Variations on a Theme of Stuffed Apples.

Today I offer you a small collection of recipes for stuffed and baked apples. No commentary, except to suggest, as I have done in the past, that every ‘new’ recipe is merely a small or large spin on a pre-existing idea.

Firstly, a sweet version of the baked apple which is almost a confection, hailing from early in the nineteenth century:

Compote de Pommes farcies.
Stuffed Apples.

Are done as the white compote, if you chuse to stuff them with the same marmalade; otherwise boil apples pretty much gored, with a little water, sugar clarified, and bits of lemon peel: when done tender, stuff the apples with apricot marmalade, or any other sort; sift and reduce the syrup to a jelly, let it cool on a plate, and just warm it when you want to garnish the apples with it.

The Professed Cook (1812), by B. Clermont.

Now a savoury version which uses up leftover cold meat, and proves (if it needs proving) that the apple is an amazingly adaptable culinary ingredient.

Pommes Farcies.

Take some large apples, pare them, and from the stalk end cut out a good deal of the insides without cutting the fruit through; fill the orifice of each apple with a mince-meat of cold roast goose, duck, or even pork, well seasoned with the best white pepper and a little sage; put the stuffed apples into a baking dish, with a bit of butter under each, and bake for half an hour in a gay oven, basting them as they require it. Grate a little toasted bread over them before serving.

How to cook apples: shown in a hundred different ways of dressing that fruit (1865), by Georgiana Hill

A very simple version - but with a glamorous presentation:

Stuffed Apples.

A more showy dish is made by coring (with a corer) the whole pared apples, stuffing them with sugar and stewed raisins, and baking them quickly in the same way [in a hot oven, as per the previous recipe]. Pile them up before serving, en pyramide, and they will be an ornament fit for any table.

The Rural Carolinian, Volume 1 (1870)

And here is an interesting idea for ginger-lovers and peanut butter addicts:

Peanut Butter Stuffed Apples.

6 cooking apples

1 dozen gingersnaps, crumbled

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Wash and core apples and peel two thirds of the way down. Blend the gingersnap crumbs with the peanut butter and stuff the centres of the apples. Simmer the sugar and water together for five minutes and pour over the apples which have been placed in a 2-quart glass baking dish. Bake covered in a moderate oven (300 degrees F) until tender. Uncover till brown.

Washington Post; September 3 1935

Finally, a dish with a misleading name but which turns out to be stuffed apples nonetheless. Another savoury side-dish idea with a rather unusual combination of flavours.

Curried Apples.

Take medium sized tart apples - or any good baking apples - and prepare as you would for baking, peeling about one third of the way down, leaving enough of the skin at the bottom to keep the apples from falling apart when cooked. Mix together 1 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup grated American cheese, 1/2 teaspoonful curry powder, a pinch of salt and enough cream to moisten. Fill the apples with the mixture and cover the top with grated cheese and bake until the apples are done, but not too soft. Brown under the flame and serve with turkey, duck, or any kind of meat.

Washington Post Nov 20 1925 

Quotation for the Day.

All millionaires love a baked apple.
                        Ronald Fairbank, Vainglory