Varieties of lemon tart
"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 - on the Roux Brothers version
And here it is - the Roux brothers version of Tarte au citron, that most ubiquitous and famous of tarts. (Truth to say it almost looks like vanilla slice but without the top layer of pastry.) According to many this is the version that started the modern passion for this particular dessert. One you will find on almost every restaurant dessert menu - or a version thereof, and one which my younger son always requests for birthdays and things. I can't say that, as yet, I have ever made the perfect lemon tart, and I can't even remember which versions I have tried. I really should tackle it methodically and decide which is best. Because of course everybody says their version is the best, the classic, the real and the ultimate.
I looked at the history and it seems there is no consensus or legend on the origins of this particular dish. So I don't think there are any worries over authenticity here. Lemon tarts, it seems have been made since medieval times, although the addition of meringue, to make lemon meringue pie would not have been until the eighteenth century when they first started making meringue. There are, of course, arguments about the filling - custard or curd?, how many eggs? - anything from one to twelve, what kind of pastry - shortcrust or sucré? And on it goes.
I'm writing about it for two reasons. The first is that we had a lovely lunch with friends, recently returned from holidaying in France, who, for dessert presented a gorgeous lemon tart. It was a fairly traditional version - I'm not sure whose recipe she used - and looked rather like this one, which is from my France: a Culinary Journey, cookbook.
I think she decided to make it because she had been given two dozen eggs by a neighbour who keeps chickens. What to do with all those eggs? Well lemon tart - although as I have found today, the number of eggs to use can vary from one to twelve - well in the recipes I found anyway, and also sometimes it's just yolks, sometimes the whole eggs, and sometimes a mix. Whatever the reason, she decided on this, and we were all grateful.
Then my other coincidental stimulus is that this month's Coles Magazine, has, not one, but two recipes for a lemon tart - neither of them authentic at all, and one version of a close relative - Key lime pie, which they call Lemon and lime vegan tarts. The other two are the cover dish of Lemon and blueberry vegan tart and Easy lemon and blueberry tart.
Yes, two of these recipes are vegan - I really must do vegan - on the cover too, so obviously not authentic as there are no eggs - they use coconut cream instead. And now that I look at these two vegan recipes, they are actually more or less identical, just a slight shift in the citrus content. So somewhat of a cheat. Mind you the decoration on the top is just beautiful and pretty simple really. The other recipe is also a cheat - bought pastry case, and a filling that is basically just a mix of mascarpone and lemon curd - again - no eggs. These three are, if you like, the poor man's versions, the non-cook's versions. And yet they are made to look enticing and delicious - and they probably are too, and you have to admit they are right up to date with vegan and fast cooking trends.
Back to the more authentic though. Unlike some dishes this is not really a world-wide thing. I cannot think of any Asian kind of lemon tart. I couldn't even find a Spanish version in my admittedly small collection of Spanish recipes - or a Middle-Eastern one either, even though both of these cuisines are big into lemons. So it's really down to the French and the Italians I think and then whatever the chefs of the western world have decided to do to them.
Felicity Cloake has had a go at surveying what's on offer, but she actually doesn't seem to have ranged quite as widely as she sometimes does. She does have something to say on what one is trying to achieve though - well when it comes to lemon meringue pie anyway:
"the filling must tread a delicate line between balancing the sugary meringue above, and taking the roof off your mouth." Felicity Cloake
There are versions with a custard base, versions with a lemon curd base, and some with almonds in the mix. And then there's those eggs - such a variation in the quantity.
Robert Carrier, in his Great Dishes of the World is, somewhat surprisingly, the most economic, in that he uses just one egg - but his filling is a curd rather than a custard. I'll give it here - you can't find it on the net. And sorry I'm not going to translate the quantities to metric.
FRENCH LEMON TARTS
Pastry
4 oz butter, 2oz icing sugar, juice of 1 lemon, 6oz flour. 1 level teaspoon salt
Filling
1 egg, 5oz sugar, 1 lemon, 2oz softened butter
Cream butter and sugar; add lemon juice and flour sifted with salt. Mix quickly to a firm paste, using a little water if necessary. Chill for 15 minutes. Roll out and fit into tart cases. Prick bases lightly and bake 'blind' at 450ºF for 10 minutes.
Beat egg with sugar until light and creamy; add juice and grated rind of lemon and softened butter, and continue beating until it is a smooth paste. Fill tart shells with this mixture and bake in a slow oven (325º to 350ºF) for 10-15 minutes or until filling is firm. Cool before serving.
Really very, very simple. I must try it and see if it tastes good too.
Of the relatively traditional recipes that I found, some of which were custards, some curds, and some somewhere in between, some with additions such as almonds, or cardamom, and they varied hugely in how many eggs and what you did with them, I give you a selection here. From left to right, top to bottom: Donna Hay - classic lemon tart, Maggie Beer - lemon tart, Heston Blumenthal - lemon tart and Jamie Oliver - Amalfi lemon tart - which is almost a cheesecake.
Then there is the slightly less 'authentic', but equally popular Lemon brulée tart - this recipe is from SBS but there are lots more out there. This is really just a lemon tart that has been blowtorched like crème brulée.
But chefs like to modify and experiment don't they? And here are two stunning and different versions - that are most likely far too difficult for the likes of you and me. But we can ooh and ah can't we? On the left Lime basil tart by Jacques Génin and on the right Lemon tart from Meilleur Ouvrier de France, Arnaud Larher. Lemon tart made posh.
But what about lemon meringue pie? It's really the same thing but with meringue on top. We used to have this when I was a child. I suppose in it's most basic form you just put some lemon curd in some pastry and put a meringue on top. I think this is what my mother did. And it sort of makes sense if you make your own lemon curd, because I think that just uses yolks. So what better way to use up the whites than to make a meringue? The version shown at left is from The French Café's Simon Wright in Auckland, New Zealand. And it doesn't look that simple. Woman's Day has something rather more basic looking. But it just goes to show doesn't it - one dish, hundreds of different recipes. Taste.com has 65 for starters. There are 456 for lemon tart!
"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
But the same really - just different.
