubes
• 55–65 ml ice-cold water (start with 55 g; add more only if needed)
• 5 g lemon juice or white vinegar (1 tsp)

Instructions

1. Whisk flour, salt and sugar together in a bowl
2. Incorporate cold butter, either by hand or in a food processor until you have a mixture of fine crumbs and some larger pea-sized flakes
3. Mix together the iced water and lemon juice, then slowly drizzle in until the dough just comes together
4. Place the dough on a floured work surface, then using the heel of your hand, smear portions of the dough forward a couple of times which elongates the butter into thin, flat sheets, resulting in a flakier pastry
5. Gather the dough together and form into a 2cm thick disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably more
6. Roll into a circle 2-3 cm larger than the diameter of the pan you plan to use
7. Chill again for 15-20 minutes

Filling

Ingredients

• 6 Granny Smith apples
• 150g caster sugar
• 60g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Half vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste (optional)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C
2. Peel, core and quarter the apples
3. Toss with lemon juice to stop browning while making the caramel
4. Use a heavy, cast iron, ovenproof skillet (24cm)
5. Add sugar to skillet in an even layer over medium heat
6. Let it melt from the edges in, without stirring
7. Once the sugar is almost all melted, gently swirl the pan
8. Add lemon juice and vanilla bean or paste if using
9. Lower the heat and add butter cubes
10. Swirl the pan until the mixture is smooth, well combined and a deep amber colour
11. Insert the apples, cut side up, arranged snugly in concentric circles. The pan should be crowded as the apples will shrink on cooking
12. Cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes until the apples are tender and the caramel is thick and glossy. Turn the apples in the caramel so they’re well coated
13. Turn the apples again so they’re cut side up and reposition tightly in the pan
14. Let the mixture cool
15. Lay the chilled pastry over the apples, tucking in excess around the sides to enclose the apples
16. Make a vent in the top
17. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is deep golden and caramel is bubbling up around the edges
18. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes
19. Run a spatula around the edges of the pastry to loosen it
20. Place a plate upside down over the pan and, holding the skillet in both hands (it will still be hot so use oven mitts or a tea towel) invert quickly. Shake the pan slightly then lift off. The tart should come out smoothly with the glossy, caramel coated apples sitting neatly on the pastry.
21. Serve with Crème fraîche, ordinary cream, or icecream.

Apples

Many recipes recommend Granny Smiths as the best apple, because they hold together well when cooked, and their tartness marries well with the sweetness of the caramel. Others suggest Pink Lady or Honey Crisp because their slightly sweeter floral flavour adds depth, but you can pretty much use any firm fleshed apple. When adding them to the pan, pack them in very tightly, as they will shrink when cooking.

Most recipes say to peel and cut the apples into quarters, however those that prefer halving say the larger pieces create a thicker tart with a better visual impact. All agree however on the crucial importance of a snug fit. Where there are gaps, smaller pieces of apple can be used to fill them.

Caramel

There’s considerable diversity as to which caramel making method is best – either wet (mixing sugar and water together before melting), dry (melting sugar alone), adding butter last, or melting butter first. Some recipes also recommend adding a small amount of corn or golden syrup. Whichever method you choose, you should refrain from stirring the caramel once it starts bubbling otherwise it will start to crystallise. You can swirl the pan to ensure even heating. Let the caramel cook until it’s deep amber in colour and syrupy. You should be able to see a visible track when you drag a spoon through the mixture. Pale caramel results in an overly sweet result.

Some recipes indicate that once the caramel is done and the apples added, the dish should be covered with pastry and put in the oven immediately to bake. Others say this can result in the apples not being cooked enough when the tart comes out of the oven. The majority recommend allowing the apples to simmer in the caramel on the stove top until tender before baking.

Optional additions to the apple/caramel mix are vanilla, salt, lemon juice, cinnamon and Calvados (French apple brandy)

It’s best to let the apple/caramel mix cool to room temperature before covering to better preserve the layers of butter in the pastry.

Cooking container

I used a cast iron skillet, but any heavy based pan will do so long as it can withstand stove top cooking as well as cooking in the oven.

While I had a lot of fun discovering everything I could about this dish, I can’t say I mastered it, although I did have two goes. My first try tasted delicious but the caramel  didn’t come out as dark or syrupy as it’s supposed to. I also used pre-made puff pastry which resulted in a too chewy and harder to slice result.

With the second try, I used the dry caramel making method and this resulted in a much darker and thicker caramel, and a richer taste. I used Granny Smith apples which I think are the best variety for this dish. I made my own pastry (as in the recipe above) and this was far better as it came out crispy and easy to slice.

If, like me, you become inspired by the intriguing history of this dish to the extent of making it yourself, I hope you love it too.