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Almond Crisp-tart

A historical recipe from The Italian Cook Book The Art of Eating Well, by Maria Gentile (1919).

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A historical recipe

The Italian Cook Book The Art of Eating Well; Practical Recipes of the Italian Cuisine, Pastries, Sweets, Frozen Delicacies, and Syrups, by Maria Gentile (1919). Project Gutenberg eBook #24407.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.

Italy

Known as an Italian recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. Sweet almonds, four and a half ounces.
  2. Granulated sugar, three and a half ounces.
  3. Skin the almonds, divide the two parts and cut each part into small pieces.
  4. Put these almonds so cut at the fire and dry them until they take a yellowish color, but do not toast.
  5. Meanwhile put the sugar on the fire in a saucepan and, when it is perfectly melted, pour the almonds hot and already slightly browned.
  6. Now lower the fire and be careful not to allow the compound to be overdone.
  7. The precise point is known when the mixture acquires a cinnamon color.
  8. Then pour little by little in a cold mold, previously greased with butter or oil.
  9. Press with a lemon against the walls of the mold, making the mixture as thin as possible.
  10. Remove from the mold when perfectly cooled and, if it is difficult to do so, dip the mold in boiling water.
  11. The almonds can also be dried in the sun and chopped fine, adding a small piece of butter when they are in the sugar.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Saucepan
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board
Source Public domain in the USA
Credit

From The Italian Cook Book The Art of Eating Well, by Maria Gentile (1919). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #24407 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24407). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.