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, and even better - explain how it was there was in fact, because I always try to learn information first-hand. 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 NT and a real, original, recipe for these baked goods (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. sprinkled, with vanilla extract and almond, with white flour and whole grain, etc., etc. Moreover, she baked, not knowing about the existence of the famous "newspaper recipe", because the proportions of the ingredients in it are almost classical, they can be found in almost any cookbook on European and American pastries, published in any language. This is the main secret of the popularity of this "plum cake".

Much of what you can read about this "plum pie" on the Russian-speaking Internet is a game of "spoiled phone". When I found out about the existence of a particular "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.

***** ***** *****

First, it's very easy to get to know 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 does not see anything using the link, then you need to register on the newspaper's website. In return, you will receive regular notifications from the NT cooking column with new and old recipes, right with pictures (in English, of course) in your e-mail. This culinary section also contains paid material, and articles about "plum cake" can also be accessed from the browser through the search and the "saved copy" option.

Secondly, there are separate explanations about this cake both from its authors and from the newspaper itself. NT articles "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 the book "The Essential New York Times Cookbook. Classic Recipes for a New Century" are prime sources for the recipe, history, and variations.

The true story, from beginning to end, can be found by simply typing "plum torte new york times" in a search engine: the very first links in the list are the original data.

***** ***** *****

This pastry is originally called "Plum Torte", i.e. not "pie" (English "pie / pie"), but "torte / cake". 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 "... All because main original recipes two: the one that was first published in the 1970s in a separate cookbook, and the one that was already published in the newspaper in the 1990s. But they have the same source: culinary columnist Marian Burros. In NT it is never forgotten and is always referred to in connection with this pie. Unlike Runet, all the recipes from foreign home cooks that I was able to revise also mention the name Marian either in connection with NT, or in connection with her cookbooks.

Marian Burros - American food reviewer and writer... From 1974 to 1981 - food editor of The Washington Post. Since 1981 - a reporter, and since 1983 - a columnist for The New York Times. She has published several cookbooks.

Marian Burros, now alive, 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 have indicated.

The original recipe for "Plum Torte". The latest version with plums, published in the newspaper "The New York Times".

Scans from the official NT web site

"Original Plum Torte"

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (150 g) to 1 cup sugar (200 g)
1/2 cup softened butter (113 g - same as 1 stick of butter)
1 cup (120 g) unbleached flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt (optional)
2 eggs
24 halves of purple plums
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. Put the dough in a split mold with a diameter of 20, 22 or 25 cm. Put the plum halves on the dough, skin side up. Sprinkle with sugar, pour over with lemon juice (depending on the sweetness of the fruit). Sprinkle with about 1 tsp. cinnamon (depending on how much you like cinnamon).

4. Bake for about 1 hour. Take out, cool (if desired, you can freeze). Serve warm or chilled, or with whipped cream. The frozen cake must first be defrosted and reheated at 150 ° C.

Here is the link, which also leads to the NT page (date September 21, 2005), it is recommended to bake the cake for 40-50 minutes.

***** ***** *****

This same recipe, but with minor adjustments, was published by a culinary reviewer Amanda Hesser in 2010 in "The Essential New York Times Cookbook", since more than 200 readers of the newspaper voted for its inclusion in the collection. Hesser herself called this recipe "almost perfect".

***** ***** ****

IMPORTANT!

The original recipes are given in American measuring cups (flour, sugar, butter) and "sticks" (stick; butter in some variations of the recipe), so Russian-speaking cooks who rewrite recipes from each other and indicate 250 g of flour and "plums" in the recipe slice up ", I strongly recommend that you study the materiel, get measuring cups, scales and use online converters to convert these same cups to grams and vice versa. Well, as always, I recommend very thoughtfully to use "recipes from the Internet", especially from "translated Russian".

1 measuring American cup is about 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 scheduled, for example. For translations of other ingredients, see ibid (link opens in a new window).

Fahrenheit to Celsius converter: here (link opens in a new window).

By "settled", ie. to official Soviet measures, 1 faceted glass holds 180 g of sugar and 130 g of flour, 1 teacup - 230 g of sugar and 160 g of flour. All similar tables, even with pictures 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.

***** ****** ******

How it all began. Marian received this recipe from a friend of hers, with whom she and she published the first edition of the Elegant But Easy Cook Book (authors Marian Fox Burros and Lois Levine). It was, according to various sources, either in 1960 or in 1962. In this book, the recipe was called "Fruit torte".

I haven’t come across a 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 an NT columnist, she published her own version of this recipe on the pages of this newspaper. The very first mention of plum cake in NT - September 21, 1983 Link to 1983 article (opens in a new window). The baking recipe was printed in the context of an ordinary newspaper article: it lists 1 cup of sugar, just "flour" and a 22 cm diameter baking dish.

Information about what happened next is in the memoirs of Marian herself, and in numerous NT articles. The fact that the plum cake recipe was allegedly printed "20 years in a row, and then with the threats of an angry editor" they stopped mentioning or printing information about it in NT, as some Runet cooks think, is incorrect information.

The recipe was regularly printed in NT every September from 1983 to 1988. In 1989, the editors decided that this was enough: it was like the last time (with a warning about this) the version of the recipe was printed - 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 continued to ask about the plum cake recipe every year anyway, 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 made before. In total, this cake was mentioned in the newspaper 12 times. "Then the newspaper clippings of recipes gave way to web pages and Pinterest boards. The cake found a new army of fans online," - this is a quote from the official website of the newspaper.

In 2010 year the book "The Essential New York Times Cookbook" was published, where there was also 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 1,500 pages, includes recipes from the mid-19th century to the present day.

Photo www.eat-drink-garden.com

Until now, from year to year, the NT newspaper remembers this plum cake and almost regularly updates its recipe or gives links to old publications. Not to mention the fact that all old articles and links on this topic, incl. with the original recipe and its variations, you can easily find on the official website of the newspaper.

In the reprints of the book "Elegant But Easy Cook Book" this pastry is already called "Purple Plum Torte" and there are also several recipe options.

As far as I could understand, all variations of "Fruit Cake" are related to the personal preferences of their authors and readers. So, over time, the amount of sugar in the recipe was reduced and recommendations appeared to take unbleached flour, but Amanda Hesser indicates general-purpose flour and says that 1 cup of sugar and plums is, from her point of view, the best option and that there are no innovations here are needed.

I repeat: what the very first version looked like - the version of the 1970s - I do not yet know, but this, by and large, does not matter anymore, because this recipe has since then and taking into account modern realities been edited many, many times by ourselves authors and their fans.

So winter has resolutely declared its rights, leaving no doubt that it has come for a long time. You can treat this time of year in different ways, but who would argue that the traditional entertainment in the cold - drinking tea in a warm company with a freshly baked pie is a very pleasant experience?

The heroes of various issues of the culinary-intellectual project "Key-Media" in the course of difficult 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 this or that season. This happened with plum cake, the recipe for which was first published by The New York Times in 1983.

With the patience of NYT Culinary Editor Marian Burroughs, who proposed this version of the pie in plum season, readers clamored to print the recipe over and over again until 1995. When Marian threatened to publish it for the last time, circled the text with a dotted frame, advising to cut and save the note, the editorial office was inundated with letters, including collective ones, they even composed poems in honor of a 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 - this is what your annual recipe personifies. Don't be angry with us. "

Now in all countries of the world they know how to cook the "same" pie. And nevertheless, Dmitry Orlovsky, an expert of "Culinary Answer", having received a letter from a resident of Vladimir with a request to adapt the legendary recipe, became thoughtful. Not only late autumn in New York is 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 culinary studio Roulet, has already tried experimenting with flour and plums:

Judging by the description, it is not difficult to make a plum cake, but something is going wrong with me. The crust is too brown on top, and the dough inside is not completely baked. That is why I asked Dmitry to "translate" the classic recipe into a format familiar to Russian housewives, to clarify such subtleties as the oven heating temperature and baking time. I have a very good oven and I enjoy cooking. Having gained experience in the kitchen, I turned cooking into a beautiful process that more and more fascinates me. This is why it is important for me that my experiments are successful.

One of the publications of The New York Times with a list of the ingredients of America's "favorite":

In an approximate translation, walking on the Internet, it looks like this: 170-225 grams of sugar. This discrepancy arose due to the fact that the original 1983 recipe suggested using 225 grams of sugar, and in 1989 a version was published where sugar was less than -170 grams. One overseas cup contains 110 grams of flour, but butter - 115. There is no doubt only 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, Olga realized that she, together with the Roulet brand chef, would have to create a new story of the unfading classics of cooking.

In the multinational gastro show Klyuch-Media, history is always closely intertwined with geography. And the heroes of our delicious section are exploring gastronomic geography in the Globus hypermarket. In its departments you can find products for the most intricate dishes from the menus of various countries. One variation of Plum Torte suggested using whole grain flour. For adherents of healthy eating, 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 a pie from the New York Times, besides its very history, - says Olga, - is the fact 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 an apple almost entirely, leaving a small stub? Now I have a new hobby: how to preserve fruits and vegetables for the winter, preserving the maximum of nutrients. We bought a dehydrator and now we can make very original blanks. I want to cook "dry" vegetable soups, which you just need to dissolve in hot water. Our two daughters study in Minsk. How can a mother show her care at a distance? Only with food. Pastila and marshmallows, which I get amazingly tasty, I already send them.

And Olga showed a message from her daughter, a student of a theater university: “Mom, I’m sitting in class and slowly gnawing at your marshmallow.”

By the way, one of the advantages of the American plum cake is that it can be frozen so that it can be quickly reheated later. And he does not lose his taste, - said Olga.

Dmitry Orlovsky planned to carry out the operation "Cake in the Big City" as quickly as possible and with minimal losses. And Olga Orlova was quite suitable for the role of a strategic partner of the brand chef of the culinary studio Roulet. She hones her responsiveness, tactical and strategic planning skills in team-based intellectual games.

We named our team "Glazunya", which reflected the female interest in cooking and household. And besides, the scrambled eggs look like the eyes of an owl, a symbol of intellectual games, - clarified the heroine of "Culinary Answer".

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 decorated, 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.

BTW: Olga Orlova buys original and spectacular jewelry in a stylish costume jewelry store in the Kreiser shopping center. The collections presented in the assortment reflect modern fashion trends, create a special mood, awaken vivid emotions and emphasize the individuality of their owners. Jewelry today has become a social marker that emphasizes and raises 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 daring city woman. You can explore the assortment on Instagram.

The culinary studio Roulet is also a stylish and creative space. Its main decoration is modern kitchen appliances, impressive in power, functionality and sophisticated design. Olga immediately appreciated this, barely starting to beat the dough.

I was even more struck by the way Dmitry breaks the eggshell in a moment, - the heroine of the culinary show admitted.

We place the mass in a mold, put 24 halves of plums on top. Marian Burros warned American cooks that plums can drown during the baking process, this is normal. Sprinkle the cake with a mixture of powdered sugar and cinnamon. Their amount depends on the sweetness of the plums and on your attitude towards the spice. We bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 40 minutes.

While the classic plum dessert was getting ready, Dmitry - for an encore - in a hot saucepan caramelized the halves of the plums with sugar 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 flavor to the dessert. At 180 degrees, such a cake is baked for no more than 10 minutes.

Today the classic American plum cake recipe was reproduced and the author's version from Dmitry was prepared. It's even hard for me to say which of the desserts is better. What Dima showed once again proves that any experiment has a right to exist. And I really liked his inverted pie. But the main thing is that I realized what needed to be changed in the process of making a classic dessert. I put less butter, and the mold was too large, so the layer of dough turned out to be thin. Now I will try to bake as shown by the master.

I have time to experiment, because in the Globus hypermarket you can buy frozen plums even in winter. Thanks to the Klyuch-Media project, I spent this day interesting and tasty, besides, I received a highly professional answer to my question. So I suggest that all readers feel free to ask Dmitry about various culinary tricks and expand their culinary knowledge.

To formulate a question to Dmitry Orlovsky more clearly or to find a worthy topic for discussion in the culinary studio Roulet, we advise you to drink aromatic tea with a good piece of plum pie. And which recipe to choose, decide for yourself.

INGREDIENTS:

for pie from NYT:

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 tablespoons

sugar - 6 tablespoons

lemon juice and zest to taste.

The legendary New York Times plum cake made a splash not only in its native land, but also among overseas eaters.

Of course, there is only one recipe for that very pie, and we will definitely tell you about it first. And then we will devote the material to variations that will help diversify the dish to all those who managed to get enough of an authentic delicacy.

American Plum Pie - New York Times Recipe

The story of that very plum cake from The New York Times is unusual. This recipe was published in the newspaper for almost ten years (from 1983 to 1995) at the request of readers. In 1995, the editor's patience came to an end and the recipe was published for the last time.

Since the recipe is American, then get ready for the fact that all the components will have to be measured with special measuring cups and tablespoons. One glass holds 240 ml of liquid, and a tablespoon holds 15 ml.

Ingredients:

• sugar - 1 tbsp.;
• - ½ st .;
• flour - 1 tbsp.;
• plums - 12 pcs.;
• baking powder - 1 tsp;
• eggs - 2 pcs.;
• a pinch of salt;
• a pinch of ground cinnamon.

Preparation

Before making the plum pie, the oven will need to be preheated to 180 degrees with the wire rack on the middle level.

Whisk about ¾ of sugar with cubes of soft butter until an airy cream is formed. Add flour, baking powder, a couple of eggs and a pinch of salt to the cream. After mixing thoroughly, distribute the dough in a round parchment-covered mold (approx. 20 cm diameter). Cover the surface of the cake with halves of pitted plums, placing them cut down.

Combine the cinnamon with the remaining sugar and sprinkle the mixture over the surface of the cake. Bake for 45-50 minutes and serve only after cooling until warm.

Americans love serving fruit pies with vanilla ice cream, you can try it too.

Delicious American Plum Pie - Recipe

Since we have analyzed in detail the same classic pie above, now let's move on to no less tasty variations of the recipe. The changes made are insignificant and only slightly affect the change in the proportions of the ingredients, but they are mainly based on the addition of components with a pronounced taste and aroma.

Ingredients:

• butter - 115 g;
• sugar - 155 g;
• flour - 115 g;
• eggs - 2 pcs.;
• ½ lemon juice;
• baking powder - 5 g;
• a pinch of salt;
• plums (small) - 6 pcs.;
• apricots (small) - 6 pcs.;
• cinnamon - 1 tsp.

Preparation

Beat the softened butter with sugar until creamy. Without stopping the mixer, beat in a couple of eggs one at a time, then add salt and a mixture of dry ingredients in the form of baking powder and flour. Top with cinnamon and lemon juice. Spread the mixture in a 20 cm baking dish and place the plum and apricot pieces on top.

Bake New York plum pie for 50 minutes at 180 degrees. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

The famous plum pie from The New York Times!

If you haven't tried it yet, try it;)

Pie recipe (tins 24 cm)
115 gr butter
150 g sugar
a pinch of salt
2 eggs
120 gr flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
plums
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream for serving

Good afternoon friends! Today we are talking about the legendary plum cake from The New York Times. The history of this cake 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 is he so fond of American mistresses? And the fact that it is prepared very simply, literally in a matter of minutes, and products for its preparation can be found in any kitchen. Now is the season for plums, so the recipe will be especially relevant. It can also be cooked with other berries and fruits. I really like this apricot and fig pie.

And so, there are several variations of this recipe, but this one was the one I liked the most. We 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 amount depends on their size. For sprinkling, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. If there is no brown sugar, use regular white sugar and add cinnamon as desired.

First of all, beat the butter, add a pinch of salt, sugar to the butter and beat at high speed for several minutes until lightening and fluffy. The oil must be at room temperature, so take it out of the refrigerator in advance and let it warm up for about an hour or two. The optimum 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 on high mixer speed. Beat the butter and eggs well. A lush light mass should be the end result. Now we will add dry foods. Add baking powder to the flour, mix and sift. Flour must be sieved in order to saturate it with air. Then the baking turns out to be more fluffy, more airy. Stir the dough until smooth. The dough is not too thick, but not runny either. We set it aside and start preparing the filling.

My plums, cut into halves and remove the pit. I like to use plums for the pie that are denser and with a noticeable sourness.

Now we need a mold with a diameter of about 24 cm. You can use a cake mold, a biscuit mold, a split mold. I have a tart mold with a removable bottom. When baking, grease the pan with butter.

We spread the prepared dough into the mold, distribute it in an even layer over the shape. Next, lay out the halves of the plums, lightly pressing into the dough. Sprinkle the cake with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon on top. It is also recommended to drizzle a little lemon juice over the sweet fruit. We bake the cake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for about 45-50 minutes.

The finished plum pie can be served both warm and cold. It can also be frozen and reheated before serving. It goes well 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 to be delicate, very aromatic and will certainly delight you with its taste. Be sure to try it!

Plum season is in full swing now, why not make a delicious pie out of them? Moreover, recently on the Internet at the American culinary forum, I found a very interesting recipe that I immediately wanted to repeat in my kitchen. Let's make a plum pie from The New York Times.

This recipe was first published in The New York Times in 1983. After that, at the request of housewives, it was printed annually until 1995, when the editor-in-chief ordered the printed version to be laminated so that it could be conveniently stored in the kitchen.

I translated and adapted the recipe so that I could start cooking right away, fortunately, I already had plums. I used Hungarian, but any other fleshy, not too juicy plums will do. Let me tell you all the secrets of the New York Times plum cake making so you too can taste these incredibly tender and delicious baked goods.

Ingredients:

• 200-300 g plums
• 115 g butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon

* Glass 200 ml.

How to Make The New York Times Plum Pie:

In a bowl, combine softened butter and sugar, leaving 2 tablespoons of sand for sprinkling the cake.

Beat the mixture with a mixer so that the sugar is completely combined with the butter. Then add eggs to the mixture one at a time, each time beating the ingredients with a mixer until smooth.

The result should be a light air mass.

Stir the dough with a mixer or spatula for a uniform texture as required by the New York Times plum cake recipe. The dough should be liquid enough, like.

Grease a baking dish with a diameter of 20 centimeters with butter and sprinkle with wheat flour. Pour the pie dough into it.

Wash the plums, cut them in half and take out the seeds. Put the fruits on top of the dough, cut upwards.

Mix two tablespoons of sugar with ground cinnamon. Sprinkle with a fragrant mixture of plums.

Let's put the famous plum pie from The New York Times and bake it in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. We will cook the cake until golden brown on top for about 45 minutes.