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Dessert

Cheese Tarts

Cheese tarts are pastry cases filled with grated cheese, butter, eggs, salt, cayenne, and topped with grated cheese and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,962 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese Tarts

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Line patty pans with the thin pastry.

Make the filling

  1. Mix grated cheese with warmed butter, salt, and cayenne.

  2. Add whisked egg yolks and beaten egg white to the mixture.

  3. Half fill the pastry cases with the cheese mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set and slightly colored.

  2. Sprinkle grated cheese and chopped parsley on top before serving.

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.

  1. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  2. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

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

  5. Cheese + parsleytop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,507 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the filling and help it set into a custard-like texture when baked.
Egg white
Adds structure and lightness, helping the filling set firmly in the pastry.
Cheese
Provides the main flavor and, as it melts and browns, adds savory richness and color.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture in the filling.

The step that matters

Bake until set and slightly colored. Egg proteins set with heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny, while overbaking makes it rubbery and dry. Watch for a firm center and light browning.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, butter, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, butter, egg. 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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