Tarte Tatin - Pear or Apple

In the late 1800s the demoiselles Tatin, or Tatin sisters, who ran an inn in France’s Loire Valley, created an upside-down apple tart that still bears their name- Tarte Tatin. They made their dessert in  round copper lidless pans which  are also used for baking cobblers, quiches and frittatas.

In 2011 Dean and I took a self-guided biking trip to the Loire Valley. Of course, we stopped at patisseries whenever we passed one.  Bruno Toutain and his staff at Cycolmundo planned our route, booked our hotels, transferred our luggage and gave us maps and pointers. The Loire Valley is dotted with bike paths as well as pastry shops, so you seldom have to travel on public roads, unless you get lost and lose the path. To our surprise, this happened all too often. 

Gobbling a tart tatin in the vinyards in the Loire Valley on a drizzly day, shower cap protecting my helmut

Chateau Chenanceau in the Loire  (I'm in the top right corner)

Biking back to Amboise from the historic Chateau Chenanceau on a sunny Sunday in September

To continue with the Tatin sister's theme, my sister Lucia has made a pear tarte tatin many times for Thanksgiving  dinner and in 2013, two years after my Loire Valley adventure,she volunteered to tell us about her version and how it differs from the classic apple dessert...

Molly O'Neal's Pear Tarte Tatin

Skip ahead six years to 2020 and still her blog has not come to pass. Lucia sent me her recipe for Molly O'Neal's Pear Tarte Tatin,  printed in the New York Times, but she has never written the post. While waiting for her  text, I had set up the blog 's outline with the pertinent photos of my bike trip; so I decided to share them at this late date

Actually, I never made the dessert with pears, but I have experimented with the apple version, first in Patricia Wells'  The Paris Cookbook, and then  from Julia Child's  The Way to Cook.   Julia's version took less time and was just as delicious, but I would recommend them both if you have an afternoon to bake.

Julia Child slices her apples rather than halving them in her apple tarte tatin

                            
  Everest restaurant in Chicago serves a minimalist Alsatian tarte tatin. The classic dessert is still evolving....

poached heirloom apple tarte tatin from Everest restaurant

                                                                      BON APPETIT