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Plum Custard Tartlets

A tartlet filled with plum custard and topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Plum Custard Tartlets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the plum filling

  1. Rub the greengage plums through a sieve.

  2. Mix the sieved plums with one large cup of sugar and the yolks of two eggs well beaten. Whisk the mixture until light and foamy.

Bake and top the plum tartlets

  1. Bake the mixture in small patty-pan shells of puff pastry until light brown.

  2. Fill the shells with the plum paste.

  3. Beat two egg whites until stiff. Add two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar to the whites.

  4. Spread the sugared whites over the plum paste.

  5. Set the shells into a moderate oven for a few moments.

Make the custard

  1. Put a quart of milk into a saucepan over the fire.

  2. When it comes to the boiling point, add a heaping tablespoonful of flour, half a cupful of sugar, and a pinch of salt. Stir this all together thoroughly.

  3. Add the beaten yolks of six eggs.

  4. Stir this mixture into the boiling milk until cooked to a thick cream.

  5. Remove from the fire.

  6. Stir in the grated rind and juice of one large lemon.

Fill, top and bake the custard tarts

  1. Have ready baked and hot some puff pastry tart shells.

  2. Fill the shells with the custard.

  3. Cover each with a meringue made of the whites of the eggs, sweetened with four tablespoonfuls of sugar. Put into the oven and bake until a light straw color.

  4. Mix the juice and grated rind of two lemons, two cupfuls of sugar, two eggs, and crumbs of sponge cake until smooth. Put the mixture into twelve patty-pans lined with puff pastry. Bake until the crust is done.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

369Calories
16 gProtein
19 gFat
37 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Plum + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together406 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Plum + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together623 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Greengage plums
Provide the main fruit flavor and the body of the plum paste.
Eggs
Thicken the custard and set the filling as they cook.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that thickens when heated.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the boiling milk so the custard becomes a thick cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the fillings and helps stabilize the beaten egg white meringue.
Lemon
Adds acidity and bright citrus aroma to the custard.

The step that matters

Stirring the eggs into the boiling milk. Egg yolks can scramble if added to very hot milk without constant stirring. Cooking gently while stirring lets the yolks thicken the custard smoothly into a cream.

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, cream, lemon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, cream, lemon. 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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