Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Mirlitons
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.
Make the filling
Combine egg yolks, whole eggs, powdered sugar, crushed macaroons, powdered orange flowers, and salt in a bowl.
Stir the mixture for one minute.
Add melted butter to the mixture and stir until the mixture is combined.
Whip egg whites until firm, then fold the whipped egg whites into the mixture.
Fill and bake
Line thirty tartlet molds with puff pastry.
Pour an equal amount of the mixture into each mold.
Sprinkle sifted sugar on top of the filled molds and let the sugar dissolve.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.
Serve
Serve hot or cold.
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.
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Orange + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar and orange 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
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help the filling set into a custard-like texture when baked.
- Whole eggs
- Provide structure so the filling sets firm in the baked tartlets.
- Whipped egg whites
- Add air and lightness, helping the filling rise and stay tender.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the filling and dissolves smoothly into the batter.
- Crushed sweet macaroons
- Add body and an almond-like sweetness to the filling.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for a rich, tender texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air in the whipped whites. Stirring them in hard deflates the foam, so the filling bakes denser and less light.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter. 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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