SHF 9: A Pair of Pears and a Chocolate Disaster

Whether I fail or succeed, I've come to think of food blogging events as opportunities to experiment.  Besides forcing me to try preparations and ingredients that I otherwise wouldn’t use, events like Sugar High Fridays and Is My Blog Burning? also give me an excuse to attempt recipes that are too complex and time-consuming for everyday cooking.  Unlike dinner parties, the time constraints for blogging events are more flexible, and the pressure to present something that’s both perfect and impressive just isn’t there.  That's not to say that I won't 'try' to make something that’s impressive and perfect, but I’d much rather fail at making something ambitious, than succeed at something that’s easy and uninspiring.

One of the things I like most about food blogs is that they’re driven more by process and content, than results and audience.  If you want to read about someone’s triumphs and failures in hosting an elaborate dinner party, food blogs are the place to go.  But if you want to read an article about throwing the 'Perfect Christmas Dinner Party' that’s aimed at middle-income North American households with standard kitchen equipment, who are most comfortable with ‘safe’ recipes that use easy-to-find ingredients, then food magazines would probably be a better fit.

By now if you’re thinking, “I bet he’s blabbering about all this better to try and fail stuff because he messed up this weekend,” then you're certainly on the right track!  For this month’s Sugar High Fridays event, hosted by Jarrett of Food Porn Watch and Life in Flow, I attempted to make three tarts: Sherry Yard’s Halsey Tart, Maury Rubin’s Square Pear Peg Tart, and a Pear Frangipane tart which I recently had at a local bakery.

I wanted to experiment with tarts that involved something more than just pouring a filling into a shell so I scoured my cookbooks, looking for the least tart-like tarts I could find.  The first tart I came across Sherry Yard’s Halsey Tart from her cookbook The Secrets of Baking.  The Halsey Tart is named after a Mr. Halsey of Mars (the candy company) who taught Sherry Yard, the famed pastry chef of Spago, how to make the Twix bar.  Essentially, it’s Ms. Yard’s version of the Twix bar in the form of a tart. 

Depending on whether you follow the recipe or its picture, the Halsey Tart is either a chocolate tart shell filled with whipped caramel cream and caramel in the centre, covered with a chocolate ganache glaze; or a freestanding cylinder of caramels (with no tart shell), sandwiched with two chocolate covered chocolate biscuits.

I decided to follow the picture and was doomed to failure when I didn't freeze the caramel until it was stable.  The result was something that looked much like a melted ice cream sandwich, and far from the pristine, perfect tart shown in the picture.  Trying to save the day, I went back to the recipe and filled some leftover tart shells with the caramels.  However, when I placed the chocolate biscuit to cover it, it looked ugly (maybe that’s why the picture is different from the recipe), so I fiddled around with it trying to present it as a tart with a sliding lid.  Unfortunately I broke the biscuit… and then I took my frustration out on the tart with a fork (as shown in the picture).  Can you blame me?  I had been cooking non-stop since 11:30 pm Friday evening and at that point it was already 11:00 am on Saturday morning.

I should probably mention that the Halsey Tart did actually taste quite nice.  Both caramels had a fair amount of crème fraîche in them, which gave them a tanginess that nicely balanced the sweetness of the caramel.  The bitter chocolate biscuit also contrasted nicely with the caramels in both flavour and texture. 

In any case, if you decide to make this someday, I’d recommend sticking with the recipe first.  Or if you do choose to take the sandwich approach, consider using ice caramel ice cream or freezing the caramels overnight before plating.

The second tart I made was Maury Rubin’s Square Pear Peg Tart from his cookbook Book of Tarts.  This was actually quite simple to make in that it just involved mixing pear purée with whipped cream before dusting the surface with sugar, and caramelizing it (similar to crème brulée).  Personally I didn’t enjoy this very much, since I don’t find pears and cream to be a great combination.

Finally, I made a Pear Frangipane tart.  A few weeks ago, I’d seen a similar tart at Toronto’s Alchemy Bakery, and being someone who regularly makes and loves to eat Dalloyau's Apple Frangipane tarts, I figured this wouldn’t be too difficult to make.  The tart I made consisted of Maury Rubin’s pate sucrée (which is a wonderful tart dough), a layer of almond cream, and two layers of bosc pear slices that had been baked with sugar and butter.  I then placed a small fornelle pear in the centre which I had cored and poached in pear juice.  After baking, I brushed the pear with apple jelly, and garnished it with pistachios.

I probably put a few too many pear slices in the tart because the almond cream didn’t puff up as much as I had hoped.  Or perhaps next time I’ll put the pear slices on the bottom and the almond cream on top.  In any case, this tart was delicious.  And I’ll include the recipe as soon as I can.

Comments

[Renee S.]

All that work for delicious specimens no doubt. Important thing is how it tastes, right? Just tell your guests to close their eyes when savoring the Halsey Tart. What amazes me most is that, despite an all-nighter, you're still off to Kristapson for smoked salmon! You crazy culinary trooper. I suppose that means no Pringles tonight... or would it be lobster? :) I'm digging through my 1.5lb beast as you stood me up for our Xao Long Bao/Chinatown/Kensignton tour. :P No hard feelings. Yummy. Have a great Father's Day dinner.

[Zarah Maria]

Wow! I don't care how that Halsey Tart look Clement - yor picture still makes me salivate!

[Jarrett]

Huh - was the Square Peg tart from Maury Rubin's book? If so, we used the same two books! How do you find his dough as compared to Sherry Yard's?

[Jennifer]

Oh, Clement I'm so sorry your Halsey Tart didn't work out perfectly - somehow being the SHF "mom" I feel like I exhausted you in some way this month with asking you to make tarts!

The other two do look fabulous and sound scrumptious - I can't wait to read the recipes. (Oh, and welcome back to blog-land!)

[Liz]

Clement,

Your tarts look so good! Although the Halsey tart might not resemble the picture it still very worthy of a taste.

[Clement]

Renée - Would you believe me if I said that I had planned it all in advance... Start cooking at midnight, and have everything ready by sunrise, so I can take pictures? It's much more efficient that way :) I'm sorry I ditched you on Saturday, but at least we were able to do it yesterday, minus the Xao Long Bao. Thanks so much for the tour - now I know where to get good stuff, and the places I should avoid. Also, if you have any leftover lobster, please feel free to bring some over!

Zarah Maria - Thanks, it actually tasted quite nice. Ugly but nice!

Jarrett - Yes, The Square Peg Pear Tart is from Maury Rubin's book. I prefer working with Rubin's dough, as it's quite forgiving, and its texture and flavour are both very nice.
(ed: only photos were posted at time of comment)

Jennifer - Don't worry! I'm just glad to be able to take part in SHF after such a long absence. I'm looking forward to Taste Canada and next month's SHF.

Liz - Thanks! Your Nutella Tart looks so decadent and delicious!

[Reid]

Hi Clement,

Glad to see you back in action with those tasty looking desserts of yours. As always, the presentation is excellent and the photography superb. I'm only sad to hear that the first tart didn't quite work out.

[Chocopie]

Although I'm a mania for chocolate, I have never imagined chocolate tart. I can't imagine it. Certainly chocolate goes well with pear

[sarah]

clement...your pictures always make me *sigh* even when it's something you call a "disaster," it's still gorgeous!

[Lynn]

There's twix in the form of a tart? I'm sorry it didn't look as perfectly as you wanted but even after you stabbed your fork into it, it still looked scrumptious!

[Ana]

That Pear Frangipane Tart looks so good Clement. Will have to try it.

[Clement]

Reid - Thanks for your kind words. More desserts coming up this weekend!

Chocopie - I think you're right - chocolate does go well with pear. I'll try it out sometime.

Sarah - You're much too kind!

Lynn - I think it's the same components of a Twix bar in the form of a tart. Hopefully next time it'll work - the recipe in the book doesn't actually look too hard. Too bad I didn't follow it!

Ana - Thanks; I liked the Pear Frangipane very much.

[Lyn]

Clemet, I absolutely love your pear tart. You're right. It is very refreshing to see a tart that amounts to more than just a poured filling. What great visual appeal! Bravo to you for posting about your Halsey Tart. I personally really appreciate learning from others - how else will we all improve?

As always, your photography is stellar!

[J]

hi clement, can i just say how much i enjoy reading about and looking at your fabulous creations? re: sherry yard - really love the book, but have noticed that quite a few of the recipes don't actually "match" the pictures!

[Farmgirl]

Hi, I just linked to your site through A Perfect Pear. It's really nice, but, Wow. THREE different amazing tarts, AND you stayed up all night making them? I feel like a slug. A hungry slug after looking at your great photos. I picked some raspberries in the garden yesterday and then made some tartlets with them. But I still feel like a slug. Great job! I'm inspired. Should probably have a tartlet first to raise my energy level. :)

[Clement]

Lyn - I was debating whether I wanted to only write about the pear tarts, or also include the Halsey Tart which didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. In the end I thought it would be make for a more interesting story to include my mistakes, rather than just showing my successes. It also gave me a chance to think about where I went wrong. Unlike professional chefs, I don't feel as though I have a reputation to uphold in my cooking, however as a food writer and blogger, I do think it's important that I'm comfortable talking about my experiences, whether they're successes or failures.

J - Thank you very much for your kind words. I'm very impressed with your blog and your cooking too! I think The Secrets of Baking is a great book. Everything is very well written and well explained. However my success so far with the recipes hasn't been that great. Of course, it usually takes me at least a couple trials with most recipes to produce something decent.

Farmgirl - Thanks for visiting. With regards to staying up all night to cook - I have a problem where once I start cooking, I can't stop! Time just flies by. And because it's at night, when I would normally be sleeping, I don't feel like I'm wasting my time. I hope your raspberry tarts make you feel less sluggish!