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Cheesecakes, Citron

A custard cheesecake flavored with citron and almonds, baked in tins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and biscuit match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 388 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Cheesecakes, Citron

Ingredients

Directions

Make the curd

  1. Boil the cream and let it cool.

  2. Mix the cooled cream with the beaten eggs.

  3. Boil the mixture until it forms a curd.

Flavour and bake

  1. In a mortar, beat the blanched almonds and mix with orange flower water.

  2. Add the almond mixture, Naples biscuits, and chopped citron to the curd.

  3. Sweeten to taste and bake in tins.

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. Almond + biscuittop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together388 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Orange + biscuittop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together371 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Cream + biscuittop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,235 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Cream
Provides richness and body, setting into a soft, creamy custard when cooked.
Eggs
Thicken the mixture into a curd and help it set when heated.
Naples biscuits
Soak up moisture and add texture and structure to the filling.
Green citron
Adds bright, aromatic citrus flavour throughout the cheesecake.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture until it forms a curd. Eggs thicken as their proteins set with heat, but overheating can make them scramble or curdle unevenly. Stop once the mixture thickens to keep the filling smooth.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, almond, biscuit, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, almond, biscuit, sugar. 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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