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Dessert

Common Lemon Tartlets

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 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 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the flour lightly.

  4. Slowly add the melted butter, ensuring it's just lukewarm.

  5. Mix well, then stir in the lemon juice and rind.

Line and bake

  1. Line patty pans with thin puff pastry.

  2. Fill them two-thirds full with the mixture.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C) for about 20 minutes.

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
Provide structure and richness, and set the filling as they cook.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the beaten eggs hold their airy texture.
Potato flour or common flour
Lightly thickens the filling so it sets in the tartlets rather than running.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich, tender texture and smooth mouthfeel.
Lemon juice and rind
Provide the acidity and aroma that define the tartlet's flavour.

The step that matters

Add the melted butter when it is just lukewarm. Hot butter can scramble the beaten eggs and deflate the foam, while cold butter stays in clumps. Lukewarm butter blends in smoothly and keeps the batter light.

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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