HFF 4.16: First Fruit

The Challenge: First Fruit-- Cook with fruit or the first fruits of the harvest.

The Recipe: Rhubarb Tart from Practical American Cookery and Domestic Economy (1860)

RHUBARB TART. Take some stalks of a good size remove the thin skin and cut them in pieces four or five inches long; place them in a dish and pour over a thin syrup of sugar and water cover with another dish and simmer slowly for an hour upon a hot hearth; or do them in a block tin saucepan. Allow it to cool, and then make it into a tart; when tender the baking the crust will be sufficient. A tart may be made by cutting the stalks into pieces the size of gooseberries and making it the same way as gooseberry tart. [The gooseberry tart is just 'put whole gooseberries or gooseberry preserves into a crust, and by implication add sugar to the whole fruit because we mention it being easier to get right by using preserves'.]

Most of the tart receipts in this book are sparse, so I looked to the most detailed one for reference:

APPLE TART. Use good tart apples. Peel slice and stew them with a teacup each of water and sugar to a quart of sliced apples add half a nutmeg grated a saltspoon full of salt and a little grated lemon peel or lemon extract or half a teaspoon full of ground cinnamon; set them to become cold; line small pie plates with rich pie or light puff paste; put in the stewed apples half an inch deep; roll out some of the paste, wet it over slightly with the yolk of an egg beaten with a little milk and a teaspoon full of sugar, cut in strips the width of a finger and lay it in bars or diamonds across the tart; lay another strip around the edge trim off the outside neatly with a sharp knife and bake it in a quick oven until the paste loosens from the dish. Tarts may be made of other fruits and sweatmeats in a similar manner 

The Date/Year and Region: I opted for the 'stew the rhubarb' technique, though I did cut the fruit into smaller (~1")  pieces, because I have issues with variable texture pie/tart fillings and wanted it as homogenous as possible. As the 'thin syrup' is not defined, I used 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup granulated sugar to simmer the cut pieces of 4 rhubarb stalks (each approximately 24"). 

While that was cooking down, I prepared a puff paste using the only receipt in the book (the one for pasties) at a 1/2 scale: 1/2 lb flour and 1/2 lb butter (half salted half not) with 3/4 c of water. I worked half the butter into the flour until crumbly, then added the water gradually and kneaded with a very light hand. It was still a bit floury when I started rolling it out and folding the rest of the butter (in thin slices) into the paste, but eventually came together.

I cut a round of paste large enough for a pie tin, and then cut small shapes from the remainder; both of these baked 20 minutes at 350F. Once cool, I strained the excess liquid off the rhubarb, poured it into the tart crust and made a top 'crust' using the cooked paste shapes. This is a variant I've seen in other books (and 'paste for edging dishes' does appear here, so decorating with paste is on the writer's radar), which I chose to use because it allows both top and bottom crust to be baked in advance.

Time to Complete: 1 hour simmer the rhubarb, 10 minutes to roll out a puff paste, and 20 minutes to cook it, 5 minutes to assemble.

Total Cost: *mumble*

How Successful Was It?: Better than similar dishes I've attempted. The texture of the rhubarb is fine, and the taste tart (I'd be tempted to double the sugar next time as an experiment). Considering all the extra liquid, I'd also be tempted to use less water to start. I though the crust looked a little too big for the amount of filling, and would consider using an extra stalk or two next time, but the proportion of rhubarb to paste is working for me, so perhaps not. The crust turned out perfectly, though I think an extra minute cooking time would please a broader audience.

All told, this made up easily without being boring and tastes nice. I will be adding it to my repertoire, in the event that rhubarb every makes an appearance at a cooking event. 

How Accurate Is It?: I mixed salted and unsalted butter (ran out), but as both are mentioned in the paste receipt, I think that's alright. The top crust I already explained, and think is within period norms. The receipt didn't mention other spices or flavorings (unlike the apple tart), so I didn't add any, but I think it worked just fine.

Rhubarb Tart. The color is a little more appealing in real life.