{"id":638,"date":"2011-02-21T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T07:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2011\/02\/21\/this-one-does-something-interesting"},"modified":"2015-12-31T19:15:52","modified_gmt":"2016-01-01T00:15:52","slug":"this-one-does-something-interesting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2011\/02\/this-one-does-something-interesting\/","title":{"rendered":"This one does something interesting"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the days since we last spoke, I\u2019ve flown to Oklahoma and back. I\u2019ve introduced my mother to 24<\/a><\/i>. I\u2019ve made Cafe Lago meatballs<\/a> with my mother, braised a pan of endive<\/a> and serrano ham with my mother, and put away a couple of Negronis<\/a>, also with my mother. I\u2019ve baked a coffee cake using a tin of baking powder from my mother\u2019s cabinet that, you know, it turns out, expired in 2006. I\u2019ve thrown away a coffee cake. I\u2019ve filed and<\/i> paid our 2010 income taxes! I\u2019ve had a toothache! I\u2019ve sent off my book proposal<\/a>! I\u2019m using a lot of exclamation points!<\/p>\n

\n

And because of this second-to-last item, because you\u2019ve been such cheerful, cheering, much-needed companions in Book Proposal Land<\/a>, I baked you an apple crumble. Then I ate about a quarter of it – chewing only on the left side of my mouth, of course, because I\u2019m almost sure I\u2019m having a root canal on the right side later this week.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThis recipe comes from Nigel Slater, whose latest book, Tender, Volume II: A Cook\u2019s Guide to the Fruit Garden<\/a><\/i>, has been living on my kitchen table since Christmas. We\u2019ve been eating breakfast together. I drink my coffee; Nigel gets worked up about apples:<\/p>\n

A baked apple, its skin split, the top half rising like a beret, is best achieved with an acidic variety. The list includes Golden Noble, Kentish Fillbasket, Emneth Early, Monarch, Charlotte, Newton Wonder, Lord Derby and the Carlisle and Keswick Codlins. Most of these I have met at some point in my cooking life; others, such as Edward VII and the Eynsham Dumpling, I have never seen on sale, let alone poured custard over. Then, of course, there are the seedlings: Bramley, Dumelow\u2019s and Pott\u2019s. If you are in Cornwall with nothing much to do on an October afternoon, you might like to go in search of the Colloggett Pippin. You will be in with a good chance if you pronounce it Clogget and are within sight of the Tamar. The Cornish have a habit of shortening place names the way children shorten those of their best friends.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

I love him. I also like his apple crumble quite a bit. The world does not need another apple crumble recipe, as he notes, but this one does something interesting, and it\u2019s worth noting. After you toss the apple pieces with sugar and lemon juice, you don\u2019t just chuck them into the baking dish. You put them in a hot skillet with some butter, and you leave them alone there for a while, longer than you\u2019d think, until they\u2019re golden in patches and glazed in their own caramelized juices. It reminds me of the first step in making a tarte Tatin<\/a>, only you\u2019re not letting them go nearly that far. Just far enough to make them smell like some fantastic hybrid of toffee and hot cider. WAIT. Think about that. Toffee and hot cider, as one<\/i>. Does that exist? World, make this happen for me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nSo yes, you take those lightly caramelized apples, and you put them in your baking dish, and then comes the topping and the baking. The usual. My finished crumble would not win a beauty pageant, or even bring home the sash for third runner-up, but that\u2019s not the point of crumbles, is it? Did I miss something? It looks like a crumble. But it certainly tastes nice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn fact, the resemblance to tarte Tatin doesn\u2019t end with the method. There\u2019s a little tarte Tatin to the flavor, too, the way the soft, sticky, long-cooked apples taste under all that rubble of topping, all that butter. I\u2019m going to hang onto this method. I might think about using more apples next time – once baked, the apple-to-topping ratio is about 1:1, and I prefer 2:1 – but that\u2019s just fussing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n\n
\n
\n
Recipe<\/div>\n

Nigel Slater\u2019s Apple Crumble<\/h2>\n

Adapted from Tender, Volume II: A Cook\u2019s Guide to the Fruit Garden<\/a><\/i><\/h3> \n \n <\/header>\n\n
\n <\/figure>\n \n
\n