Name: Marguerite Tartlets
Ingredients: Genoise paste (see recipe No. 229); boiled apricot jam; grain sugar; cherries

Why it works: Apricot and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,630 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Marguerite Tartlets

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Genoise paste (see recipe No. 229)
boiled apricot jam
grain sugar
cherries

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

Prepare Genoise paste and pour it into small baba moulds.

Bake and finish

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until cooked.
Once cooled, spread boiled apricot jam over the surface.
Sprinkle grain sugar around the sides and on top.
Top each tartlet with a cherry.

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.

Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Genoise paste: Forms the light, sponge-like base of each tartlet.
Boiled apricot jam: Adds moisture, sweetness and a glossy finish to the surface.
Grain sugar: Adds sweetness and a crisp, sparkling crust on the sides and top.
Cherries: Add fresh fruit flavour and a bright accent on top.

“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.