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. 

I Came for the Clothing; I Stayed for the People.

Greetings and salutations! Before we explore all of the fascinating exploits of this modern Elizabethan, let me tell you a bit about myself.

I am Lady Olivia Baker of the Barony of Concordia of the Snows of the East Kingdom of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). I was introduced to the SCA in August of 2007. It was pitched to me as, "a place where we can dress up year-round!" You see, before I found the SCA, I was a renaissance festival patron (commonly referred to as a "Rennie"). I had these lovely Elizabethan outfits that I would get to wear once or twice/year and I wanted more. So, I happily attended my first event, Harper's Retreat, in the Barony of Stonemarche (in NH), wearing one of my aforementioned outfits. Some people were kind and complementary. Others just stared in disgust at the audacity of someone to wear such an outspoken frock. Overall, the positive outweighed the negative, so I attended several more events and eventually found Concordia.

I came for the clothing. I stayed for the people.

So, then, what is it that makes me tick? What keeps my fires burning? It all starts with the clothing. When I first stepped into the SCA, it was my love of the dramatic Elizabethan style that brought me. I make all of the clothing I wear, as well as my hats. Sewing and embroidery are my home. They are where it all began.

My second flame is music. Music makes my soul fly. It brings light where there is dark. It paints my sepia life in technicolor. To say that I love to sing would be a gross understatement. I don't love to sing. I live to sing; I sing to live. It's said that when an artist paints, he leaves bits of his soul on the canvas. When I sing, my soul echoes through the rafters. It's a gift I have not previously shared freely. Though, now that I'm Concordia's Bardic Champion, I suppose I will have to share it upon the request of our new Baron and Baroness.

Last, but never least, I am, by trade, a baker. I own a bakery in Albany, NY. While I am not classically trained in the art and science, I have learned through many years of working in kitchens, starting as a dishwasher and ending as a pastry chef. I have just recently begun venturing into the realm of period pastry. You should expect to see a great deal more on this in the future.

In all that I do, there is one common thread: beauty. It's been said that I have an aptitude for creating beauty in all things. I can take the purely mundane and make it extraordinary. I can transform the extraordinary into the exquisite. The lily is stunning on its own. I gild it.

So, there you have it. I have laid the primer. What will come next? Walk with me and we shall learn together.