This is the tart you want for lunch: cream, eggs and smoked bacon in a shortcrust, just set at the centre, still slightly trembling. No cheese, despite what bistros have added. Ten minutes on the sideboard lets the custard finish and the pastry stay crisp.
The original tart of Lorraine is a German-border dish that France claimed completely — a savoury custard in pastry, the lardons doing the work that cheese would only blunt. It is lunch, or a first course, not a slice of something from a café counter.
Blind-bake the pastry until the base is dry. Render the lardons until they just take colour. Rest the tart before cutting; a knife through a boiling custard is a waste of the bake.
Method
- 01
Rub the cold butter into the flour with a pinch of salt until the mixture is sandy, with a few pea-sized bits of butter still visible — those bits are the flake. Bind with the yolk and just enough ice water that it comes together; too much water makes a tough crust. Chill 30 minutes, then roll and line a 9-inch tart tin, easing the pastry in without stretching it. Trim the edge and prick the base.
- 02
Line the pastry with parchment and weights, and blind-bake at 375°F for 15 minutes, then 5 minutes without the weights, until the base is dry to the touch and just beginning to color. A wet base is the enemy of a crisp tart. If it puffs, press it down gently. You want a cooked shell; the custard will not do that job for you.
- 03
Render the lardons in a pan until they just take color — gold at the edges, still a little fat on them, not crisp bits. Drain them well; too much fat in the tart makes a greasy custard. Scatter them over the pastry, and stop there: no cheese. The original tart of Lorraine lets the bacon do the work that cheese would only blunt.
- 04
Whisk the eggs with the crème fraîche, a grating of nutmeg, salt and pepper until just combined; you are not making foam. Pour over the lardons and bake at 350°F until the center is just set and still slightly trembling, 25 to 30 minutes. Rest 10 minutes on the sideboard before cutting. A knife through a boiling custard is a waste of the bake.
