Be warned, this is not your classic apple tarte Tatin. Instead, I opted for melt-in-your-mouth perfectly caramelized amber pears snuggly nestled on top of a slightly salty and buttery pastry studded with aromatic herbs. 

If that flavor combination doesn't make you want to drop everything and go make this lovely little upside-down pie, you might be persuaded by the fact that it is the easiest dessert you will ever make. In no time, you will have one of the most beautiful and simple of pies. It also happens to be France's favorite dessert. 

But don't be deceived. Behind that little and unpretentious pie, lies a story of deception and lies, and I will do my best to take you, dear reader, down that rabbit hole with me, but first I must tell you this story from the beginning. 

As far as most people are concerned it all started in the Hôtel Tatin, a quaint little Bed and Breakfast in the lazy town of Lamotte-Beuvron nestled in the Sologne region, about 160 km south of Paris, a very popular destination amongst the Parisian elite of the 19th century who flocked in numbers to enjoy the open air, the beautiful walks, but most importantly the abundant game for hunting. 

The hotel was run by the Tatin sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline. A dynamic duo that covered all aspects of the hospitality profession down to an art. 

Caroline was naturally charming, elegant, and very easy on the eyes. She was normally found dazzling and delighting diners with her witty conversation. It's no wonder she knew every little bit of gossip there was to know. 


Stéphanie, nicknamed Fanny, on the other hand, was usually found in the kitchen. She was less of a socialite than her sister and was much more comfortable around her wood-burning stove than chatting away with customers. 

Legend has it that on one particularly busy day she was asked to come into the restaurant by some of her diners who wished to applaud her outstanding menu. After a standing ovation, she returned to the kitchen a bit flabbergasted, blushing, and with her head still in the clouds. She put herself together and got back to finishing that dinner service for the hungry crowd outside.

 And then she saw it. The pastry dough, the one that was supposed to be in the oven with the apples that had been cooking apparently without the pastry bottom. But she was quick on her feet, and in a sheer stroke of genius, she opened her coal oven and added the pastry on top of the apples and prayed that she would be able to unmold it once it was cooked. 

Another version says she dropped a perfectly good apple pie but that she managed to salvage the apple filling, place it in another pan and recook it with a brand new sheet of dough. 

Yet another version of the story says she burned the pie she was making while she was talking to customers. Not one to be wasteful, she managed to scrape off the apples. She put them in a pan, covered them with a new sheet of pastry and cook it just until the pie shell was done. 

Either way, what we do know is that the crowd LOVED her apple upside-down concoction. 

But was it really her concoction? Did Fanny really come up with the tart herself? In fact, it seems like maybe all she did was popularized it. 

Almost half a century earlier, celebrity master baker, Marie Antonin Carême wrote a whole chapter about upside-down pies which he called gateaux renversé in his best selling cookbook Pâtissier Royal Parisien. And yes, upside-down apple tart made a little appearance only under the name Tarte Solognotte. Tarte Solognotte means pie from Sologne, and if you remember correctly from a few paragraphs back we established that the Hotel Tatin is nestled in beautiful Sologne. 

Are we in the face of clever rebranding? Most probably. The sisters actually never called their tart a Tarte Tatin, but rather a tarte Solognotte. They never published a recipe and absolutely never expected it to become the phenomenon it became. 

But the Hotel was growing increasingly famous under their management, and naturally, so did the famous pie on their menu. 

But it wasn't until the mastermind behind the Michelin guide, Maurice Edmond Sailland, tasted it, that tarte Tatin became the celebrated dessert it is today. 

Sailland was better was perhaps better known by his pen name, Curnosky, and was France's most celebrated gastronomical writer. In fact, his work was so highly appreciated that in 1927 over 3,000 chefs got together in 1927 and elected him Prince of Gastronomes.

But he was not only Prince elect of Gastronomes, he was also an Officer of the Legion of honor, and founder of several of official Academies like the Académie des gastronomes, the Academy of wine, The Academy of humor, The Royal Club of Gastronomes in Belgium, The Association of professional Columnists of Gastronomy and Wine a member of the Brotherhood of Rotisseries, amongst many others. 

While touring France for the best eateries Curnosky stumbled upon the Hôtel Tatin. During his stay, he had the chance to taste the famous Tarte Solognote that Stéphanie would regularly make. Being a die-hard fan of rustic French food he was immediately smitten with it.

He loved it so much that he wrote about is in his column France Gastronomique. He just decided to embellish the dish with a little side story, just enough to make this wonderful tart stand out a bit more. 

The thing with Curnosky is that when he talked about food, the world stopped and listened. After all, he was the elected Prince of Gastronomes, was he not?

Who would ever dream of contesting that Fanny Tatin did not, in fact, forget to put the pastry bottom on her apple pie? Not even Stephanie herself. 

And SO the legend of a forgetful-pie-making-Stephanie was born. A new pie needs a new name too. He renamed it too; Tarte Reenversé des Demoiselles Tatin (the Tatin ladies' upside-down pie). 

Soon everybody who was anybody was at the inn having a slice of that famous fluke apple pie. Business was booming.

As a little side note, Curnosky died aged 80, when he fell out of his apartment window. It is been speculated that low blood sugar was the culprit, you see, Curnosky was on a diet and apparently he fainted next to the open window. 

Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps a life without Tarte Tatin and other goodies just became a little lackluster. A life without pastry seems awfully grim to me. 

But let's get back to pie, shall we? 

A couple of decades later restaurant legend Louis Vaudable pulled another publicity stunt that catapulted the upside-down wonder to instant fame. Soon the likes of Aristotle Onasis, the Duke of Windsor (and wife Wallis Simpson obviously), Cary Grant, Barbara Hutton, and a barefoot Brigitte Bardot were lining up to wine and dine at his world-famous restaurant Maxim's. Tarte Tatin was a favorite.


Being the most business-savvy restauranteur of his day meant that Vaudable knew just how to embellish the truth to make the headlines. Although what I'm about to tell you is more of an outright lie than embellished truth. 

He claimed that when he was young he went hunting in Lamotte-Beuvron and stayed in a small hotel run by the Tatin sisters. After trying their famous Tarte Solognote he begged for the recipe only to be refused. A couple of days later he returned to the inn with a made-up sob story of misfortune and implored the sisters to hire him as a gardener. His motivation was to pull off a bit of industrial espionage and trick the ladies into giving him the coveted recipe. 

Vaudale claims that he was fired soon after as he lacked the know-how to even plant a cabbage. In the short time that he was there he managed to steal the secret recipe while there. A recipe he claimed made the way into his menu, a dessert that he now called TARTE TATIN!

Fantastic as that story seems, Vaudable was only born in 1902. The problem with that is that the Tatin sisters retired in 1906, and they passed away not long after that. Furthermore, when Louis' father Octave purchased Maxim's in 1936 the dessert was already on the menu. All Louis did was rename it. 

I know what you are thinking. How could this story have passed on as authentic in the culinary world? It turns out there is a large organization at work a Brotherhood of tarte Tatin fanatics called the Confrérie des Les Lichonneux de Tarte Tatin. The Brotherhood of the "lickers" of Tarte Tatin in plain English. 



Originally founded on the 27th of March 1979 when a splinter faction of tarte Tatin purists decided to exercise their legal right to establish themselves as an association. All according to the French Association Law of 1 July 1901. Let me tell you, these guys take things very seriously. 

Their mission is clear; Defend the famous Tarte Tatin, fight culinary abuses and violations committed against it, and reprimand heretics. And the only stories that their doctrine admits are the ones Curnosky and Vaudable so cleverly crafted. 

This means that by now they might all licker-alarms have gone off as I tell you the truth. And that is not the half of it. Most certainly, these "Brothers-in-licks" will cringe at the mere idea of substituting apples for pears. The addition of herbs in the crust? Plain sacrilege.

Remember they have taken an oath to combat recipe dissent and recipe uniformity. A gargantuan task if you take into consideration just how many variations of this humble tart are baked each year in Paris alone. Not to mention this here blog.

They have published the official recipe, which I will link to here should you want it. https://stephanevaladou.wixsite.com/lichonneuxtatin/recette

These vigilant guardians hope to spread Tatin consumption all over the world by fervently organizing fairs, parties, and gastronomic gatherings of all sorts both in France and abroad. All while dressed in the proper Lichonneux attire. 


A costume evokes the traditional dress from the Sologne, a blue blouse, a red scarf, a black hat, black pants, and black shoes. 

All new applicants are carefully scrutinized by the "lickers" and are expected to know and uphold the brotherhood’s Ten Commandments of Tarte Tatin. Newly approved members are awarded a Tarte Tatin shaped medal and a diploma, although each member is expected to cost their own attire. 

So why all the fuss and why am I going against the grain with this recipe? The only way you will find out is if you make it. Because let me tell you this pear and herb version of tarte Tatin, is so good that, dare I say it might even kick the original's butt.