Meh…

The tarte tatin was just so-so. The Pie and Pastry Bible method, which calls for macerating the fruit in sugar for half an hour to an hour, softens the fruit up so much that the apple slices are nearly reduced to applesauce by the time the whole thing’s over. I’ll give it this though, it had a more straightforward, honest apples-and-butter flavor than the caramelly versions I’m accustomed to. But then it was also flat as a pancake. I’d give it a B (because you can only go so wrong with that much butter).

Just for kicks I checked Julia Child’s recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking this morning, and was surprised to find it was similar in many ways to Rose Levy Berenbaum’s. No lengthy macerating, but a very long baking time which I surmise would produce a similar result. I guess this means I don’t like authentic tarte tatin as much as the bastardized caramel-and-firm-fruit American bistro versions. It’s just the kind of lawless maverick I am.