Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cranberry Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Pick and wash the cranberries in several waters.
Combine the cranberries with the lemon juice and crushed sugar in a dish.
Bake and serve
Cover the mixture with puff pastry and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 45 minutes.
If using tart pastry, remove it from the oven 5 minutes before it's done, ice it, then return it to the oven until finished.
Serve the tart cold.
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.
-
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Cranberries
- Provide the tart's main fruit filling, and their tartness is balanced by the sugar.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the tart and helps soften and balance the cranberries' sharp acidity.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and brightness that complements the sweetness of the sugar.
- Puff pastry or tart pastry
- Forms the crust that encloses the fruit and browns as it bakes.
The step that matters
Covering and baking the tart. Pastry must be fully cooked and golden while the fruit bubbles beneath it. Tart pastry is set separately so it does not become soggy or underbaked before the cranberries are ready.
“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.
More cranberry tart recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.