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Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble Tart with Ginger Syllabub and Pink Syrup

Stem ginger adds a spiky flavour to this rhubarb tart made with nut pastry and topped with a crumble mixture.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Rhubarb and ginger work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 241 recipes mention both. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep1 hr
Cook2 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Rub the first portion of flour and butter with the icing sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs, then mix in the vanilla and egg to form a dough. Chill for 30 minutes.

  2. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Roll out the pastry, line a tart tin, prick the base with a fork and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden and firm. Set aside.

  3. Toast the chopped blanched hazelnuts in a dry pan for 3 to 4 minutes. Rub the second portion of flour and butter with the demerara sugar and hazelnuts until crumbly. Set aside.

  4. Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water in a saucepan. Add the rhubarb cut into short lengths, one finely chopped piece of stem ginger and strips of lemon peel. Simmer gently for 10 minutes until the rhubarb is just tender.

  5. Lift the rhubarb out with a slotted spoon and spread it in the baked tart case. Simmer the remaining syrup for 10 minutes until pink and slightly thickened, then strain it.

  6. Scatter the crumble over the rhubarb and bake at 350°F (180°C) for 25 to 30 minutes until golden. Cool slightly.

  7. For the syllabub, whip the cream with the ginger wine or brandy, the ginger syrup, the juice of the lemon and the second piece of stem ginger, finely chopped, until soft peaks form.

  8. Serve the warm or cooled tart with spoonfuls of syllabub and pink syrup. Chill the syllabub if making ahead.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Rhubarb + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Rhubarb + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together276 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Rhubarb + hazelnuttop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together15 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Hazelnut + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together279 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the hazelnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, rhubarb, ginger, flour, butter, vanilla, egg):

  1. Almondbetter flavor fit
  2. Chestnutabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Hazelnutthe original
  4. Walnutabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, rhubarb, ginger, flour, butter, vanilla, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).