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Dessert

Common Lemon Tartlets

A tartlet filled with a lemon custard made from eggs, sugar, flour, butter, and lemon zest.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,230 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Common Lemon Tartlets

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.

Make the filling

  1. Beat the eggs until very light.

  2. Gradually add the sugar and whisk for five minutes.

  3. Stir in the potato flour or common flour.

  4. Add the lukewarm, dissolved butter and mix well.

  5. Stir in the lemon juice and grated rind.

Bake

  1. Line pattypans with the puff pastry and fill them two-thirds full.

  2. Bake the tartlets for about 20 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

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. Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

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

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + lemontop 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. Sugar + buttertop 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

Eggs
Whisked eggs provide structure and set the filling as it bakes.
Pounded sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps stabilise the whisked eggs.
Potato flour or common flour
Thickens the filling slightly so it holds its shape when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the filling.
Lemon juice and rind
Provides the acidity and bright aroma that define the tartlet flavour.

The step that matters

Adding the lukewarm butter. Butter that is too hot can scramble the beaten eggs, while butter that has cooled and set will not blend evenly. Keeping it lukewarm and mixing well keeps the filling smooth.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Potatothe original

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