Comments on: Rustic Apple Tart

By: Houseboat Eats: Braised Pork with Apples, Mushrooms, and Calvados

Houseboat Eats: Braised Pork with Apples, Mushrooms, and Calvados — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:04:49 +0000

[...] winter we bought a half of a pig from our neighbors Gwen and Fred, of apple and garlic fame. We’ve been steadily working our way through all 100 pounds of it, and [...]

By: Houseboat Eats: The Garlic Tasting

Houseboat Eats: The Garlic Tasting — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:33:17 +0000

[...] leaving the farm of our neighbors Gwen and Fred (generous benefactors of the apples used to make last week’s tart), we went to Gwen’s son Sam and daughter-in-law Sue’s place. In addition to pigs and [...]

By: Beryl

Beryl — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:43:03 +0000

they are!

By: Seanna

Seanna — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:39:45 +0000

I love the video!!!

By: Cathy

Cathy — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:17:54 +0000

What a delight to watch and I am anxious to bake this beautiful tart! I think this weekend will be an excellent opportunity. Are the Spokane beauties the same apple that grows in your backyard?

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:57:24 +0000

Your posts continue to be a source of fun and information. The video is great and really makes the recipe approachable. I love the thumbs up at the end. Talley may have been a bit slow in refilling the wine glass, but apparently he was busy taking a few photos. Love it, and can’t wait to taste it some day.

By: Tokyo Terrace

Tokyo Terrace — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:22:58 +0000

I love apple season! This tart looks fabulous and your video is a great addition. I’m thinking of doing a couple of videos myself, so this is good inspiration! Beautiful, as always.–Rachael

By: Kathryn Greenwood Swanson

Kathryn Greenwood Swanson — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:59:06 +0000

This is beautiful. What work, what art, what jealousy! I hope to be in your kitchen soon.

By: Beryl

Beryl — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:28:52 +0000

Video’s cool, huh? Vodka in pastry is for crispy/flakiness! Nothing makes me happier than crispy, flaky crust. As far as I understand it, a number of things go into flakiness and crispiness, vodka alone won’t do it. Here, though, are the things I know to be the most important factors:
Vodka – it’s an alcohol of course, which means it’s really volatile, which means it evaporates quickly, more quickly than water, which means it will evaporate as the dough cooks and will help to dry out the dough as it cooks. The biggest factor in a crispy crust, as I understand it, is drying the dough to, well, a crisp. To do that you have to thoroughly bake the crust – that’s important – vodka just gives it an edge.
Another thing worth saying: Big pieces of frozen butter = flakiness: You need your butter to be unmelted and cold once the crust is rolled out, which means you need to start with real cold butter and keep it cold during every step of the process; if at any point it even thinks about melting, put it back in the freezer. The reason is that you want your butter, once it’s in the oven, to lodge itself into the dough and hold it’s shape while the begins to cook. If the dough cooks around the butter before it melts, it will leave a little pocket of air. If you have lots of big, flat pieces of butter in your dough, it will mean lots of pockets of air, which equals flakiness.
That was long, geez… i should have put this in the post.

By: Jenny Ramsay

Jenny Ramsay — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:44:06 +0000

Wow! Awesome video…very hungry now! I am going to have to try this recipe soon. I love the extra touch of love with the raspberries or cheese. I usually make my rustic tarts with peaches and rosemary which is a really great combo as well.