This is what the original "Plum Torte" looks like. Photo www.nytimes.com
When this season I saw another article on the Russian-language Internet with the title “Plum Pie from The New York Times”... I realized that I also had to say something about this, or even better, explain how it is there was in fact, because I always try to find out information first hand. Moreover, The first mention of this recipe in this newspaper was on September 21(hereinafter I will refer to the name of the newspaper as NT).
In my article I will give real references to the NT and a real, original recipe for this baking (and not even one, since it has official variations).
I baked THIS several times: with different plums and other fruits, with and without cinnamon, with different amounts of sugar, incl. as a sprinkle, with vanilla extract and almond extract, with white flour and whole wheat, etc., etc. Moreover, she baked without knowing about the existence of the famous “newspaper recipe,” because the proportions of the ingredients in it are almost classic, they can be found in almost any cookbook on European and American baking, published in any language. This is the main secret of the popularity of this “plum pie”.
Much of what you can read about this “plum pie” on the Russian-language Internet is a game of “broken phone.” When I learned about the existence of a specific “American recipe,” I studied all the original material about it, including individual culinary publications, except for the very first one, so I have something to say about both theory and practice.
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Firstly, it’s very easy to get acquainted with the original recipe, he: the latest version of the recipe and more than one hundred user comments (link opens in a new window). If someone doesn’t see anything on the link, then they need to register on the newspaper’s website. In return, you'll receive regular alerts from the NT's cooking column in your email, with new and old recipes, right with pictures (in English, of course). This culinary section also contains paid material, and articles about “plum pie” can also be accessed from the browser through the search and the “saved copy” option.
Secondly, there are separate explanations about this pie from both its authors and the newspaper itself. Articles in NT "The Story Behind Our Most Requested Recipe Ever", "5 Ways to Adapt Our Famous Plum Torte Recipe", "Crunchy-Topped Whole-Wheat Plum Cake", as well as various editions of "Elegant But Easy Cook Book" and book "The Essential New York Times Cookbook. Classic Recipes for a New Century" is the ultimate source for the recipe, its history and variations.
The true story, from beginning to end, can be found out if you simply type “plum torte new york times” into a search engine: the very first links in the list should be the original data.
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This pastry is originally called "Plum Torte", i.e. not “pie” (English “Pie”), but “Torte”. Very often on the foreign-language Internet it is called not "New York Times Purple Plum Torte", A "Marian Burros" Plum Torte or "Marian Burros and Lois Levine's Purple Plum Torte". That's because two main original recipes: one that was first published in the 1970s as a stand-alone cookbook, and one that was published in a newspaper in the 1990s. But they have one source: culinary columnist Marian Burros. In the NT she is never forgotten and is always mentioned in connection with this pie. Unlike Runet, all the recipes from foreign home cooks that I was able to review also mention Marian’s name, either in connection with NT or in connection with her cookbooks.
Marian Burros - American food columnist and writer. From 1974 to 1981 - food editor of The Washington Post. Since 1981, he has been a reporter, and since 1983, a columnist for The New York Times. She has published several cookbooks.
Marian Burros, now living, lives in New York. Photo gettyimages.ca, ediblegreenmountains.com
This is the main thing, because this is the main thing :) And now - details for those who, for some reason, cannot follow the links I provided.
Original recipe "Plum Torte". The latest version with plums, published in The New York Times.
Scans from the official NT website
"Original Plum Torte"
Ingredients:
3/4 cup (150 g) to 1 cup sugar (200 g)
1/2 cup softened butter (113 g - the same as 1 stick of butter)
1 cup unbleached flour (120 g), sifted
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt (optional)
2 eggs
24 purple plum halves
Sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon for topping
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 175-180°C (350°F = 176.667°C)
2. In a bowl, mix sugar and butter until creamy. Add flour, baking powder, salt, eggs and beat well.
3. Place the dough in a springform pan with a diameter of 20, 22 or 25 cm. Place the plum halves on the dough, skin side up. Sprinkle with sugar and add lemon juice (depending on the sweetness of the fruit). Sprinkle about 1 tsp. cinnamon (depending on how much you like cinnamon).
4. Bake for approximately 1 hour. Remove and cool (you can freeze if desired). Serve warm or chilled, optional with whipped cream. A frozen cake must first be thawed and reheated at 150 °C.
Here is this link, which also leads to the NT page (date September 21, 2005), It is recommended to bake the cake for 40-50 minutes.
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The same recipe, but with minor adjustments, was published by a culinary observer Amanda Hesser / Amanda Hesser in 2010 in the book "The Essential New York Times Cookbook", since more than 200 newspaper readers voted for its inclusion in the collection. Hesser herself called this recipe “almost perfect.”
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IMPORTANT!
The original recipes are given in American measuring cups (flour, sugar, butter) and “sticks” (butter in some recipe variations), so Russian-speaking cooks who copy each other’s recipes and indicate 250 g of flour and “plum” in the recipe must cut up", I strongly recommend studying the hardware, acquiring measuring cups, scales and using online converters to convert these very cups into grams and vice versa. Well, as always, I recommend very thoughtfully using “recipes from the Internet”, especially from “translated Russian ones”.
1 American measuring cup is approximately 200 g of white sugar or 215-220 brown sugar and from 90 to 160 g of flour (depending on its type).
Converting different types of flour from cups to grams very detailed painted, for example. For translations of other ingredients, see the same page (link opens in a new window).
Fahrenheit to Celsius converter: here (link opens in a new window).
According to the “settled” ones, i.e. According to official Soviet measures, 1 faceted glass contains 180 g of sugar and 130 g of flour, 1 tea glass - 230 g of sugar and 160 g of flour. All such tables, even with drawings of glasses filled with flour, were still in Soviet cookbooks. If someone has different glasses, traditions and taste preferences, then I have nothing more to say about this.
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How it all began. Marian got this recipe from her friend, with whom they published the first edition of the book "Elegant But Easy Cook Book" (authors Marian Fox Burros and Lois Levine). This happened, according to various sources, either in 1960 or 1962. In this book the recipe was called "Fruit torte / Fruit cake".
I haven’t yet come across the page with the original recipe from the very first edition of this book, so I don’t know what kind of flour, for example, was indicated there.
Photo www.nytimes.com
Almost 20 years later, when Marian became a columnist for the NT, she gave her own version of this recipe on the pages of this newspaper. The very first mention of plum cake in the NT is September 21, 1983. Link to 1983 article (opens in new window). The baking recipe was printed in the context of a regular newspaper article: it called for 1 cup of sugar, just “flour” and a 22cm diameter pan.
Information about what happened next is available both in the memoirs of Marian herself and in numerous NT articles. The fact that the recipe for plum pie was allegedly published “for 20 years in a row, and then with the threats of an angry editor” they stopped mentioning or publishing information about it in the NT, as some Runet cooks think - this is incorrect information.
The recipe appeared regularly in the NT every September from 1983 to 1988. In 1989, the editors decided that this was enough: they printed a version of the recipe for the last time (with a warning about it) - in large print and so that it could be cut out. It was in this version that the amount of sugar was already reduced from 1 cup to ¾. Readers still continued to ask about the plum cake recipe every year, so the authors and editors continued to work with it and constantly improved it.
In 1991, a new variation appeared from Marian herself: "New Age Plum Torte"(see further Part 2 of this article). In 1994 - a variation with cranberries and apples, although notes on recipes for replacing ingredients, incl. fruits have been done before. In total, this cake was mentioned in the newspaper 12 times. “Then newspaper clippings of recipes gave way to web pages and Pinterest boards. The cake found a new army of fans online,” is a quote from the official website of the newspaper.
In 2010 The book "The Essential New York Times Cookbook" was published, which also contained a recipe for this cake. To include certain recipes in this publication, a survey was conducted among newspaper readers. The book is very impressive: about 1500 pages, includes recipes from the mid-19th century to the present day.
Photo www.eat-drink-garden.com
Until now, year after year, the NT newspaper recalls this plum cake and almost regularly updates its recipe or provides links to old publications. Not to mention that all the old articles and links on this topic, incl. with the original recipe and its variations can be easily found on the official website of the newspaper.
In reprints of the book "Elegant But Easy Cook Book" this pastry is called "Purple Plum Torte" and several recipe options are also given.
As far as I could understand, all variations of "Fruit Cake" are associated with the personal preferences of their authors and readers. So, over time, the amount of sugar in the recipe was reduced and recommendations appeared to use unbleached flour, but Amanda Hesser indicates all-purpose flour and says that 1 cup of sugar and plum is, from her point of view, the best option and that there is no innovation here needed.
I repeat: I don’t know what the very first version looked like - the version of the 1970s - but this, by and large, no longer matters, because this recipe has been edited many, many times by ourselves since then and taking into account modern realities authors and their fans.
So winter has decisively declared its rights, leaving no doubt that it has come for a long time. You can have different attitudes towards this time of year, but who would argue that traditional entertainment in the cold - drinking tea in a warm company with a freshly baked pie is a very pleasant activity?
The heroes of various issues of the culinary-intellectual project “Key-Media”, through complex experiments and intense search, found dishes worthy of the title “trend of the season.” But in the history of gastronomy there are culinary creations that have become a symbol of one time or another of the year. This is what happened with plum pie, the recipe for which The New York Times first published in 1983.
Trying the patience of NYT food editor Marian Burross, who suggested this version of the pie during plum season, readers clamored for the recipe again and again until 1995. When Marian threatened that she was publishing it for the last time, she circled the text with a dotted frame, advising her to cut out and save the note, the editors were inundated with letters, including collective ones, even verses were composed in honor of the popular dessert. In this stream of correspondence there was also a message where Plum Torte was called the symbol of the season: “Summer is leaving, autumn is coming - that’s what your annual recipe represents. Don't be mad at us."
Now all over the world they know how to cook “that same” pie. And yet, Culinary Answer expert Dmitry Orlovsky, having received a letter from a resident of Vladimir asking him to adapt the legendary recipe, became thoughtful. Not only is late autumn in New York very different from this time in our latitudes, but American weight measures are not similar to Russian ones. For example, “1 cup” - how much is it in grams or milliliters?
Olga Orlova, who sent a letter to the brand chef of the Roulet culinary studio, has already tried experimenting with flour and plums:
Judging by the description, plum pie is not difficult to prepare, but something is going wrong for me. The crust on top is too brown, and the dough inside is not fully baked. That’s why I asked Dmitry to “translate” the classic recipe into a format familiar to Russian housewives, to clarify such subtleties as oven heating temperature and baking time. I have a very good oven, and I cook with pleasure. Having gained experience in the kitchen, I have turned cooking into a beautiful process that fascinates me more and more. That's why it's important to me that my experiments are successful.
One of The New York Times publications with a list of ingredients of America’s “favorite”:
In a rough translation floating around the Internet, it looks like this: 170-225 grams of sugar. This discrepancy arose due to the fact that the original recipe in 1983 suggested using 225 grams of sugar, and in 1989 a version was published with less sugar - 170 grams. One overseas cup contains 110 grams of flour, but 115 grams of butter. The only thing that is certain is the number of eggs - 2 and plums - 24 halves. But after Dmitry’s phrase that our eggs and plums are also not the same as in New York, it became clear to Olga that she, together with the Roulet brand chef, would have to create a new history of the timeless culinary classics.
In the multinational gastro show “Key-Media”, history is always closely intertwined with geography. And the heroes of our delicious column study gastronomic geography in the Globus hypermarket. In its departments you can find products for the most intricate dishes from the menus of different countries. One variation of Plum Torte suggested using whole wheat flour. For adherents of a healthy diet, it will not be difficult to choose a suitable position on the shelves of a hypermarket and bake a healthy dessert.
What attracted me so much to the recipe for the pie from the New York Times, besides its history itself, says Olga, is that its main component is plums. I really love vegetables and fruits. My childhood was spent in Tiksi, where there were very few of them. Have you noticed that only children from the North eat almost the entire apple, leaving a small core? Now I have a new hobby: how to preserve fruits and vegetables for the winter, saving maximum nutrients. We bought a dehydrator and now we can make very original preparations. I want to make “dry” vegetable soups, which you just need to dilute in hot water. Our two daughters study in Minsk. How can a mother show her care from a distance? Only with food. I already send them marshmallows and marshmallows, which turn out amazingly delicious.
And Olga showed a message from her daughter, a student at a theater university: “Mom, I’m sitting in class and slowly gnawing on your marshmallow.”
By the way, one of the advantages of American plum pie is that it can be frozen and then quickly reheated. And it does not lose its taste,” Olga clarified.
Dmitry Orlovsky planned to carry out Operation Cake in the Big City as quickly as possible and with minimal losses. And Olga Orlova was quite suitable for the role of strategic partner of the brand chef of the Roulet culinary studio. She hones her reaction speed, tactical and strategic planning skills in team intellectual games.
We called our team “Glaunya”, this reflected women’s interest in cooking and housekeeping. And besides, scrambled eggs look like the eyes of an owl, a symbol of intellectual games,” the heroine of “Culinary Answer” clarified.
Friends of the Orlov family believe that the hostess succeeds in any dish. And they especially note that all of Olga’s creations are not only tasty, but also aesthetically designed and beautifully presented. Olga considers the search for beauty and pleasure in any process to be her life principles. And even in the kitchen, in her opinion, a woman should look stunning.
BY THE WAY: Olga Orlova buys original and spectacular jewelry in a stylish jewelry store in the Kreiser shopping center. The collections presented in the assortment reflect modern fashion trends, create a special mood, awaken bright emotions and emphasize the individuality of their owners. Jewelry today has become a social marker, emphasizing and raising the status of the owner. Coco Chanel also said that women with good taste wear jewelry. The store's jewelry stylist will help you choose exactly your accessory that matches the style of an active, free and courageous city woman. You can explore the assortment in " Instagram ».
Culinary studio Roulet is also a stylish and creative space. Its main decoration is modern kitchen appliances, impressive in power, functionality and exquisite design. Olga immediately appreciated this, as soon as she began to beat the dough.
I was even more amazed by how Dmitry breaks the shells of eggs in just a moment,” admitted the heroine of the culinary show.
Place the mixture in a mold and place 24 plum halves on top. Marian Burros warned American cooks that it is normal for plums to drown during baking. Sprinkle the pie with a mixture of powdered sugar and cinnamon. Their quantity depends on the sweetness of the plums and on your attitude to the spice. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 40 minutes.
While the classic plum dessert was reaching perfection, Dmitry, for an encore, caramelized plum halves with sugar in a hot saucepan and added dough to this hot mixture. It is prepared very simply: 3 eggs, 6 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons of flour. Lemon juice and zest will add a fresh and tart note to the dessert. At 180 degrees, this cake is baked for no more than 10 minutes.
Today the classic recipe for American plum pie was reproduced and Dmitry’s original version was prepared. It’s even difficult for me to say which dessert is better. What Dima showed once again proves that any experiment has a right to exist. And I really liked his upside down cake. But the main thing is that I realized what needed to be changed in the process of preparing the classic dessert. I put less butter, and the shape was too large in diameter, so the layer of dough turned out thin. Now I’ll try to bake it the way the master showed.
I have time to experiment, because you can buy frozen plums in the Globus hypermarket even in winter. Thanks to the Key-Media project, I spent this day interesting and tasty, and also received a highly professional answer to my question. So I invite all readers not to be shy, ask Dmitry about various culinary tricks and expand their culinary knowledge.
To more clearly formulate a question to Dmitry Orlovsky or find a worthy topic for discussion in the Roulet culinary studio, we recommend drinking aromatic tea with a good piece of plum pie. Decide for yourself which recipe to choose.
INGREDIENTS:
for NYT pie:
flour – 200 g;
butter – 200 g;
sugar - 200 g;
eggs – 2 pcs.;
plum – 12 pcs.;
baking powder - 1 teaspoon;
lemon juice – 2 tablespoons;
powdered sugar and cinnamon - to taste;
for dessert from Dmitry Orlovsky:
plums – 6-7 pcs.;
eggs – 3 pcs.;
flour – 3 spoons
sugar – 6 spoons,
lemon juice and zest - to taste.
New York Times plum pie is a legendary pie with a very interesting recipe behind it. American plum pie became a symbol of the passing summer for many Americans at the end of the last century. Marian Berroz, the author of the recipe, dedicated it to the beginning of the season of plums, which were sold everywhere at an attractive price. From 1983 to 1989, the New York Times published Marian Burrose's recipe every September. Readers flooded the editors with letters of gratitude and requests to publish the recipe next season. After six years of publication and a continuous stream of reviews, the New York Times printed the plum pie recipe in large format and even outlined it with a dotted line so that housewives would finally cut it out and stop bothering the editors. After which a statement was made about the last publication of the recipe. What started here! Angry letters poured in, and one reader explained the significance of the annual publication of the pie: “The appearance of this recipe is bittersweet, like the pie itself. Summer is leaving, it is replaced by autumn. Your annual recipe epitomizes this. Don't be angry with us."
Since its first publication, the American Pie recipe has changed slightly. So, the first version calls for 1 cup of sugar, and the 1989 recipe calls for three-quarters of a cup. Options have appeared with apples and cranberries - other symbols of autumn. Then a summer version of the recipe came out with blueberries and pears. What explains the popularity of plum pie? Its dough is very tender, with a creamy flavor from the butter and a crispy crust. The pie is prepared quickly, if not instantly. Products are always at hand. I stick to the classic recipe and invite you to prepare with me step by step a fragrant symbol of the passing summer. You can get creative and add things to the recipe as you go. I hope that for my readers the publication of this pie will grow into something more than just a recipe.
- 3/4 tbsp. sugar + 2 tbsp. for powder;
- 113 g butter;
- 1 tbsp. flour;
- 2 eggs;
- 1 tsp baking powder for dough;
- a pinch of salt;
- 12 plums of the prune, Hungarian, etc. variety;
- 1 tsp cinnamon.
1. We select plums from which the pit can be easily separated from the pulp. Hungarian and prune plums are also very aromatic, dense and juicy. Cut the washed plums into halves lengthwise and remove the pits. The classic recipe uses 12 small plums.
2. In a separate bowl, mix cinnamon and sugar for dusting. If you are preparing a pie in a small form, about 20 cm in diameter, there is even a lot of this powder.
3. Combine sugar with eggs. The original 1983 recipe calls for exactly 1 cup of sugar, but even with 2/3 cup the pie seems quite sweet.
4. Beat everything into a homogeneous mass until bubbles appear.
5. Add flour to the beaten eggs. It is advisable to sift it. This way we will saturate it with oxygen, and the cake will turn out truly airy. And with the help of a sieve, we will separate solid and foreign particles from the flour, which can spoil the taste of the pie. Now add baking powder, a pinch of salt and add soft butter (or margarine). For convenience, a couple of hours before preparing the cake, we will leave the butter to sit at room temperature, and we will not have to resort to additional softening procedures. By the way, the original recipe says that it is not necessary to add salt, but it is a natural flavor enhancer that will not harm the pie.
6. Beat thoroughly dough whisk ohm You can do it with a spoon, but it takes longer and is more difficult. From the photo in the recipe you can see that the consistency of the dough is thick, and the color depends on the eggs.
7. Don't go to the bottom b ol shoy r A removable form cover with parchment paper. Grease the walls with oil so that the cake separates well.
cover the bottom of the springform pan with bee bread ament oh, lubricate the walls
oil
8. Place thick dough into the mold.
9. Level the mass with a spoon.
10. Place the plums on top, cut side up, so that they are well baked. From halves of plums you get “boats” in which the aromatic plum juice will be retained. We do not press down the halves; during the baking process they will sink a little due to the fact that the dough rises. If the fruits are large, you will need less of them than indicated in the list of ingredients. It is necessary that they all fit evenly into the mold.
The plum trees at the dacha have finally grown. The harvest was enough not only to eat delicious fruit, but also to bake a plum pie according to the New York Times recipe. This pastry interested me in its simple preparation and also in its history.
Believe it or not, the New York Times published this recipe for 12 years in a row. It was first published in September 1983. The plum season was beginning and culinary section editor Marian Burros decided to publish her friend’s recipe.
After publication, the editors received rave reviews throughout the year and decided to publish it again next season. Then, under the pressure of readers, again and again. Before the start of the next plum season, the editor began to receive letters with questions:
“Isn’t it time to publish a recipe for plum pie?
“Are you planning to publish a recipe for plum pie this year?”
In 1995, the last publication was made; the editors warned readers about this, suggesting that they cut out the recipe and save it.
I suggest you try baking this popular American pie from the New York Times, that’s what they call it now. It's simple and quick to make - ideal for busy housewives.
Plum pie - recipe from the New York Times
Ingredients:
- butter - 120 gr
- granulated sugar - 170 g + 20 g for sprinkling
- eggs - 2 pcs
- flour - 160 gr
- baking powder - 1 tsp.
- a pinch of salt
- cinnamon
- plums - 10 - 12 pcs
Step by step recipe:
Plum pie, made according to the New York Times recipe, turns out very beautiful and tasty. Due to the sugar sprinkled on top, the plum fruits are slightly caramelized, retain their shape and pleasantly combine with the delicate, creamy taste of the baked dough. Be sure to try it!
Watch the video for another version of baking with plums.
Plum pie from Yulia Vysotskaya - video recipe
The dough in this recipe is very similar, but it has its own twist, I wanted to try it, maybe it will interest you too.
Elena Kasatova. See you by the fireplace.
The New York Times' Famous Plum Pie!
If you haven't tried it yet, be sure to try it ;)
Pie recipe (24 cm tin)
115 g butter
150 g sugar
a pinch of salt
2 eggs
120 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
plums
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Cream for serving
Good afternoon friends! Today we will talk about the legendary plum pie from The New York Times newspaper. The history of this pie is very fascinating. If you are interested, be sure to read it on the Internet, but I want to tell you that the recipe for this pie has been reprinted in this newspaper a huge number of times. Why did American housewives love him so much? And because it is very simple to prepare, literally in a matter of minutes, and the ingredients for its preparation can be found in any kitchen. Now is the plum season, so the recipe will be especially relevant. It can also be prepared with other berries and fruits. I love this apricot and fig pie.
And so, there are several variations of this recipe, but I liked this one the most. We will need 120 grams of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 150 grams of sugar, 2 eggs, 115 grams of butter at room temperature, a dozen plums, but the quantity depends on their size. For sprinkling - 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. If you don't have brown sugar, use regular white sugar and add cinnamon if desired.
First of all, beat the butter, add a pinch of salt and sugar to the butter and beat at high speed for several minutes until light and fluffy. The oil must be at room temperature, so remove it from the refrigerator in advance and let it warm up for about an hour or two. The optimal temperature for whipping butter is approximately 21 degrees. Beat the butter well, then add the eggs one at a time. It is also advisable to use eggs at room temperature. After each addition, beat for a few minutes at high mixer speed. Beat the butter and eggs well. The result should be a fluffy light mass. Now we will add dry products. Add baking powder to the flour, mix and sift. The flour must be sifted in order to saturate it with air. Then the baked goods turn out fluffier, more airy. Mix the dough until smooth and homogeneous. The dough is not too thick, but not liquid either. Set it aside and start preparing the filling.
Wash the plums, cut them into halves and remove the pit. I like to use plums for pie that are denser and have a noticeable sourness.
Now we need a mold with a diameter of approximately 24 cm. You can use a pie pan, a biscuit pan, or a springform pan. I have a tart pan with a removable bottom. When baking, the pan must be greased with butter.
Place the prepared dough into the mold and distribute it in an even layer. Next, lay out the plum halves, lightly pressing them into the dough. Sprinkle the top of the pie with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. It is also recommended to sprinkle sweet fruits with a little lemon juice. Bake the pie in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for about 45-50 minutes.
The finished plum pie can be served either warm or cooled. It can also be frozen and reheated before serving. This pie goes great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
As you can see, the pie is very simple and quick to prepare. It turns out tender, very aromatic and will certainly delight you with its taste. Be sure to try cooking it!
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