Cherries à la Valeria

Cerises à la Valeria (Valeria cherry tartlets) teaches the discipline of temperature. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is that the red-currant ice must remain frozen while everything above it is finished with heat. Crisp pâte sucrée holds the ice, Meringue à l’Italienne (No. 2383), Italian meringue, protects it, and wine-dark cherries give the little tartlets their generous crown.

The original formula assumed pastry and frozen-dessert stations, its meringue waiting from a separate preparation, and enough hands to carry a platter over broken ice into oven heat without hesitation. At home, use a hard-frozen filling on a small metal tray nested over broken ice, then give the meringue seconds beneath a fierce broiler. The brigade's extra hands are scaffolding and can go. The frozen base, the cold cradle, the sequence of meringue, cherries, heat, and syrup must stay.

When they're right, the pastry is crisp, the currant layer tart and creamy, and the cherries gleam deep garnet under green pistachios. One cook, one stove, one evening, but begin early enough to freeze the filled shells solid. That final cold must be absolute before the broiler comes on.