Name: Orange Tart
Ingredients: 1 sheet rough puff pastry; 2 large tablespoons orange marmalade; 2 egg yolks; 1 tablespoon caster sugar

Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Orange Tart

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

1 sheet rough puff pastry
2 large tablespoons orange marmalade
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon caster sugar

Directions

The book says “a cool oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Line a tart plate with the rough puff pastry.
In a bowl, mix the orange marmalade, egg yolks, and caster sugar until well combined.
Pour the mixture into the lined tart plate.

Bake and finish

Bake for 30 minutes.
Top with meringue and return to the oven at 300°F (150°C) for 15 minutes.

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.

Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Orange + eggtop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10,696 recipes

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

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

Rough puff pastry: Forms the crisp, flaky tart base that holds the filling.
Orange marmalade: Provides sweetness, acidity and orange flavour to the filling.
Egg yolks: Thicken the filling as they set, giving it a rich, custard-like texture.
Caster sugar: Sweetens the filling and helps it blend smoothly with the yolks.