Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cream Tarts
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the choux pastry
In a saucepan, bring the water and butter to a boil.
Stir in the flour when boiling and set aside to cool.
Once cooled, add the 5 well-beaten eggs and mix well.
Pour the mixture into patty pans and bake for 15 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
Make the custard
For the custard, combine the milk, 2 eggs, ½ cup flour, and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan.
Cook over medium heat until thickened, adding flavoring as desired.
Fill and serve
When the tarts are cold, cut a hole in the side and fill with custard using a teaspoon.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
Butter and flour 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 batter and give the baked shells structure and lift as they set.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooked paste and the custard, giving body and structure when heated.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the pastry and helps it stay tender.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing moisture and creaminess.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and adds body as it thickens.
The step that matters
Bake the pastry until set. Starch in the flour gelatinises and egg proteins set during baking, which gives the shells their structure. Underbaked shells may collapse or stay soggy when filled with custard.
“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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