I just made a traditional German plum tart. No biggie.
We don't usually eat dessert, and I don't bake much, but this is Mr. Z's very, very favorite dessert and we can't find these plums very often here in America even when they're in season. Very tart, very delicious. Mr. Z bought them and he tells me the sign on them today said "Prune Plums" (What?)
Anyway, I love to cook, but I find that very few dishes give me the satisfaction that baking does. Who knows why. We each had a piece after dinner tonight and I thought I'd share the feeling with you...utter contentment. I made a tart. He liked it. Life is good. Of course, it would be better if I had some whipping cream because that's the way they serve it in Deutschland. I'll go tomorrow.......no sense not having the 'whole experience', right? (don't tell my hips, okay?!!)
"Why such a small piece?" asked Mr. Z. "Because we'll have another piece later, of course!" He nodded. Bake something sweet..........it's a nice feeling.
32 comments:
I'm calling to get a plane ticket right now. Save me some!!!
In Bavaria, this is called "Zwetschgendatschi", and Z's version is absolutely delicious!
If you want to come, you must come fast!
Mr.Z
And, OH, would we love to have you here, Pops! And Mrs. Pops, too..and the girls!
Mr. Z....thanks. Nothing like a well trained husband!!
xxxxxxxx
No, the situation is actually inverse - nothing better than to have a super chef in the house. You know, folks, I am having restaurant quality food every day .... how lucky is that?
Mr.Z
aww, that's sweet....literally, figuratively, and all ways in between.
thanks for sharing.
my family's favorite dessert is a coca-cola cake. that gets me the smoochies from my son, hugs from my brother and mother, and extra padding on my waistline. LOL
in texas, they're selling this "pluots" or "plumcots" - a hybrid between plums and apricots. i've been eating them like crazy. great flavor and texture.
mmmm, fruit is such a fabulous thing. dang it, now i'm hungry. look what you made me do! :-)
Sounds like Mrs. Z AND Mr. Z are equally fortunate!!! By the way (for Mr. Z) my favorite German sentence is:
Ich spiele in de strasse und das ist ganz gut!
It gives me the funniest looks from people who can't quite figure out if I meant to say that or if it was some sort of mistake. Kind of like you're probably looking at me right now. ;)
PLUMCOTS? that sounds absolutely DELICIOUS and TART, right??
Mr. Z. How much do you want for THAT comment?$$$ (thanks)
genug ist genug!! :-)
Pops! It depends on WASS DU SPIELST!!!!!
I'm also quite partial to the word "Sweinhund." Though I will save that word for much less agreeable company.
"Cause nothing says loving like something from the oven."
Isn't that just beautiful, the way this tart turned out?
I bet it is so rich .
I had a plum tree but the deer ate the bark off of it and a peach tree.
WVDOTTR
WV...the thing is it's not rich at all because the fruit stays fruity, tart and in tact...not mushy and too sweet..and it's only sitting on the pastry with a little sugar and cinnamon sprinkled over it before baking. That's the neat thing about it. I think you'd like it.
BUT with the whipped cream? OH, ya..tomorrow with that on top, it'll be more rich, you're right, there!!!
z, we would make a good team. i'm not a fan of baking but i LOVE to cook! :)
And the recipe is??
Looks great Z...
Save me a slice.
Prunes don't grow on the trees all wrinkly...
Back in the 60's when I lived in San Jose, we used to use plums for our "tree fort" fights. The forts were in the walnut trees, the plum trees were in between (and walnuts hurt too much)
Of course around Halloween time, it was always bellpepper fights...
I doubt that there are many plum trees left there, today... or bellpepper fields, for that matter.
For years I've puzzled over the distinction between cooking and baking that so many make. To me they've always been variations on cooking. What am I missing? I like to do both. Since I live alone and don't want to pig out on sweets I'll actually fire up the oven to bake myself one (large) cookie sometimes.
Oh, and I looked up recipes for German plum tarts just to get a feeling for it. Not a standard pie crust it seems, right?
As a person who loves to cook and does quite a bit, I'd say the difference is mostly measurements.....one has to be more exact with baking.
It's more a science than an art! Some of the best things I've come up with have been when I thought I had nothing in the house to cook with! The obvious differences are that flour/butter/sugar are usually used....
Maybe somebody else can be more articulate on that than I..I'd like to read it.
This is NOT a pie, it's a tart in a spring-form type pan, very shallow......it's not a pie dough, it's drier and you press it into the pan and up the sides instead of rolling it and laying it over a pan. It's firmer, thicker, and harder around the edges than a pie..it's just great.
I am a good cook and my sister is an excellent baker. They are certainly two different disciplines. I think that your assessment was correct Z. Baking is a science and cooking is an art. I would love to be a better baker but my cooking always get in the way. Part of it is what your natural talent is and part of it is what you really love to do. I can bake but I LOVE to cook. The real key to cooking is an understanding that the result is always the sum of the parts. The better, fresher, healthier ingredients you can get ahold of the better competed dishes you will have. That is the reason that I work a garden, hunt, and buy my meats whole from the field and have them processed by my own choice and in the way I want. It all comes from a love of cooking.
My Grandmother was German and made a mean German Plum Tart! You are making my mouth drool!! :)
My grandmother was very proud of her German heritage (on her father's side); she was an excellent baker and one of my favorite treats was rubarb pie. When I was young, I didn't realize how sour rubarb is, nor how much work Gram did to make it sweet inside the pie.
I miss her.
Hm, that was very informative about cooks and bakers, thank you.
Yes, baking does take more precision, but I've had fun coming up with creative baking alternatives when I'm out of some ingredients.
I didn't know a tart had a different kind of dough, that was informative too. Never done tarts.
AS for rhubarb, my Scottish Canadian grandmother grew it and made both pies and "relish" from it. The relish was ALWAYS on the table for "dinner" and "supper."
cj, one can be inventive when baking but the fundamentals must be there or things don't rise, or don't firm up. Other than that, you can substitute the fruit or the type of flour or the type of butter, etc...fillings, etc.
BUT, the pastry really has to have the correct proportions of baking soda vs flour vs baking powder, or whatever...see what I mean?\
I'd say these tarts are JUST about as tart as rhubarb! Hence, the sugar with a bit of cinnamon sprinkled all over it. AND we DID buy Whipped Cream today...Going to Mom's to take her to dinner and she'll be REAL happy with the dessert we're bringing!!
Yes if the fundamentals aren't there you have to expect a completely different outcome, but that's where the creativity comes in. If I don't have eggs I figure out what result I can get without them -- it will behave differently. If I don't have baking powder, then I have to expect a different outcome. If I don't have enough flour, what will happen if I substitute corn starch or oatmeal or both? If I'm out of sugar, would fruit juice or jam work for sweetening? Of course it's going to mean doing a different kind of dessert. Like, how about a biscuit sort of thing with a depression to hold some cornstarch-thickened fruit juice or lemon curd. If I add or don't add milk to the dough I'll get a completely different product that needs a different kind of baking, and so on. I just keep running various options through my head until a combo of what I've got on hand comes together and then I check cookbooks for proportions and baking temp and so on and a ballpark idea whether I'm going to get a coffee cake or a biscuit or a spongy madeleine type thingy or what. Sometimes I'll end up making a pancake on top of the stove. I can't say they're all great successes but as long as it's sweet and edible I'm usually happy.
well, great!
I guess my point is it won't be a cake or a tart if the ingredients aren't the basics. It can SURELY be something else..and DELICIOUS! it can be FAR better, why not?
I've done TONS of that kind of thing with cooking....some of the best dishes have been accidents and Mr. Z's said "Boy, you can DO this again" My standing joke back is "No, I can't..I have no idea what I DID?!"
z, the plumcots have a background of tartness, but it's mostly just really sweet and juicy.
BTW, all the bakers and cooks are invited to my house....papa, bring all the fresh fruits and veggies you can. z, bring whatever's left of the tart, and the baking supplies. cj, bring all you want.
as for me, i've got the dishes and the appetite. :-) hee hee hee
i live at...
555 Hungry Dr
Come cook for me, PLZ, 12345
:-)
How about this for a definition:
Baking is more about the chemistry of putting the ingredients together than cooking is.
Of course I can immediately think of how cooking involves lots of chemistry, especially in sauces, but it's more about flavoring rather than chemistry, isn't it?
Baking more chemistry, cooking more aesthetics? Though both involve both etc.
I'm going to drive myself crazy with this. But I do think I now understand better why people make that distinction that never made any sense to me before.
I think I'll go dream up a munchie to have when the news comes on.
Okay, not to throw much water on the cooks and bakers but...
Plato, "Gorgias" (search on "cookery")
POLUS: What sort of an art is cookery?
SOCRATES: Not an art at all, Polus.
POLUS: What then?
SOCRATES: I should say an experience.
POLUS: In what? I wish that you would explain to me.
SOCRATES: An experience in producing a sort of delight and gratification, Polus.
---
Now, seeing that there are these four arts, two attending on the body and two on the soul for their highest good; flattery knowing, or rather guessing their natures, has distributed herself into four shams or simulations of them; she puts on the likeness of some one or other of them, and pretends to be that which she simulates, and having no regard for men's highest interests, is ever making pleasure the bait of the unwary, and deceiving them into the belief that she is of the highest value to them. Cookery simulates the disguise of medicine, and pretends to know what food is the best for the body; and if the physician and the cook had to enter into a competition in which children were the judges, or men who had no more sense than children, as to which of them best understands the goodness or badness of food, the physician would be starved to death. A flattery I deem this to be and of an ignoble sort, Polus, for to you I am now addressing myself, because it aims at pleasure without any thought of the best. An art I do not call it, but only an experience, because it is unable to explain or to give a reason of the nature of its own applications. And I do not call any irrational thing an art; but if you dispute my words, I am prepared to argue in defence of them.
Cookery, then, I maintain to be a flattery which takes the form of
medicine; and attiring, in like manner, is a flattery which takes the form of gymnastic, and is knavish, false, ignoble, illiberal, working deceitfully by the help of lines, and colours, and enamels, and garments, and making men affect a spurious beauty to the neglect of the true beauty which is given by gymnastic.
Can I have a slice of tart now? ;-)
Took 3 pieces to Mom's tonight ... we all had some, with whipped cream, when we got home from dinner.
"OH, this is GOOD!" she said. "OH..this is REEEEEALLY good!"
yup.
average american..you don't REALLY want the recipe, do you? If so, let me know! It's not short, or I'd have posted it. It's certainly no secret!! Also, you only get these 'prune plums' for 2 weeks every year. ANY tart pastry would work with any good fruit.
cj...did you come up with something nice? I hope so!!
I'm on a diet. That means I can't even look at pretty pictures of things like this let alone read the recipes.
FT
Nothing really worth reporting about my TV meal. Heated up some broccoli soup I'd made the day before, boiled a potato to add to it. Quite tasty but just had to have something sweet so whipped some cream cheese with sugar and vanilla and a splash of milk and it made a wonderful creamy dessert.
I like to cook but I'm not a great cook. I'd much rather have someone else cook for me, especially somebody who's really good at it, so any time you want to get us all together to feed us, Z, I'll be there.
Prunes are to (Santa Clara) plums what raisins are to grapes. Currants are always called currants, whether they are fresh or dried.
Most raisins are dark and must, therefore, be made from red or black grapes, but white raisins have become popular too and must be made from green grapes.
If anyone knows what particular grapes are used to make traditional dark raisins, I'd love to know.
I don't believe that "prunes" are made from any kind of plum other than the small, dark blue Santa Clara variety. Always happy to learn I may be wrong about such things.
I believe fruit of almost any variety may be dried or otherwise preserved indefinitely.
FT
FT....in this case, I told Mr. Z the same thing, most of us know plums become prunes.. but the sign actually AT THE STORE says Prune Plums, or I'd not have told the name. VERY weird, isn't it?
Post a Comment