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Dessert

Lemon Tarts

A baked lemon tart made with grated lemon, lemon juice, molasses, sugar, hot water, shortening, sweet milk, baking powder, egg, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Lemon 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix the grated lemon, lemon juice, molasses, sugar, and hot water.

  3. In another bowl, combine the shortening, sweet milk, baking powder, and egg.

  4. Add enough flour to the mixture to stiffen it.

  5. Line three pie plates with pastry.

Bake

  1. Pour the lemon mixture into the lined plates, then drop in the second mixture.

  2. Bake in the preheated oven until set.

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and a rich, deep flavour to the filling.
Egg
Helps the filling set and gives it structure as it bakes.
Baking powder
Produces gas that lightens the second mixture as it bakes.
Flour
Stiffens the mixture so it holds its shape in the pie plates.
Shortening
Adds fat for a tender texture in the second mixture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the filling.

The step that matters

Add enough flour to stiffen the mixture. Flour thickens the batter by absorbing liquid and forming structure, so too little leaves the filling runny and too much makes it dense and dry.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, milk, egg, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, milk, egg, flour. 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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