This popular dessert was named after the street "Rue Bourdaloue" in the 9th arrondissement of Paris which, in turn, has been named after Louis Bourdaloue, a French Jesuit of the 17th century. Bourdaloue was renowned for the quality of his sermon and especially their extreme length, allegedly testing the limits of his devout ladies bladders.
According to the "Dictionnaire universel de cuisine pratique" by Joseph Favre, released in 1905, the first version of this tart (then, a cake) was invented by the baker Mr Fasquelle, in his bakery on Rue Bourdaloue in the mid-19th century, and doesn't include fruit. Other sources indicate Mr Lesserteur, or Mr Coquelin as original inventors, all of them located on the same street.
This recipe is actually much easier than it seems, and is one of our favourite tarts. We decided to make it from scratch, but note that you can use pre-made shortcrust base and halved tin pears instead of poaching them yourself.
 30 minutes + 24h resting time |
 30 minutes |
 8 slices |
