Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Tartlets of Mixed Preserved Fruit
18 tartletsIngredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the tins
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Roll out the puff pastry to about ¼ inch thick and cut out 18 circular pieces with a fluted cutter.
Dust the pastry with flour before cutting and turn the pieces over as you place them in the tartlet tins.
Pinch the edges of the pastry to rise about ¼ inch above the tins.
Place ½ teaspoon of apricot jam in each tartlet tin.
Make the filling
Crush the ratafias with a rolling pin until very fine.
In a quart saucepan, beat the eggs and sugar together for about 3 minutes.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add it to the egg mixture.
Stir in the crushed ratafias until well mixed.
Fill and bake
Fill each tartlet tin about ¾ full with the mixture and sprinkle sugar on top to cover.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, keeping a close eye on them.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apricot + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,458 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the filling and set into a custard-like texture as they bake.
- Ratafias
- Add crisp, almond-like crumbs that give the filling body and a toasted flavor.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the top brown as it bakes.
- Apricot jam
- Adds fruity sweetness and flavor at the base of each tartlet.
The step that matters
Bake until golden brown, watching closely. Egg-and-sugar fillings can go from set and golden to dark and overcooked quickly, because sugar browns faster than the custard sets. Watching the color prevents scorching and a rubbery texture.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, sugar, butter):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, sugar, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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