Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Cherry Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Remove the stems and pits from the cherries.
Use small, deep pie dishes. Place a small cup upside down in the center.
Fill the dish with cherries, adding sugar and flour.
Assemble and bake
Lay a border of pastry around the edge. Cover with a top crust. Decorate the edges.
Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven.
Finish and serve
Cover with a thin meringue made from whipped egg white and powdered sugar. Return to the oven, leaving the door open to set the icing.
Serve plain or dust the crust with powdered sugar before serving.
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.
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Cherries
- Provide the main filling and fruity flavor of the tart.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cherry filling and balances their natural tartness.
- Flour
- Thickens the juices released by the cherries as they bake.
- Puff pastry or short crust pastry
- Forms the crisp, browning shell that holds the filling.
- Egg white
- Whipped with powdered sugar to form a light, set meringue topping.
The step that matters
Covering with the meringue and returning to the oven. Whipped egg white must be spread thinly and set briefly in a hot oven; if overbaked it toughens, weeps, or browns too quickly. Leaving the door open helps control the heat so the topping sets without scorching.
“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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