Book of Old Tarts

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Butter - ideally unsalted butter for baking, so that you can control the flavour. The butter needs to be soft, so that it can easily combine with the other pastry ingredients.

At the age of 20, she was listed in the 1565 edition of Il Catalogo di tutte le principale e più honorate cortigiane di Venezia, a guidebook to the top tarts in Venice. When she wasn’t whoring around with arty types and dodging the plague, the shrew-like Franco wrote poetry and did stuff for charity. Yawn. And who wouldn't want to relive those carefree days? There's something so homely and comforting about being reminded of all the yummy puddings we used to have at school. Making them is a brilliant way of showing our kids what it was like "in our day". The name congress tarts or congress curd tart seems to have been around since at least 1888 when a book was publised by a man called Robert Wells. To make the pastry, combine the flour, butter, icing sugar and salt in a food processor and blitz until the butter has broken down and the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Drizzle in the milk and pulse until the pastry starts to come together. Dee Froom, 55, lives in Tadley, Basingstoke. The mum of one 34-year-old son divorced five years ago after a 27-year marriage. Dee, who used to work in adult education, currently does promotional work.

What does butterscotch taste like?

Flour is another must-have for the pastry part of the tarts. Again, this is a shortcrust pastry so no raising agents are required; good old fashioned plain flour is perfect. You want decent sized strawberries for in your tarts. Not too big though, or all your sauce will roll right down off them, and down the sides of your pastry.

Hold the fold to the middle of the tin and trim off the outside edge of the paper. You will be left with a circle that lines the pastry to protect it from getting burnt. I like to slightly flatten the pastry before putting it into the fridge to chill. It increases the surface area which reduces the time it takes to cool, also flattening the dough makes it easier to roll out. Please do let me know if you know anything about them. I'd love to solve the mystery! ❤️Why you will love this recipeEgg Yolk –We add an egg yolk to our pastry to give it richness and colour. But if you prefer an eggless pastry you can substitute it with a little more water. Only add enough water to the pastry to make it come together and rolled, otherwise the pastry will be flimsy when baked. This is my preferred method, especially if you have getting messy hands or your kitchen is hot from baking or hot weather. Baking powder - make sure that this is in date as it tends to lose its raising ability if left open too long. Lulu White ran the top-end Mahogany Hall bordello, a place where high-rolling clients could bed a bit of top-totty. Lulu saved herself for men of power, but her girls were always on hand for a bout of jazz-fueled jizzery.

Few women, if any, can match Theodora’s rise from cheap slut to empress and eventual saint. Born c.500 AD, the young Theodora started out servicing members in a Constantinople brothel. She soon became an “actress,” delighting crowds with weird sex-shows complete with rampant after-parties.

How to make shortcrust pastry

Dust the pastry with some more flour and roll onto the rolling pin. Unroll it into a 24cm/9½in loose-bottomed tart tin. Gently press the pastry into the corners of the tin and leave any overhang of pastry. Chill the pastry-lined tart tin and preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F / 180 FAN / Gas 6 and place a rimmed oven tray into the oven to heat up.