"The" tarte au citron of my dreams...

September 13, 2014 9:00 PM

There's heaps of tarte au citron recipes out there in the world, and I've tried a couple, but I wonder, Metafilter - what's your canonical recipe? While delicious, the texture of my filling is rarely the same as that I get in really good patisserie places, and sometimes the flavours seem a bit askew and imbalanced. Please hope me.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

I hate baking, I hate making desserts, but the recipe for "Colette's Lemon Tart" in Pedaling Through Burgundy is worth the hassle. I can't find a link to the recipe online, and I will not support illegal distribution of copyrighted material, but MeMail me for further information.
posted by jaguar at 9:43 PM on September 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

The filling from the french laundry cookbook lemon tarte is amazing, the pine nut crust on the other hand isn't my favorite. Here's a link to some dusty corner of the cnn website that has the recipe for whatever reason cnn might be hosting recipes...
posted by foodgeek at 10:03 PM on September 13, 2014 [1 favorite]

Haven't tried this recipe, but Felicity Cloake writes a great column in the Guardian that sifts through recipes for various dishes and explains the differences. Here's her column on tarte au citron.
posted by acidic at 12:32 AM on September 14, 2014 [4 favorites]

What is your canonical tarte? For me its the lemon curd type. I use David Lebowitz's recipe - which is really just a very nice lemon curd poured into a precooked shell and value quickly to set. Its pretty perfect if you like that style.
posted by JPD at 5:23 AM on September 14, 2014

Response by poster: JPD, I'm carefully avoiding taking a side on curd vs custard. I like both, slight preference for curd I guess.

Just made the Keller version, pine nut crust and all, review to follow shortly. Keep the suggestions coming though, please!
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 5:51 AM on September 14, 2014

In what ways is the texture of your filling falling short? If it's too lumpy, get yourself a chinois and run the filling thought that. If it's too grainy, use superfine (aka cake flour) flour and sift it.
posted by cooker girl at 6:42 AM on September 14, 2014 [1 favorite]

What cooker girl said, especially the chinois (every French patisserie, restaurant, and hole in the wall uses them to get velvety textures), but if I were thickening with anything other than egg yolks I'd use cornstarch rather than flour.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:40 AM on September 14, 2014

This lemon cream tart from Pierre Herme by way of Dorie Greenspan is a little finicky but if done right AMAZING. My favorite by a mile and really only two things, no bells and whistles--just the most luscious lemon cream ever, and a tart shell. Has gotten raves when I've taken it to parties.
posted by ifjuly at 12:30 PM on September 14, 2014 [2 favorites]

Heston Blumenthal.

Video.

Recipe.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 1:18 AM on September 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

I have a recipe from a 1995 issue of Gourmet Traveller that I cannot serve without someone asking for the recipe to this day. It is incredible. The crust has almond meal in it, which it what makes it the best lemon tart ever, imo.

Feel free to memail me for the recipe as it's quite long to post here.
posted by Zaire at 5:10 AM on September 15, 2014