Name: Pate Au Citron Et a L'orange
Ingredients: a pound of butter^ a little orange-flower water; a pound of sugar^ sifted^; a pint of malaga^; three eggs^ a quarter of a pound of sugar^ sifted^

Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Pate Au Citron Et a L'orange

Ingredients

a pound of butter^ a little orange-flower water
a pound of sugar^ sifted^
a pint of malaga^
three eggs^ a quarter of a pound of sugar^ sifted^

Directions

Make the paste

Scrape as finely as possible the rind of a preserved lemon, orange, or citron.
Take a pound of flour and make a hole in the middle.
Rub into the hole a quarter pound of butter, a little orange‑flower water, and three eggs.
Add a quarter pound of sifted sugar and mix with a pint of Malaga or any convenient white wine.
Lightly mix the paste until it has the consistency you wish.
Lay the paste aside for a quarter of an hour, covered with a cloth.

Fill and bake

Fill your tarts, taking care that it is not too dry.
If a crisp texture is preferred, pour the paste into cake pans and bake in a very slow oven for a long time until crisp.

By Frances Crawford. 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. See the original page.

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.

Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + orangetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,301 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Butter: Adds richness and tenderness to the paste.
Eggs: Bind the paste and add structure and richness.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the paste brown and crisp.
Malaga wine: Moistens the paste and adds aromatic flavour.

The step that matters

Fill your tarts, taking care that it is not too dry.. A dry paste cracks and does not hold together when filled and baked. Keeping it moist and workable gives a smooth, cohesive shell.

“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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Pate Au Citron Et a L'orange