The restaurant of two sisters
The Sologne. Magnificent land of forest. La Motte Beuvron, in the department of Loiret. The home of two sisters who run a restaurant: the Tatin sisters. Caroline and Stéphanie. And the business was doing well at the end of the 19th century. So much so that they were overwhelmed. Especially Stéphanie who cooks. Caroline was always pressing her. Notably, that day, when she bursts into the kitchen shouting that the dessert must be served to the customers who are waiting too long.
There are two explanations.
Stephanie is stressed. She wants to make the dessert very quickly and rushes with an apple pie to the oven. The pie falls on the floor. And, caught by time, Stephanie has a reflex. She picks up the apples, places them in the dish, adds a little butter and covers the dish with the pastry that was originally underneath.
On the left Caroline, on the right Stéphanie TATIN source : wikipedia
The second option is more romantic. While Caroline is struggling to serve the customers in the dining room, Stephanie is in the kitchen flirt with a pretty boy. The guy is so talented that she forgets to prepare the dessert. So she improvises to make a quick dessert. She takes some apples and browns them in a pan, puts some butter on them and covers them with a pie crust she had prepared.
In both cases, the customers taste it. They love it. And the Tatin sisters' pie became famous. That's what success is all about! History does not say if Stéphanie did her little sensual business with the pretty heart... ù
Une tarte Tatin / photo par Mariko151825/Shutterstock.com
The recipe for the Tarte Tatin
The ingredients
- 8 apples (golden, boskoop or queen of kidney)
- 1 roll of puff pastry
- 100 grams of powdered sugar
- 100 grams of butter
- 2 packets of vanilla sugar
- 1 or 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Une tarte Tatin / photo par margouillat photo/Shutterstock.com
The process
- Start by preheating the oven to 180 degrees.
- Wash then peel your apples, removing the seeds well.
- Melt the 100 grams of butter in a pan, and add the sugar while mixing, you will obtain a caramel when it will make big bubbles.
- Leave the caramel at the bottom.
- On a low heat, place your apple pieces on top (be careful, it's hot!) making a kind of rosette.
- Let the apples cook a little with the caramel
- Sprinkle it all with the vanilla sugar.
- Remove from heat.
- Cover your pan with the puff pastry roll.
- Put in the oven for 40 minutes and watch the pastry, it will be all golden when it is ready.
- Take the pie out and wait 5 minutes.
- Turn out gently.
- Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Tips
You can add a little bit of cinnamon to add flavor. You can also use this steaming method for other original tatins, for example in a savory version with endives.
Please excuse our translator if there are some mistakes. We saw it coming out of the café a little while ago...
