*Tarte Tatin

from Is This a Cookbook?: Adventures in the Kitchen (page 332) by Heston Blumenthal

SWMBO brought home a kilo or so of these apples. Other than they are home grown in the Southern Highlands and quite tarte, I am not sure what variety of apples they are. Possibly Granny Smith with a fungal disease.

My first attempt at making a tarte Tatin (so named after the Tatin sisters of Hôtel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, Loir-et-Cher).

I mixed Lurpac unsalted Butter and unrefined raw sugar (the one below) in a frypan with a star anise and slowly melted the butter and sugar.

Then adding apple quarters wedge side up, and basted them in the sugar syrup (to prevent the apples oxidising).

Now the bit that I am unsure about: “Cook until the mixture is bubbling and turns light golden. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool completely.” Certainly the bubbling happened and the colour turned light golden, but it was not caramelised. Even completely cooled the syrup was only slightly set.

At this stage I transported the cold pan to where we were having lunch.

Added a sheet ofCareme all butter puff pastry, tucking it into the sides of the pan,

and baked in their oven (probably a little too much fan forced hot air)

Flip upside down, and served with thickened cream (which I had left over from the pasta dish the other night)

Delicious!

Having cooked it Heston’s way (which was very simple) I looked at other methods and there seems to be a great deal of difference in the cooking methods, and stage of caramelisation.