Why it works: Apricot and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,098 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Apricot Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the apricot filling
Combine the syrup from the tin of apricots, sugar, grated lemon rind, and lemon juice in a pan and boil for 5 minutes.
Add the apricots and boil for an additional 30 minutes.
Line and fill the tart
Roll out the short crust pastry larger than the tart ring.
Grease the ring and press the pastry into it.
Place the apricots in the pastry case, round sides up, and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 30 minutes.
Top with meringue and bake
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Fold in 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Spread half of the meringue over the tart.
Use a piping bag to decorate with the remaining meringue.
Sprinkle the last tablespoon of sugar over the top.
Lightly brown in the oven.
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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Apricot + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,098 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Apricots
- Provide the main fruit flavour, sweetness and moisture for the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and the meringue, and helps the meringue hold its shape.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam, they form the structure of the meringue topping.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and bright aroma that balance the sweetness of the apricots and sugar.
- Short crust pastry
- Forms a firm, crisp case that holds the apricots and filling.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites until stiff. Whites must be beaten until they hold firm peaks to support the meringue. Underbeaten whites stay runny and can weep, while overbeaten whites turn grainy and collapse in the oven.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, egg):
- Orangefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Limefits better
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, egg. 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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