SC - Baking temp

[Phil & Susan Troy]

Yesterday evening I attended a great potluck feast at the nearby shire of
Lagerdamm. There were only a couple of dozen people there but everyone made
an effort to bring period foods, even the store-bought items were limited
to roast chicken, loaves of bread and other dishes that didn't jar with the
attempt to keep things in persona. The dinner conversation didn't stray to
out of period topics and even those who seemed awkward with this kind of
'high persona' event seemed to enjoy themselves.

I made the decision to attend on fairly short notice and did something I
usually try to avoid - I took a dish that I had not pre-tested. Granted,
it's a fairly simple fruit pie, but I have a personally-imposed rule about
trying out experiments on large groups of unwilling victims. Turned out
pretty good, though, and I thought I'd share with the list. It's a sour
cherry tart from Sabina Welserin.  I've replaced the period 's' forms with
modern ones in the German text.


130     Ain weixeltorten zu machen

        Nim die weixlen, thu die stain heraus, mach ain boden wie zu den
andern torten, nim ain semmelmel, geriben von ainem dem brot, vnnd reschts
jm scmaltz, schits auf den boden, see zucker vnnd rerlen darauff, thu dan
die weixlen darauff, lass das gesafft jn der schissel, besee es woll mit
zucker vnnd mit zimet, mach ain boden darjber, lasst es sittlich bachen.

130   To make a sour cherry tart

        Take the sour cherries, take out the stones and make a pastry crust
as for the other tarts. Take bread crumbs from grated white bread and fry
them in fat. Pour them on the crust, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top,
Put the sour cherries in it, leaving their juice in the bowl, sprinkle it
well with sugar and with cinnamon, make a crust on top of it, let it bake,
as it is customary.


1 1/2 C. Bread crumbs
1/4 C.    Butter or lard (Other pie recipes in this book offer the cook the
option of    interchanging these fats.)
3 C.        Pitted sour cherries (Fresh if in season, frozen if necessary,
canned as a last resort. Make sure you are buying sour or tart cherries,
not sweet cherries.)
2/3 C.    Sugar
1 tsp.     Cinnamon
Pastry for a 2-crust pie

Set the cherries in bowl and let drain. Melt the butter in a small skillet.
Add the bread crumbs, brown lightly and set aside to cool. Arrange the
bottom crust in the pie pan. Add the bread crumbs. [Next time I try this
I'll sprinkle some of the sugar and cinnamon on the crumbs before adding
the fruit, a step I accidentally omitted.] Add the sugar and cinnamon to
the drained cherries, place on top of the crumbs. Put the top crust on the
pie. Bake in an oven preheated to 450 degrees. After 10 minutes reduce the
heat to 350 and bake until brown.

The practice of starting out with a high temp and then reducing it is a
modern one I learned from my mother, but I thought it might simulate baking
in a wood fired oven where the temp would decrease a bit over the cooking
time. Also, I wondered about the bread crumbs in the bottom the pie - would
the just serve to thicken the fruit or would they soak up the juices and
make a thin layer of 'bread pudding'? It turns out neither one is true.
They did soak up the juices, but they formed an almost crunchy layer that
added a nice texture. Next time the only thing I might change is to perhaps
add a bit more cinnamon.

Valoise


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