crisp-off: three fruit crisps go head to head

   

fruit and butter: that's what I'm talkin' about

Today there is a story in the Times about a 646 pound catfish caught in Thailand's Megkong River. You must follow the link to see the picture of this monster; doesn't he look like something Paul Bunyan would have rasseled with & et for dinner?

They used to feed us fried catfish sometimes at camp. At that point in my life fish was on my do-not-eat list, unlike, say, chicken-fried steak and apple crisp, a glorious all-brown meal that was a favorite with everyone in the Chow Hall. When I started cooking for myself after college, one of my happiest discoveries was that crisps are super-easy to throw together and pretty much impossible to mess up. Though I've never made a crisp I was unhappy to eat, if I'm eating that much butter, I'd like to maximize my pleasure by making the best crisp possible. In the past few weeks I have tried three different recipes. Two notes: A) I judge a crisp by its crumble, not its fruit; B) I don't have pictures of these really because, let's face it, it is a delicious dessert but not a photogenic one. It should go without saying, of course, that these were eaten with vanilla ice cream.

1. RHUBARB-STRAWBERRY CRISP from Chez Panisse Desserts

Andrew made this one (as I made a chocolate cake) for his birthday dinner. I think it's late for rhubarb, but we found some at the Greenmarket and decided this was the perfect thing to do with it. We made two changes to the recipe: we could not use the 1/2 cup walnuts, though that sounds divine, because someone is deathly allergic to nuts, and it was his birthday; and we threw in the optional strawberries. It was very good, but it could have used more topping. We should have made it in a smaller dish, but all we had was a 9x13" Pyrex.

Cut 1.5-2 pounds of rhubarb into 1/2 inch thick slices. You should have about 6 or 7 cups. If you want, add half a pint of sliced strawberries. Toss the fruit with 3/4 cups sugar and 3 tbs flour. We tossed it right in the baking dish, which should have been a 9-inch round one.

For the topping, mix 7/8 cup flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 4 tsp white sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon. When you have mixed these, rub in 1/2 cup softened salted butter "until it looks crumbly." [At this point, you could mix in 1/2 cup toasted walnuts chopped into 1/4 inch pieces.] Spread the topping over the fruit and bake at 375 for 45 minutes, until the fruit is soft and bubbly and the topping brown and crisp.

I had never made a rhubarb dessert before. I liked it better than apple. But the next crisp I tried had more to offer...

2. APPLE-STRAWBERRY CRISP from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

   

This, in my opinion, is the winning crisp, thanks to the fact that the topping uses brown sugar only, not white. This made for a toothsome, slightly sticky, darker-tasting topping. It also incorporates oatmeal (as does the next one--come to think of it, since we did not use nuts in the first crisp, perhaps we should have thrown in some oatmeal). Yum. Deborah Madison, you can do no wrong. Except that this was too salty (and I luuurve salty desserts), so below I have reduced the salt from 1/4 tsp to 1/8 tsp.

Slice enough apples (peeled or unpeeled, it's up to you) to fill your 9" square or 8" x 10" dish. We used 3 or 4 apples. Slice them thinly. We threw in sliced strawberries, too. Toss with 2 tbs sugar (and if you have it--we did not--a tablespoon of lemon juice).

Mix 3/4 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup flour, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp salt. Rub in 6 tbs butter (does not need to be softened) that you have already cut into little chunks. Cover the fruit and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes  to an hour--top should be brown, fruit should be bubbly.

These were Mutsu apples. Andrew didn't want to peel them, but I think it would have been even better if they had been peeled. He thinks the skin imparts good apple flavor; I think when I am eating a bowl of this with vanilla ice cream melting on top, good apple flavor is not my first concern. I am more interested in mouthfuls of soft fruit, caramelized sugar, butter, and cream uncomplicated by stringy old skin.

3. APPLE OAT CRISP from Staff Meals

Finally, I had to try my old standby apple crisp recipe. Unlike the others, this recipe calls for the butter to be creamed; this means the topping is more like a uniform cookie-roof than a crumble. To be fair, I think I found this crisp less pleasing because I failed to include enough fruit. But  Deborah Madison's brown-sugar-intense crisp would have taken the day, I think, no matter what was underneath.

Peel and dice 6 apples (I used Mutsu apples; I only had three, and I wish I had had more). Toss with 1 tbs sugar (and, if you have it, lemon juice; I did not have it).

Cream 6 tbs room-temperature butter with 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar; this should take 3-5 minutes. Add 1/3 cup flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper (I could not taste this in the baked dish). Stir in 1/2 cup rolled oats. Spread topping over fruit and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

   

In this picture you can see the Staff Meals apple crisp on the left and the (slightly mutilated) Deborah Madison crisp on the right. Not very instructive, is it? But I think the lessons I learned are 1)rhubarb is good, 2)use all brown sugar in the topping--no white, and 3)use oatmeal.

If anyone else has a favorite standby recipe for crisp topping, I would love to hear it.