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Dessert

Lemon Tart

A baked lemon tart made with bread crumbs, lemon rind and juice, sugar, cream, egg yolks, and folded egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Lemon Tart

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 ↓

Lemon Tart

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. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Line a pudding dish with short pastry.

Make the filling

  1. Grate the thin yellow rind from the lemon and mix it with the bread crumbs.

  2. Add the lemon juice, sugar, and egg yolks to the mixture and mix well.

  3. Stir in the cream until combined.

  4. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the mixture.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into the lined dish and bake for 30 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  4. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Bread + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,445 recipes

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

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Bread crumbs
Provides bulk and body so the filling sets into a soft, sliceable custard.
Egg yolks
Thicken and set the filling while adding richness and a smooth texture.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they add lightness and help the filling rise and stay airy.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, making the filling richer and more tender.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
Lemon
Rind and juice supply aroma and acidity that brighten the filling.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Whipped egg whites trap air that gives lightness. Stirring them vigorously knocks out the air, so the tart ends up denser and less airy.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, cream, 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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