Name: To Make an Apple-Tart
Ingredients: 8 to 10 large codlins (apples); 6 egg yolks; 4 egg whites; nutmeg (to taste); sugar (to taste); ½ cup fresh butter; 2 cups flour (for pastry)

Why it works: Nutmeg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

To Make an Apple-Tart

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

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.

Prepare the filling

Scald the codlins, then cool and peel them.
Mash the pulp finely with a spoon.
Mix in the egg yolks and whites, beating until smooth.
Add nutmeg and sugar to taste.
Melt the butter and beat it until creamy.

Assemble and bake

Make a puff pastry and line a tin pan with it.
Pour the apple mixture into the pastry, leaving the top open.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 minutes.

Serve

Invert onto a dish and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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.

Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,790 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

Codlins (apples): Provide the main pulp and tart fruit flavour of the filling.
Egg yolks: Enrich the filling and help it set into a smooth, custard-like texture.
Egg whites: Add structure and lightness to the filling as it beats and bakes.
Fresh butter: Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a creamy texture.
Flour: Forms the structure of the pastry that holds the filling.