I·ATE: Szarlotka, tarte tatin and apfelstrudel for a tasty weekend!

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After a long and hard week let’s sweeten our weekend! This is why we have prepare a sweet and yummy proposal for you based on a healthy fruit: the apple! We will introduce you to the Polish szarlotka, French tarte tatin and Austrian apfelstrudel. Do you know them? Which one is your favourite?

IATE Food Term fo the week_szarlotka_tarte _tatin_and_apfelstrudel_

Szarlotka, otherwise known as Polish Apple Cake, is a very well-known dessert in Poland. It is a particular kind of dessert often made in a large square or rectangular tin and then cut into bars. The base is made with biscuit, a layer of deliciously soft cooked apples and a buttery sugary crumbly crumble. The crust is made with butter and egg yolks. Recipes can vary from home to home and also from region to region. Some szarlotki are made with grated crumbles of the crust on top, others are made with a lattice top and some just have a simple streusel.

In France they prepare a sweet called tarte tatin, which was created accidentally by two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin, at the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron in the 1880s. The apples started burning with some sugar and butter so one of the sisters tried to rescue it by turning it upside down putting the pastry base on top of the pan of apples. This version of the cake has had a big success among her hotel clients, so she started preparing it in this way instead of the traditional one. The picture below shows traditional Polish szarlotka and French tarte tatin.

Polish szarlotka and French tarte tatin

If we travel to Austria we can ask for a tasty apfelstrudel. It is is a traditional Viennese dessert prepared with an oblong strudel pastry jacket with an apple filling inside. The filling is made of grated cooking apples, some sugar and cinnamons together with some raisins and bread crumbs. The dough is not-too-sweet, thin and elastic with a difficult process of preparation. Filling is arranged in a line on a small section of dough, after which the dough is folded over the filling, and the remaining dough is wrapped around until all the dough is used. Then we bake and serve it warm (sometimes with some ice-cream and powdered-sugar) and served in slices.

There are so many different variants as this dessert is well-known in Europe. This is why if we travel to Slovenia we will eat jabolčni zavitek while in Hungary we can ask for a yummy almásrétes and there is also a German version of the apfelstrudel (not so different from the Austrian one but with a strong German taste). The picture below shows traditional Austrian apfelstrudel.

Apfelstrudel from Austria

How about your country? Which is the most traditional version for a classical apple pie? Do not hesitate to share it with us! Have a tasty weekend! 🙂


Olga Jeczmyk: Translator-Interpreter, Social Media and Content Manager as well as a former Communication and Terminology Trainee. Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament in Luxembourg.

Sources:

  • Cloake, F. (2017). How to cook perfect tarte tatin. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://bit.ly/2obWTsO (Accessed 30 Mar. 2017).
  • Harris, S. (2017). Stephen Harris: the story behind the classic tarte Tatin. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: http://bit.ly/2mSAxgq (Accessed 30 Mar. 2017).
  • Kazmierowicz, R. (2017). How to Make Delicious & Authentic Polish Apple Cake. [online] Snapguide. Available at: http://bit.ly/2oBm5FQ (Accessed 30 Mar. 2017).
  • Rolek, B. (2017). Authentic Polish Szarlotka (Apple Tart or Pie) Recipe. [online] The Spruce. Available at: http://bit.ly/2nynqOg (Accessed 30 Mar. 2017).
  • Slater, N. (2017). Easy-to-make apfelstrudel recipe [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://bit.ly/2nz9Ni3 (Accessed 30 Mar. 2017).