Why it works: Egg and blue cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and 118 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
- crust
- filling
Directions
Make the crust
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine flour, sugar, lemon zest and salt.
Add butter and mix together with fingertips or pastry cutter.
Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until a soft dough is formed.
Press along bottom and three quarters up the side of a springform pan.
Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Make the filling and bake
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Drain apricot halves and puree in blender.
In large mixing bowl, combine apricot puree and cornstarch.
Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. Mixture will remain slightly lumpy.
Pour filling into prepared crust and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until custard is set and top is golden.
Serve
Best served at room temperature.
If desired, serve with a dollop of whipped cream.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Egg + blue cheesetop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together118 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + arrowroottop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together499 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Blue cheese + cheesetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together61 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Butter + cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,955 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + blue cheesetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together226 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Cold pieces create flaky layers in the crust as they melt and steam during baking.
- Eggs
- Set the custard filling as they cook, giving it structure and a creamy body.
- Apricot halves
- Provide the fruit base of the filling, adding sweetness, moisture and fruity flavor.
- Mascarpone cheese
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the filling.
- Blue cheese
- Adds a sharp, salty tang that balances the sweetness of the apricots.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the apricot puree so the filling holds its shape when set.
The step that matters
Baking the custard until set. Eggs set gradually as the custard heats. Underbaking leaves it runny, while overbaking can make it curdle, weep and crack, so check for a firm center and golden top.
Flavor stand-ins for the arrowroot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, lemon, butter, apricot, egg, blue cheese):
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Arrowrootthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, lemon, butter, apricot, egg, blue cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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