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Meringue Custard Tartlets

A tartlet filled with custard and topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. 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. Butter deep individual pie-tins or fluted tartlet pans, about 6 inches in diameter and 2-3 inches deep.

  3. Line the pans with puff pastry.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, gradually stir 2 tablespoons of flour and ¼ teaspoon of salt into the beaten yolks of 6 eggs.

  2. Add ½ pint of cream and stir until free from lumps.

  3. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and cook in a saucepan, stirring until the custard coats the spoon without boiling.

  4. Pour the custard into a bowl. Add a few drops of vanilla and stir until cold.

  5. Fill the lined molds with the custard.

  6. Bake.

Make the meringue and finish

  1. Beat the egg whites until frothy.

  2. Gradually sprinkle in ½ pound of sugar and a dash of salt until firm.

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

  4. Decorate with the remaining meringue using a paper funnel.

  5. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

  6. Return to the oven until lightly golden.

  7. Remove from the oven.

  8. Let cool before serving.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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

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

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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 colour as they set.
Flour
Stabilises the custard so it holds its shape when cooked and cooled.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, soft texture to the custard.
Egg whites
Whipped with sugar to form a firm meringue that gives structure and browns in the oven.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and, dissolved into the whites, stabilises the meringue.
Puff pastry
Forms the crisp, flaky shell that holds the custard.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard without boiling. Egg yolks thicken as they heat but scramble if they boil, leaving lumps and a grainy texture. Stir constantly and stop when the custard coats the spoon.

Swap the vanilla

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

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

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