Lemon tart or Tarte au citron

"A lemon tart would be spongy, sticky with lemon curd, a homely thing, while the tarte au citron has Parisian airs and graces."

Felicity Cloake

We are celebrating my son's birthday today with roast turkey at his place - he just loves turkey and I am making a lemon tart for dessert. I have made lemon tarts before but I actually cannot remember which recipe I used - maybe Delia's, maybe another one or two I had from delicious, but today I am trying this one which is from the now defunct Feast magazine. This one has a brulée top.

I see I am calling it a lemon tart, but Felicity Cloake is right - I think my version is more tarte au citron. The posher French thing. And the brulée top is definitely French. Nevertheless according to Felicity in her article on how to make the perfect Tarte au Citron, she credits the Roux brothers of London with its current popularity. The original Roux brothers version was described as: "a dish to linger over, the pale yellow cream set to just within a wobble of collapse ... beautifully complemented by a thin sweet pastry case." (Lindsey Bareham). And I doubt very much that mine will be like that.

In her article Felicity Cloake tries and rejects several different methods of making the filling - a custard, cooked prior to pouring into the case, one which includes cream, even one a bit like Claudia Roden's orange cake in which everything is whizzed in a food processor. There is also a version from Jane Grigson which includes almond meal. Mine does include cream, although Felicity says, "the pure sharpness of the lemon flavour seems muddied and muted by the cream." On the plus side for the cream - this was the version created by the Roux brothers. Most of the fancier versions go for egg yolks rather than whole eggs, but I have to confess my version just uses eggs - lots of them.

But there are lots of other reasons why I think my version is possibly a bit dodgy. (I am seriously crossing fingers.) The pastry is not that thin. Also I thought I had some pre-made pastry only to realise, late in the day that what I thought was sweet pastry was actually pasta dough. So I had to make the pastry from scratch and time was running out, so I didn't have time to chill it - once when it was made and then again when rolled out and in the tin. I'm not sure what this does in terms of making really good pastry - but I know I have sinned. I really don't know whether it is set or wobbly enough - apparently it should just have a slight wobble. I am praying mine is not runny - though if I cooked it any longer it would have been burnt anyway on top without my adding the brulée bit afterwards. It looked very runny when I took it out of the oven, but I think it's firming up. And I'm not sure it's going to be cool enough. Because of the pastry disaster and the fact that, as usual, I got up late, and then decided to walk into Eltham - well I had to go to Eltham because I didn't have any lemons or cream - because of all of that I was pretty late starting. Only an hour and a half to go and it's still cooling down in the tin. But I guess it's dessert so it can be chilled in their fridge before we eat it.

The ever wonderful Delia Smith has also been trying to make the perfect lemon tart for years - or so she claims. Her version is rather more like mine, though her pastry is a lot fancier. It looks like this. As she says, it is a lot thicker than normal, but she reckons you should have more filling than pastry. Mine is thinner - but then I put what was supposed to go into a 24cm tin into a 30cm tin - and I have to say that it fitted, so heaven knows what it would have done in the smaller tin. You can find her recipe here including a link to a 'how to' video.

Felicity Cloake's 'perfect' version (shown below) is not at all like mine - it has a pre-made custard filling with butter in it - I think based on a famous Paris patissier's version. And I think I would have covered the top with the lemon slices - it looks a bit spartan with just a few don't you think? Maybe I should try that version next time I am asked to make one.

But it is funny is it not how some dishes are a challenge that we feel we should attempt to overcome. I know I use the Guardian's 'How to make the perfect ...' articles a lot, but they are really interesting. I don't always agree with the conclusion, but the discussion of what the various options are is always fascinating. As I said, I am crossing my fingers!