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Sugar Icing for Tarts

A fruit tart with a crust and sugar icing baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Sugar Icing for 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 the tart

  1. Line the edges of a tart dish with good crust.

  2. Fill the crust with fruit and sprinkle with sugar.

  3. Cover with a crust.

  4. Press down the edges of the crust.

  5. Trim the edges neatly.

  6. Make small holes on each side for steam to escape.

Glaze and bake

  1. Brush the tart with cold water.

  2. Sift sugar thickly on top.

  3. Brush the tart with whisked egg white.

  4. Sift sugar on the egg white before baking.

  5. Sprinkle a little water on top.

  6. Cover with paper if needed.

  7. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 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. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Good crust
Forms the case and top that enclose the fruit while it cooks.
Fruit
Supplies the filling and moisture that bakes inside the tart.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and, sifted on top, helps the surface brown.
1 egg white
Brushed on the top, it helps the sugar stick and gives a glossy, crisp finish.

The step that matters

Make small holes on each side for steam to escape.. Steam from the fruit must have an exit, or pressure can build under the top crust and split it open while baking.

“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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