Day 2: Let's get sTARTed

    With all of the preparation work I did yesterday, creating the shell, cream, and jam for the tart, I decided it was probably best to learn about the history of this classy dessert and also the many variations. 

First, what makes a tart a tart, and not a pie, for example? Well it turns out the difference between a pie and a tart is somewhat muddled, and depending on where you are in the world you will get a different answer. Tarts are generally shallow and open faced pastries. They only have the shell on the bottom or the sides, and the fillings are baked only lightly, if at all. Modern tarts are generally sweet with fillings of fruit or custard. When you get a savory tart, it would probably be classified as a quiche, which are almost always savory and tend to have an egg and milk based filling. Pies can have crusts on the top and bottom, just a lattice crust on top, or just a bottom crust and can be sweet or savory, ranging from an American classic like apple pie, to savory flavors like mince meat or chicken pot pie.

Another difference can be found in the crust. 

Pie crusts use butter or shortening and sometimes vodka, while tarts have a more crumbly traditional pastry dough. Tarts are thought of as intricate and beautiful, even served on their own plates, while pies are more humble and served straight from the dish. Of course all of these differentiations are not always the case and there can be lots of crossovers. Tarts can be called pies and pies can be called tarts and it can all get pretty confusing, so here are the Oxford English definitions I’m going to stick with: 

• Tart - An open pastry case containing a sweet or savory filling.
  
  

• Pie - A baked dish of fruit or meat and/or vegetables with pastry on the bottom, sides and top.
  
  

Okay, now that we’ve clarified the difference, on to the history! 

Pies have a very long history, starting with the Egyptians who used pies as a method of keeping the flavor in their meats as they cooked. When using clay ovens, the food could often be burned or get messy, so they would encase them with a thick crust (called a coffin--referring to its contents being dead) made of flour to keep the meat and flavor contained. Almost everything was baked as a pie using this method because it was neater and helped preserve the food for long periods of time. The coffins would be extremely thick to withstand the hours of cooking time and were only eaten by very poor people. It wasn’t really thought of as a part of the dish, and acted more as a container. This method remained common for many years, with small differentiations in what was used for the coffin depending on the region. The Greeks started to transform the coffin into more of a pastry using flour and water and passed this method along to the Romans. Around 1450, was the first time the word pie was used to describe this method, coming from the word “magpie,” since this bird was known for collecting things in its nest, similar to the way the coffins collected the meat and flavors inside. Even with a more distinct crust, the majority of pies around the world were savory. 

    When The Pilgrims arrived in America, the pies they brought were meat based, and the filling was the only part that was eaten. It was closer to the 18th century when sweet pies were catching on, and the flaky crust became an important part of the pastry. It was not until the 1880’s that the first tart was believed to be created. According to the legend, the two Tatin sisters owned and operated a hotel, and at the time of the creation, one of the sisters was in the kitchen completely overwhelmed. Her specialty was an apple pie, which she was planning to make, but in her haste she put it in the oven without a crust, and rushed to throw the crust on top. She also left the pie in the oven for too long, accidentally caramelizing the apples in the sugar. Despite this, she served it to the guests as a tart, with only the crust on the bottom and it was a huge success, and hence, the tart Tatin was born. 

Since then, tarts have grown to have a variety of other fillings, but are thought of as a fancier dessert than a pie, without regard to the similarity in their origins. 

The tart that I assembled today had many modern elements to it. It has a simple butter crust, called a Pâte Brisée, with pâte referring to the butter, and brisée coming from the verb briser meaning to shatter or break, because the crust crumbles so easily. The tart has two fillings, the first of which is the strawberry jam, which is derived from the popularity of the fruit fillings. The pastry cream, which is the other filling, is an extremely common ingredient in French pastries, made from egg yolks, milk, and sugar. It is used in cream puffs, eclairs and in some cakes, and is known for its versatility of uses and fluffy texture. On top of these two layers are the strawberries, which are brushed with a nappage. A nappage is a simple glaze made from sugar and pectin that is brushed over the fruit to make it shiny and also prevent it from drying out. 

One small problem I encountered today was on creating the nappage. It is supposed to use an NH pectin, which is a special pectin that can be heated, cooled and reheated. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find, so I tried to make the nappage using normal pectin. Although it created a glaze, it did not have the same thickness or gloss, but nonetheless the tart ended up beautiful. 

After assembling the tart, my family helped me immediately get to work on taste testing! Although the presentation didn’t look quite the same as it did in the picture, I’d like to think the taste was similar. The jam was a sweet but slightly tart base, which paired perfectly with the rich cream and fresh strawberries. The crust was the part that I would say could have used the most improvement, and I’m thinking maybe a few more minutes in the oven would’ve done the trick. Don’t get me wrong, it was still delicious and buttery, but the crunch was not quite as satisfying as I had hoped. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful dessert and I was very pleased with my first ever tart, and one that undoubtedly shows the classic and elegant look and taste of a French pastry.