Dessert · Lamotte-Beuvron, France
Tarte tatin
Apples caramelized in the pan, baked under pastry and turned out upside down.
About the dish
Tarte tatin is an upside-down apple tart named after the Tatin sisters, who ran a hotel in Lamotte-Beuvron, south of Orléans, in the late 1800s. The popular story says it began as a mistake; whatever its start, the hotel made it famous.
Butter and sugar are cooked in an ovenproof pan until they form a caramel, and halved or quartered apples are packed in tightly and cooked until they soften and take on the color of the caramel. Firm apples that hold their shape work best, since soft ones collapse into sauce. A round of pastry is laid over the top and tucked around the apples, and the tart is baked until the pastry is crisp and golden.
After a short rest, a plate goes over the pan and the tart is turned out, so the pastry is underneath and the glossy apples are on top. It is turned out while still warm, before the caramel sets and sticks. The flavor is sweet with a pleasant bitterness from well-darkened caramel, the apples’ own acidity and the richness of butter. Crème fraîche is the classic partner.
Written from general cooking knowledge, as background on a dish from the game’s recipe book. It is not a tested recipe.
The flavors it leans on
Tarte tatin in Night Kitchen
In the game, Tarte tatin is a dessert in the recipe book. A plate is named Tarte tatin when it holds these cards and is cooked with exactly these techniques, with at most one extra ingredient.
Ingredients
- Apples
- Brown sugar
- Flour
Techniques
- Caramelize
- Bake
How those cards taste
Cooked from just these cards for an average ticket, before tonight’s mood and quirks, it would please Theo (2 stars), Odile (2 stars) and Hattie (2 stars) most.
“Apples in caramel, pastry on top, flipped over at the end. Upside down and right side up.”
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