Tarte Bourdaloue

Between the white curves of the pears, the golden browned surface of the almond cream shows through. Tarte Bourdaloue is a French tart in which pears and almond cream are baked until fragrant. It is also called amandine aux poires, but the history of “Bourdaloue,” a name taken from a Paris street, also includes warm fruit desserts that do not fit within today’s pear tart.

A name from Rue Bourdaloue and the history of its pastry makers

Rue Bourdaloue in Paris’s 9th arrondissement is named after the preacher Louis Bourdaloue. What the pastry inherited was the name of the street; there is no story that the preacher himself created it.

According to the account handed down, Nicolas Bourgoin made a pastry of the same name at Lesserteur’s shop at No. 7 on the street, and his successor Fasquelle made a warm dessert of pears and frangipane sprinkled with crushed macarons. This history concerns pastry makers and a shop, but not every “Bourdaloue” of that time was today’s pear tart.

Baked cakes and fruit desserts recorded under the same name

“La Bourdaloue” in Pierre Lacam’s 1900 pastry book is a baked cake made from almonds, sugar, eggs and egg yolks, and starch, with whipped egg whites added. Kirsch is added to the batter, the cake is baked in a flat copper mold, and it is finished with a curaçao glaze and a cross. Pears do not appear, and the author records it as a creation of Lesserteur on Rue Bourdaloue. A cake of baked almond batter covered with a liqueur glaze, and a tart in which fruit is sunk into cream and baked: pastries with different ingredients and methods were made under the same name.

In addition to pears, Escoffier’s Le guide culinaire also includes “apricots Bourdaloue.” A blind-baked case is layered with frangipane containing crushed macarons and fruit poached in syrup, more cream and macarons are placed on top, melted butter is sprinkled over, and the surface is browned. It also lists versions in which the fruit is sandwiched between layers of cream inside the case, and versions that use rice, semolina or génoise around the fruit.

Even before today’s tart with pears arranged in a radiating pattern became known, the name Bourdaloue was used for a variety of desserts. Today there are also versions that replace the pears with apples; in all of them, the fruit is baked together with almond cream.

Cooking the pears while keeping their outline

Some methods use pears poached in syrup or pear halves preserved in syrup, while others use well-ripened fresh fruit. When poached pears are used, they are drained, cut into halves, slices or other shapes, and arranged. Even when sliced thinly, if the slices are transferred while keeping the outline of the half, fine parallel lines appear on the surface.

For the poaching syrup, some recettes (ingredient proportions and methods) combine not only vanilla but also cinnamon, cloves and star anise. Poaching softens the fruit while transferring the syrup’s aroma to the flesh. Draining and cooling the fruit after poaching makes the moist fruit ready to be placed on the pastry.

Akari Kyono of Pâtisserie Acacier uses well-ripened pears from Nagano Prefecture. In this recipe, the pears are sliced thinly while keeping the shape of the halves, arranged, and their juice is allowed to soak into the almond cream. The base is pâte feuilletée, made by folding butter into the dough to create layers, and the fresh pears and cream are baked together. Both the method that makes use of the shape and aroma of poached fruit and the method that lets the juice of ripe fruit soak into the filling are part of how this tart is made.

Almond cream and frangipane: names and proportions

One possible filling is almond cream, which combines butter, sugar, eggs and almond flour. When baked, it browns around the edges and forms a fragrant layer around the fruit. Other methods use what is called frangipane, which is almond cream combined with crème pâtissière.

In recette headings, the name frangipane is also used for mixtures that contain no milk custard. Whether milk custard is mixed into a nut-and-butter cream can be confirmed by looking at the ingredients and steps.

Baking with the filling, or blind-baking the tart shell first

For the outside, pâte brisée or a sweet tart pastry is used. In the method from the Larousse cookbook, the cream is spread in a pastry-lined tin, the pears are arranged like a crown, and everything is baked together. After baking, the tart is cooled slightly, removed from the tin, and served cold.

Some pastry chefs blind-bake the shell first. In Cédric Grolet’s published steps, a mixture of egg yolk and cream is brushed onto the blind-baked shell, which is baked again before being filled with almond cream. In addition to baking the base first, this method adds a step of brushing the inside with the egg yolk and cream mixture and baking it.

The pears can be cut into halves, quarters, slices or other forms and arranged. Glazing the tart with nappage after baking and scattering sliced almonds over it adds a nutty crunch on the surface as well, in addition to the ground almonds mixed into the filling.

Glossary