The Tatin sisters in France invented this dish more than one hundred years ago. Not long after that it made its way to the palace and became a royal favorite. The dish is still served all across France, usually with a big bowl of crème fraiche. The royal family prefers it with a bowl of crème chantilly flavored with brandy—a lot of it.
If you can’t find lard, then shortening is a reasonable substitute. You can also make this using just European butter; it’s a lot richer and crumblier, but delicious.
Pastry
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ sticks (¾ cup) chilled unsalted butter
¼ cup lard or shortening
Cold water
Caramel
2 cups sugar
1½ cups water, divided
Filling
½ stick (¼ cup) unsalted butter
2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
¼ cup granulated sugar
1. For the pastry, pulse the flour and salt a few times in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, just to mix. Cut the chilled butter and lard into cubes, and add it to the flour mixture. Pulse briefly until the mixture forms little balls, like moist crumbs, with no chunks of butter or lard visible. Remember, you have to pulse, not run, the food processor.
2. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon cold water over the surface of the dough. Pulse once. Repeat with 2 to 3 more tablespoons and pulse briefly. Add more water if needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. The dough should be slightly sticky, but stiff enough to come together to form a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic. Form it into a flattened ball, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. For the caramel, bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Once the mixture comes to a boil, whisk gently, and then let it boil without stirring until the sugar is a golden caramel color. Working quickly, pour about one-third
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. of the caramel into the bottom of a lightly greased 9-inch cake pan, swirling the pan to get the caramel to cover the whole bottom. Set the cake pan aside.
5. Carefully add about ½ cup water to the remaining caramel in the saucepan, and let it cool.
6. For the filling, melt the butter in a skillet large enough to hold all the apples. Add the sugar, apples, lemon zest, and juice. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the apples start to soften. Remove from the heat, and allow the apples to cool, tilting the skillet so that the juices run off the apples. Arrange a portion of apple pieces in a decorative fashion on the bottom of the caramelized cake pan until the apples fill one layer. Then top with all the remaining apples.
7. Roll out the pastry dough to about ½ inch thick, and place the dough over the top of the apples, cutting around the edges of the cake pan to fit.
8. Place in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the caramel starts to bubble around the edges of the crust. Remove from the oven, and carefully invert the pan onto a warm plate. Pour the remaining caramel sauce over the top of the apples, and serve with whipped cream laced with brandy.
MAKES 6 SERVINGS