Parisian Loaves may be defined as ornamented encaustic
finger biscuits, and are curious by their complicatiou, which
may be characterized as the application of the admonition,
Stick it on / The metaphorically ‘ encaustic ’ part consists
of ‘ narrow strips ’ of currant jelly, greengage jam, etc.
Cherry Tartlets are highly artistic preparations. The
cherries may be replaced by raspberries, currants, goose-
berries, and plums of several kinds ; the fruit must be so
treated that the juice may not be either excessive, or too
thin, or too acid.
Marigolds is the name of little cakes of puff paste, with
almonds so arranged as to remind of the petals of the golden
flower of the dead.
Fruit Tarts and Fruit Pies are essentially different things,
though frequently confounded. An arrangement consisting
of fruit in a dish, covered with any kind of paste and baked,
is a 2^iCy and not a tart. A ring of pastry inside of which
the fruit is placed is a real tart in the Eoman sense ; but
tart may and does include any cake with a rim on or within
which fruit is disposed. The innovation of terming a fruit
pie a tart, against which even otherwise good authors are
not proof, arises, in the first place, from vanity, which
erroneously fancies that tart signifies something superior
to pie ; secondly, from want of information concerning the
meaning of the names of these historical preparations. As
all affectation leads to inconsistencies, so this miscalling a
fruit pie a tart leads to the difficulty that it cannot be apphed
to preparations of meat, for the majority would find it
ridiculous if anyone were to speak of meat tart. Yet there
TARTS, TIES, AND MINCE- PIES
419
might be a meat tart properly so called, if only it were
arranged upon the Roman pattern of the iorla of a twisted
ring of pastry outside, as the container of a ragout inside
the ring, the ragout being the contained. Persons of dis-
cerning taste should strive to dissociate all crusts whatever
from fruit as well as meat during their preparation, and
cook all three by themselves, uniting them only shortly
before or during the meal.
Mince Pics as now commonly made are tarts and tartlets
of puff or short paste, laid in moulds, covered or open,
and containing suitable quantities of mincemeat. By the
practice of subdivision, they belong to the category of small
pastry rather than to cakes and puddings. In their case,
the consideration which we have placed before the reader
in the previous paragraph concerning the use of the word
pie has received rather a contrary illustration, for the cakes
connected with mincemeat of this particular kind are called
pies, even though they conform to the enlarged definition
of tarts. But this is explained by the exceptional position
which mincemeat itself holds as a mixture of flesh meat
with fruit of several kinds. The original idea of mincemeat
as a flesh-food happily still surviving, it was called mince-
meat still, even by those who left out the flesh, and trans-
formed both title and mince into a delusion. Even they
knew that it would be ridiculous to call a mince pie a mince
tart, although it revealed the true nature of their nerve-
and meaning-less composition. Mince pies✪ Mince Pies, then, are dis-
tinguished by containing meat previously roasted and
matured by being penetrated with the flavour of fruit and
brandy.
Page 264 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Parisian Loaves may be defined as ornamented encaustic finger biscuits, and are curious by their complicatiou, which may be characterized as the application of the admonition, Stick it on / The metaphorically ‘ encaustic ’ part consists of ‘ narrow strips ’ of currant jelly, greengage jam, etc.
Cherry Tartlets are highly artistic preparations. The cherries may be replaced by raspberries, currants, gooseberries, and plums of several kinds ; the fruit must be so treated that the juice may not be either excessive, or too thin, or too acid.
Marigolds is the name of little cakes of puff paste, with almonds so arranged as to remind of the petals of the golden flower of the dead.
Fruit Tarts and Fruit Pies are essentially different things, though frequently confounded. An arrangement consisting of fruit in a dish, covered with any kind of paste and baked, is a pie and not a tart. A ring of pastry inside of which the fruit is placed is a real tart in the Eoman sense ; but tart may and does include any cake with a rim on or within which fruit is disposed. The innovation of terming a fruit pie a tart, against which even otherwise good authors are not proof, arises, in the first place, from vanity, which erroneously fancies that tart signifies something superior to pie ; secondly, from want of information concerning the meaning of the names of these historical preparations. As all affectation leads to inconsistencies, so this miscalling a fruit pie a tart leads to the difficulty that it cannot be apphed to preparations of meat, for the majority would find it ridiculous if anyone were to speak of meat tart. Yet there
TARTS, TIES, AND MINCE- PIES
might be a meat tart properly so called, if only it were arranged upon the Roman pattern of the torta of a twisted ring of pastry outside, as the container of a ragout inside the ring, the ragout being the contained. Persons of discerning taste should strive to dissociate all crusts whatever from fruit as well as meat during their preparation, and cook all three by themselves, uniting them only shortly before or during the meal.
Mince Pics as now commonly made are tarts and tartlets of puff or short paste, laid in moulds, covered or open, and containing suitable quantities of mincemeat. By the practice of subdivision, they belong to the category of small pastry rather than to cakes and puddings. In their case, the consideration which we have placed before the reader in the previous paragraph concerning the use of the word pie has received rather a contrary illustration, for the cakes connected with mincemeat of this particular kind are called pies, even though they conform to the enlarged definition of tarts. But this is explained by the exceptional position which mincemeat itself holds as a mixture of flesh meat with fruit of several kinds. The original idea of mincemeat as a flesh-food happily still surviving, it was called mincemeat still, even by those who left out the flesh, and transformed both title and mince into a delusion. Even they knew that it would be ridiculous to call a mince pie a mince tart, although it revealed the true nature of their nerveand meaning-less composition. Mince pies, then, are distinguished by containing meat previously roasted and matured by being penetrated with the flavour of fruit and brandy.
Records on this page
Mince Pies