The Alchemy of Ordinary Things
There’s something about reading Maupassant that feels like biting into a perfectly ripe apple—the initial sweetness giving way to something more complex, even bitter, but utterly honest. His prose has that same quality of autumn light: beautiful in its clarity, yet tinged with the knowledge of darker days ahead.
Tonight, I’m making a Tarte Tatin while revisiting Maupassant’s novellas, and the pairing feels inevitable. This isn’t just any apple tart—it’s a dessert born of improvisation and accident, much like the lives Maupassant so masterfully chronicled. The Tatin sisters’ famous mistake, transforming what should have been failure into something sublime, echoes the way Maupassant’s characters navigate their own upheavals with quiet dignity.
The apples I’m using come from Normandy, that same northwestern landscape where Maupassant set so many of his stories—where apple orchards stretch beneath gray skies and the air carries the scent of sea salt and cidre. There’s an authenticity to these ingredients that mirrors his unflinching gaze at provincial French life. Nothing precious, nothing ornamental. Just butter, sugar, apples, and pastry, allowed to become something transcendent through patience and heat.
As the apples slowly caramelize, their transformation feels like a meditation on Maupassant’s own narrative gift: the way he could take the most ordinary materials—a woman’s life, a simple dinner party, a moment of disappointment—and through the alchemy of observation, reveal something profound. The butter and sugar meld and darken, becoming amber, then mahogany, just as his deceptively simple prose deepens into something rich with unspoken truths.
There’s a particular pleasure in this upside-down architecture, in the way the hidden becomes visible only when you dare to flip everything over. It reminds me of Maupassant’s technique—how he reveals character not through grand declarations but through small gestures, overheard conversations, the weight of what remains unsaid. The glossy caramel that crowns this tart was invisible during its making, developing in secret beneath the pastry, much like the inner lives of his characters beneath their social facades.
This is cooking that requires trust—trust that the sugar won’t burn, that the apples will soften without dissolving, that when you invert the tart, it will hold together. Reading Maupassant requires a similar faith: the willingness to sit with discomfort, to accept that not all stories end happily, that beauty and melancholy can share the same page, the same moment, the same bite of apple.
What writers transport you to a specific landscape, a particular season?
Description
Inspired by the apple-laden orchards of Normandy and the quiet, enduring beauty of Guy de Maupassant’s provincial narratives, this Tarte Tatin is a tribute to French classicism. This simple-yet-perfect upside-down tart, born perhaps from legend or tradition, transforms humble apples into a rich, golden, caramelized masterpiece.
Ingredients
For the Pâte Brisée (Shortcrust Pastry):
For the Filling and Caramel:
Instructions
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and a pinch of salt.
- Cut in Butter: Add the cold, cubed butter. Using your fingertips, quickly rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. It is crucial to work quickly so the butter remains cold.
- Add Liquid: Lightly whisk the egg with the cold water. Add this mixture to the flour and butter. Mix quickly with a fork or your hands until a cohesive dough forms. Do not overwork the dough.
- Chill: Form the dough into a disc, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Prep Apples: Peel, core, and quarter the apples. If they are very large, you may cut the quarters in half, aiming for uniform pieces.
- Make Caramel: Use a heavy, oven-safe skillet (cast iron is ideal, mine was a simple stainless steel frying pan), about 9-10 inches in diameter. Scatter the granulated sugar evenly over the bottom of the dry skillet with 50ml of water. Place over medium heat and allow the sugar to melt.
- Caramelize: Once the sugar begins to melt and turn amber around the edges, gently swirl the pan until the entire sugar layer has dissolved into a rich, deep golden-brown caramel.
- Add Butter: Carefully drop the butter into the hot caramel. It will bubble intensely. Swirl the pan to incorporate the butter fully.
- Layer Apples: Arrange the apple pieces tightly over the caramel in a decorative, upright pattern, starting from the outside and working your way in. The apples will shrink as they cook, so pack them in tightly.
- Preheat and Roll: Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350°F. Remove the chilled dough and roll it out into a circle slightly larger than the diameter of your skillet.
- Cover Apples: Lay the pastry circle over the top of the apples in the skillet. Gently tuck the edges of the dough down around the apples, slightly inside the pan’s rim. Cut a few slits in the top of the dough to allow steam to escape.
- Bake: Bake for 40 minutes, or until the pastry is deeply golden brown and puffed.
- Cool Slightly: Remove the tart from the oven and let it cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Do not let it cool completely, as the caramel will harden.
- Invert: Place a large serving plate (larger than the skillet) upside-down over the skillet. Using oven mitts, firmly press the plate against the pan and, in one swift motion, flip the tart over. Carefully lift the skillet. If any apples stick, gently replace them.
- Serve: Serve the Tarte Tatin warm, optionally with a dollop of crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.
Prepare the Pâte Brisée (Pastry)
Prepare the Apples and Caramel
Assemble and Bake
A Note from The Literary Kitchen
This Tarte Tatin is an homage to Maupassant’s ability to find beauty in the everyday. It is a dessert that requires patience—waiting for the caramel to turn golden, waiting for the pastry to brown—mirroring the slow, deliberate pace of provincial life he captured so well.
If you make your own version, I’d love to see it! Share your creation on Instagram with the hashtag #RitualOfReadingFood and tag @ritual_of_reading.Let’s gather our variations like a collection of short stories, each one rich and unforgettable.
Written by Alexandra Poppy
Writer, reader & curator of The Ritual of Reading
I’m Alexandra, the voice behind The Ritual of Reading. Somewhere between a stack of novels and a half-finished pot of tea, I keep finding traces of the life I want to live—slower, richer, filled with stories. The Ritual of Reading is where I gather what I love: books that linger, places with a past, and rituals that make ordinary days feel a little more meaningful. I write from Paris, where elegant bookshops and old-fashioned cafés offer endless inspiration—and I share it here, hoping it brings a spark to your own days, too.
