Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Greex Gooseberry 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 the filling
Rinse the gooseberries and place them in a pot with enough water to prevent burning.
Stew the gooseberries slowly until they break down.
Sweeten the mixture to taste and set aside to cool.
Assemble and bake
Pour the cooled mixture into pastry shells.
Cover with puff pastry and brush the top with the beaten egg.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 3 minutes to glaze.
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.
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gooseberries
- Break down into the fruit filling that forms the body of the tart.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart filling and balances the gooseberries' natural tartness.
- Beaten egg
- Brushed on top to promote browning and a glossy glaze on the pastry.
- Puff pastry
- Forms a flaky, layered crust that covers the filling.
The step that matters
Stewing the gooseberries. Stew slowly with enough water so the fruit breaks down evenly without scorching. Scorched sugar and fruit give a bitter taste, and cooking the filling fully before it goes into the pastry keeps the tart from becoming soggy.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 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.