Apples a LA Parisienne
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Pare several sour apples, cut them in half crosswise and remove the cores.
Cook the apple halves with one cupful of sugar and one cupful of water, taking care to retain the shape.
Assemble and bake
Drain the apples and set each half on a round of stale sponge cake, sprinkled lightly with orange juice and either orange or peach marmalade.
Cover the apple with a meringue and some chopped almonds and set in the oven to brown delicately.
Serve either hot or cold.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Sour apples (in the method)
- Provide the fruit base, holding their shape when gently cooked in syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the poaching syrup and adds flavour to the apple halves.
- Sponge cake (in the method)
- Acts as a soft base that absorbs juices under the apple half.
- Meringue (in the method)
- Forms a light topping that browns in the oven for colour and texture.
- Almonds (in the method)
- Add crunch and a nutty flavour to the meringue topping.
The step that matters
Cook the apple halves with the syrup. Apples poached too hard or too long lose their shape and turn mushy, so they should simmer gently until just tender enough to hold their form through the final baking.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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