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Dessert

Apple Tarts

A baked tart with a smooth apple filling and meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,551 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Apple Tarts

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Peel, quarter, core, and boil the apples in ½ cup of water until soft.

  2. Beat the apples until smooth.

  3. Mix in the egg yolks, lemon juice, lemon rind, butter, and sugar.

Assemble and bake

  1. Line patty pans with puff pastry and fill with the apple mixture.

  2. Bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) for 5 minutes.

Top and brown

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  2. Gradually add 3 tablespoons of sugar to the egg whites.

  3. Spread the meringue over the tarts and return to the oven to brown delicately.

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. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Tart apples
Cook down to a soft, smooth base that gives the filling its body and flavour.
Egg yolks
Thicken the apple filling as they set and add richness.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich, tender texture in the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue become glossy and stable.
Egg whites
Whip into a stiff foam that forms the meringue topping.
Lemon juice and rind
Add acidity and bright citrus aroma that balance the sweetness.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must form stable peaks before sugar is added; underwhipped whites will weep and fail to hold the meringue, while the sugar added gradually helps keep the foam firm and glossy.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, lemon, butter, sugar. 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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