preserved stuff

Apple Sauce Tart or “To make a Tarte of preserued stuffe.”

Standard

I discussed this redaction with people on the Facebook SCA Cooks group because I think there is a lot of room for interpretation with this recipe:

To make a Tarte of preserued stuffe. You must take halfe a hundreth of Costardes, and pare them, and cut them, and as soone as you haue cut them, put them into a pot, and put in two or three pound of suger, and a pint of water, and a little Rosewater, and stirre, them from the time you put them in, vntill the time you take them out againe, or else you may also put it into a dishe, and when your Tart is made, put it into the Ouen, and when it is caked endore it with butter, and throw suger on the top, & then do on your sauce, & set comfets on the top, and so serue it vp. The Good Housewife’s Jewell (1596)

I was drawn to the recipe because it mentions “preserved stuff” and I had a lot of apples to use up. If you take 50 apples  you will make aproximately 12 cups of apples sauce. I felt that this would have preserves as described would be use for more than one recipe, not one really huge tart–however I can see why some people thought that this is a reasonable interpretation.

The “confits” sprinkled on top can be many different kinds of candies, in 1596 they candied a lot of things. I used candied fennel, but candied pepper or almonds would work. I was tempted to use cake sprinkles in heraldic shapes and colours but I refrained. If you do that please post pictures down below.

Ingredients

  1. Sauce (1 litre of apple sauce)
    I ~15-20 apples
    1 cup of sugar
    1/2 cup of water
    1/2 tsp of rose water.
  2. Tart
    1 pie shell
    1 tbsp butter
    1 tbsp raw can sugar
    1 cup of sauce
    1 tbsp of candied fennel

Directions

  1. Combine sauce ingredients bring to boil on medium-high. Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer for 30 minutes or until apples are mushy. Use potato masher to encourage the mushy. *
  2. Pre-heat oven to 350. Place pie shell in oven and bake until golden (~25 minutes). Remove from oven.
  3. Cover hot tart shell with butter so it is evenly coated.
  4. Sprinkle a layer of sugar onto the buttered crust.
  5. Pour 1 cup of “preserved stuff” into the coated tart shell.
  6. Sprinkle with candy. Serve hot or cold.

*I made the apple sauce a few days in advance.