Pear Tarte Tatin

I think it's fitting that my first real food post is of the one dessert I've been making for years: Pear Tarte Tatin. Sorry for the no step-by-step photos; you'll just have to believe me when I say that bubbling away in this here cast-iron skillet is butter, sugar, and pears; and that a fine pastry crust was crafted beforehand.

By the time I managed to take the final terrible photograph, we had already eaten some of the delicious, albeit messy, result. A dollop of lightly-sweetened whipped cream (homemade or GTFO) may have accompanied our plates.

How does one construct this dessert?
As this is my first food post, I'll stress now that I will not be writing out a traditional recipe. I'm going to descibe the foundation of the dish, which allows for much more creativity. Not every creative variation will be successful, just as not every scientific experiment proves something.

That said, NO FREESTYLE PASTRY! I of course use a recipe for the pie crust. My preference is the "Deluxe Butter Flaky Pastry Dough (Pâte Brisée)" from  The All New Joy of Cooking. I do it all in the food processor with frozen salted butter. In fact, I never even buy unsalted butter; I don't see the point. As if this salted caramel craze is a new thing... um... some of us have always loved salty sweets.

Let me explain why I use pears instead of apples in my Tarte Tatin. Pears are simply more interesting than apples. My absolute favorite are the Red Bartlett variety. They taste like flowers - I kid you not. Supposedly, the red ones are unique only for their color, but I swear their flavor is different (better) than the green ones. The trick with using pears in this dessert is to find perfectly ripe, yet firm fruits. I suppose if the pears were a bit soft, the world wouldn't end, but you certainly don't want to cook them into a mealy mess. If you worry about such a thing, perhaps try the hardy D'Anjou pear (it comes in red, too); just know that the pear flavor will be milder.

Here's what you do:

1. Peel, core, and halve enough pears to line your oven-proof skillet (I prefer cast-iron because it's what the Tatin sisters would have used, but the type of skillet best used is a very common debate).
2. Procure 2:1 sugar and butter (salted, of course). Melt the butter and then pour the sugar evenly over the bottom of the skillet. You want enough butter-sugar slurry in the bottom of the skillet into which to firmly mold the pears (maybe 1/4-inch). If you're not sure where to start, go with 1 Cup of sugar and 1/2 Cup of butter.
3. Then, mold the pears into the slurry... think about this for a moment, though... this "pie" is going to be upside down... I'll give you a hint: the pears will get flipped once...
4. Turn on the heat. HIGH.
5. The idea here is to poach the pears in the caramel while browning them and simultaneously stiffening the goo (you can see in the photo above that the liquid is quite bubbly), though keeping the fruit relatively firm.
6. Once the pears get some nice color on the underside, use a fork or paring knife to carefully flip them (see in the middle photo - still very bubbly, but with nice caramelization on the fruit, actually could have used more).
7. Let the pears and caramel bubble away for a while until the liquid is very dark. Should you stick a metal spoon into the boiling liquid and after a moment, it turns into a hard, dark amber material, that's probably good. The final baking will change the consistency a bit anyway.
8. By this time, you've rolled out your pastry to the correct size such that it can be carefully lain upon the pears and tucked in around the edge of the skillet.
9. Here's where the only other recipe-type element comes in: bake this concoction at 375°F for about 30 minutes, until the crust is golden.
10. Let it rest in the skillet for another 30 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the skillet to loosen it for the flipping. Tightly hold a large plate on top of the skillet and quickly flip the Tarte Tatin onto the plate. If pieces of pear have stuck to the skillet, replace them into the tart and no one will be the wiser. Or just eat them if you're not concerned about the final appearance of the dessert.

What to take away here:

• Pastry is pastry; use what you like, but always use a recipe
• Fruit is fruit; use what you like (I've seen accounts of tomatoes being used)
• Believe it or not, it's very hard to burn this thing unless you let the toffee turn black or leave it in the oven too long
• Even if you can't get the toffee to set right, how can butter, sugar, fruit, and golden pastry be bad?
• A cranky Frenchman or food-snobby American girl might tell you that nothing except butter, sugar, fruit, and pastry belongs in a Tarte Tatin, especially cinnamon, and that is indeed true!

This just in: I just watched Jacques Pepin make a Tarte Tatin and he does it quite differently. I actually think his method would work really well with a softer fruit, like persimmons... hmm... (that's called "foreshadowing").