Name: Gooseberry Tart
Ingredients: 2 pints gooseberries; 1 lb short crust pastry; ½ lb moist sugar

Gooseberry Tart

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

2 pints gooseberries
1 lb short crust pastry
½ lb moist sugar

Directions

The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fruit

Remove the tops and tails from the gooseberries using scissors.
Place the gooseberries in a deep pie dish, piling them high in the center.
Sprinkle the sugar over the gooseberries.

Assemble and bake

Line the edge of the dish with short crust pastry and cover with another layer of pastry.
Decorate the edges of the tart.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 30 minutes.
Before serving, sprinkle fine‑sifted sugar over the tart.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Gooseberries: Provide the tart filling, releasing juice and tartness as they cook.
Short crust pastry: Forms the crisp, golden case and top crust that holds the fruit.
Moist sugar: Sweetens the tart and draws juice from the fruit, softening its sharp flavour.

“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.