Skip to main content
Main

Leeks, Flemish

A pastry filled with leeks, cream, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Leek and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Leeks, Flemish

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the pastry

  1. Rub the butter into the flour until well combined.

  2. Add the salt, egg yolks, and water; mix thoroughly.

  3. Divide the pastry into 4 parts and roll each into a 6-inch round.

Prepare the leeks

  1. Wash the leeks in 2-3 waters, trim roots and outer leaves.

  2. Sprinkle the leeks with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then pour cream over them.

  3. Let the leeks soak for 30 minutes.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the pastry rounds in a baking dish and fill each with leeks.

  2. Draw up the sides to the center and secure them together.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven 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.

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. Leek + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together152 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + leektop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together328 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Coats the flour particles and adds richness and tenderness to the pastry.
Flour
Forms the structure of the pastry once mixed with liquid.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the pastry dough.
Leeks
Provide the main filling, becoming soft and sweet as they bake.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, turning the filling silky as it bakes.

The step that matters

Drawing up and securing the pastry sides. The pastry must be sealed well around the filling so the cream does not leak out during baking, which would leave the leeks dry and the base soggy.

Swap the leek

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, egg, pepper, nutmeg, cream):

  1. Spinachfits about as well
  2. Leekthe original
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Shallotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, egg, pepper, nutmeg, cream. 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.

You might also like

Leek SoupLeek Soup31 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipes