apple festa

We finally made it down to the annual apple tasting festival at Portland Nursery this year. It is a very popular event, and we had to wait in line to get to the tasting tables. It was so worth the wait, though.

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They had an impressive and large variety of apples for tasting, and it amazed me how different they all tasted (I know that probably sounds idiotic, but you know, apples are apples, and I wasn’t expecting such a huge difference in flavors).
apple festival apples.JPG
We wrote down our favorites, which included the Beni Shogun Fuji and the Elstar, and then bought a bunch of apples for .78 cents per pound.
I got a bunch of Granny Smiths to make a tarte tatin. I went on a tarte tatin kick a few years ago but forgot all about it until recently. They are really fun to make, unless you’re a big failure like I am. The caramelizing of the apples appeared to go smoothly:
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And it came out of the oven looking decent, too:
tarte tatin baked.JPG

But I ran into some issues when flipping the tarte out of the pan. I think I maybe overcaramelized the mixture, and it got super sticky and refused to come out of the pan. The crust broke apart in several spots as well.
tarte tatin urgh.JPG
Burned blob. It tasted okay, but it was not attractive. I shan’t give up, though! Any tips out there?

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7 Responses to apple festa

  1. Betty says:

    I love tarte tartin! I usually use about 8-10 apples in an 9″ cast iron skillet. Melt 12 tbls of butter, 1/2 cup- 1 cup sugar depending on how sweet the apples are and layer the apples over this ( you will have to overlayer them, but they will melt down) cook on top of the stove on low/low heat for about 1 hour. Then just follow your recipe. I think the secert is to stuff the pan with lots of apples. I got this recipe from my Saveur cookbook and it turns out perfect everytime.

  2. Heather says:

    How funny that you should post this! NPR just did a story on tarte tatin on All Things Considered.
    Here’s the link in case you want to take a look:
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15324538

  3. mo says:

    I have not heard of tarte tatin so I am no help there but I will say that we went to apple tasting this year and got the most amazing big gorgeous apples that made the best pie ever. I, apparently not being as smart as you, did not write down the names of them so now I am kicking myself because I can’t remember what apples made that glorious pie! Don’t you love Portland Nusery?

  4. diane says:

    Obsessed tarte tatin east coast here
    I caramelize the apples for a short time on the stove top and then continue as the recipe states

  5. Laura says:

    Ah, serve it in dishes with some sort of dairy-based topping and no one will be any the wiser! I bet it’s delicious.

  6. jona says:

    Oh I miss Portland Nursery so much! Hubby and I went to our local nursery (here in AZ) and left bemoaning the fact that it just didn’t hold a candle to Portland Nursery. Sniff.

  7. Kim says:

    Here is an interesting article on tarte tatin:
    http://northstarorchard.com/TheAppleofHisEye.html

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