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Meringue Custard Tartlets

A baked tart with a custard filling topped with meringue and powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Meringue Custard Tartlets

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Grease individual pie tins or fluted tartlet pans, about 6 inches in diameter and 2 to 3 inches deep.

  3. Line the pans with puff pastry.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, stir the beaten yolks of 6 eggs with 2 tablespoons of flour, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and 2 cups of cream until smooth.

  2. Cook the mixture in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until it coats the back of a spoon without boiling.

  3. Remove the custard from the heat and add a few drops of vanilla extract.

  4. Let the custard cool.

  5. Fill the lined molds with the custard.

  6. Bake the filled molds in the preheated oven.

Make the meringue and finish

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy.

  2. Gradually add ½ pound of sugar and a dash of salt to the egg whites until firm peaks form.

  3. Spread a thin layer of meringue over the tart.

  4. Decorate the tart with the remaining meringue using a pastry bag.

  5. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

  6. Return the tart to the oven until lightly golden.

  7. Remove the tart from the oven.

  8. Let the tart cool.

  9. Serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth set when cooked gently.
All-purpose flour
Stabilises the custard so it thickens and holds its shape when cooled.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, giving the custard a rich, tender texture.
Egg whites
Whipped into foam to form the meringue topping that holds its peaks and browns in the oven.
Sugar
Sweetens the meringue and helps it stabilise into glossy, firm peaks.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard over low heat. Egg yolks thicken at gentle temperatures; if the custard boils or heats too fast, the yolks can scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy texture.

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, cream, sugar):

  1. Raisinfits about as well
  2. Vanillathe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Strawberryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, cream, sugar. 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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