Name: Meringue Custard Tartlets
Ingredients: two tablespoonfuls of flour; two tablespoonfuls of sugar; a saltspoonful of salt; a pint of cream; a pound of sugar; a dash of salt; six eggs two tablespoonfuls of flour; salt

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 ↓

Meringue Custard Tartlets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pan

Select deep individual pie-tins; fluted tartlet pans are suitable for custard tarts, but they should be about six inches in diameter and from two to three inches deep.
Butter the pan and line it with ordinary puff paste.

Make the custard

Fill the pan with custard made as follows: stir gradually into the beaten yolks of six eggs, two tablespoonfuls of flour, a saltspoonful of salt and half a pint of cream.
Stir until free from lumps and add two tablespoonfuls of sugar; put the saucepan on the range and stir until the custard coats the spoon. Do not let it boil or it will curdle.
Pour it into a bowl, add a few drops of vanilla flavoring and stir until the custard becomes cold.

Fill and bake

Fill the lined mold with this custard and bake in a moderate oven.

Meringue and finish

In the meantime, put the whites of the eggs in a bright copper vessel and beat thoroughly, using a baker's wire egg-beater.
While beating, sprinkle in lightly half a pound of sugar and a dash of salt.
When the paste is quite firm, spread a thin layer of it over the tart and decorate the top with the remainder by squeezing it through a paper funnel.
Strew a little powdered sugar over the top, return to the oven, and when a delicate yellow tinge remove from the oven and when cold serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

633Calories

20 gProtein

12 gFat

109 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Salt	1 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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Eggs: Yolks thicken the custard, while beaten whites form the airy meringue topping.
Flour: Starch thickens the custard so it sets smoothly rather than runny.
Cream: Adds fat and richness, giving the custard a softer, silkier texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the custard and helps stabilize the beaten egg white meringue.

The step that matters

Do not let the custard boil. Heat above simmering makes the egg proteins tighten and curdle, leaving a grainy, lumpy custard instead of a smooth one.

“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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Meringue Custard Tartlets