Apple Tarts

I've made this recipe quite a few times. Actually, it's my favorite period dessert recipe. I've made it for feasts, elevations, pot-luck dinners; I've made it in a commercial kitchen, home kitchen, and in a camp stovetop oven. The recipe is very forgiving to the environment, which can't be said for a lot of baking.

You can substitute pears with apples, you can mix up the spices a bit, you can substitute other dried fruits. There is so much flexibility here, you can make this dessert for nearly any allergy.

First, let's talk through the recipe. I found this recipe originally in Pleyn Delit, Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks, by Constance B. Hieatt. Though, it's found originally in The Forme of Cury, A Roll of Ancient English Cookery, compiled around 1390 by teh Master Cooks of King Richard III.

Tartys In Applis Tak gode Applys and gode Spycis and Figys and reysons and Perys and wan they are wel ybrayed coloure wyth Safroun wel and do yt in a cofyn and do yt forth to bake wel.

Roughly: take good apples and good spices and figs and raisins and pears and when they are well broken up, color with saffron and do it in a coffin (pastry shell) and do it forth to bake well.

Quick side note: The Forme of Cury frequently uses the phrase, "...bray hem in a morter..." By this, you can conclude braying is crushing or breaking up, like in a mortar & pestle.

Below is the recipe as published in Pleyn Delit:

Ingredients 2 lb tart apples, optional: substitute 1-2 very firm pears
1/2  cup dried figs or prunes, stoned & chopped
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup sugar (brown, white, or a combination)
1/4 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, salt
1/8 tsp ground cloves
pinch saffron
pastry for one pie shell Directions Peel and core apples (and pears, if used) and chop: pieces must be much smaller than the slices used in a normal apple pie today. Or, put all the fruit (fresh & dried) through the course blade of a meat grinder. Put the fruits in prepared pastry shell; mix sugar and spices and spread them over. Cover the tart with a sheet of aluminum foil; bake about 45 minutes at 375 deg, removing the foil cover towards end of cooking time.

Now, the subject of a medieval pie crust (cofyn) is definitely a deep topic, but we won't get into that today.