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French · Loire Valley

Tarte Tatin

A tart baked upside down — the apples and their caramel on the bottom of the pan during baking, the pastry on top — then inverted to reveal a deep, amber-lacquered surface of caramelised apple arranged over a flaky pastry base that has absorbed the caramel from below. Tarte tatin is simultaneously one of the most forgiving and most demanding preparations in the classical French pastry repertoire: forgiving because the inversion hides imperfection; demanding because the caramel, the apple cookdown, and the pastry must each reach their correct stage simultaneously. The timing of the inversion is the entire technique.

Serves6
Total60 min
Sourced1of 7 in BC
Cook
I

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

1 sheet
all-butter puff pastry
320 g, thawed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
80 g
unsalted butter
Your own market
100 g
caster sugar
Your own market
6–7
medium Granny Smith apples
peeled, halved, cored
Origin · New ZealandPurely Artisan Foods · San Diego →
1
vanilla pod
split, seeds scraped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2 ml
vanilla extract
Your own market
2 g
fine sea salt
Your own market

Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.

II

The Method

1
Preheat oven to 200°C; arrange oven rack in middle position.
2
Heat 80 g butter and sugar in 28 cm cast-iron or steel tarte Tatin mold or heavy ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat, stirring with wooden spoon until golden caramel forms (5 minutes).
From the canon — Caramelisation is the pyrolytic degradation and polymerisation of sugars at elevated temperatures — a non-enzymatic browning reaction distinct from the Maill… Caramel — Dry vs Wet Methods (Sugar Science) →
3
Remove from heat; add vanilla seeds and extract; arrange apple halves cut-side up in concentric circles, fitting them snugly; sprinkle with salt.
4
Cook over medium-high heat for 8 minutes, basting apples with caramel; remove from heat.
5
Lay puff pastry sheet over apples, tucking edges down inside mold; prick with fork.
From the canon — Classical puff pastry — a dough of flour, water, and salt wrapped around a block of pure butter, then folded and rolled repeatedly to create 729 alternating … Puff Pastry (Pâte Feuilletée) →
6
Bake 25–30 minutes until pastry is golden brown and apples are very tender when pierced with knife.
7
Remove from oven; let cool 5 minutes, then invert onto serving plate in one smooth motion, allowing caramel to drip over pastry.
8
Serve warm or at room temperature with crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.
IV

Sensory Tests

◇Where it lives or dies. The moment where tarte Tatin lives or dies is the unmoulding. Hold a large, flat plate face-down on the top of the hot pan. In one definitive, continuous movement, flip both the pan and the plate together, with the plate facing the bench. Lift the pan straight up. The caramel will cascade down over the revealed apple surface. If any apples have shifted in the pan, reposition them on the tarte immediately — the hot caramel is still mobile for about 30 seconds.
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VI

What to Pour

The pairing
Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Buffalo Trace Distillery · Kentucky Bourbon Country
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia

Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.

Without alcohol

No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.

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The whole pairing
Pillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance

The hands behind the plate.

Purely Artisan Foods
San Diego · medium Granny Smith apples
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