Why it works: Rhubarb and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,852 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Rhubarb Tabts
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rhubarb
Cut the rhubarb into pieces.
Strew plenty of sugar over the rhubarb and stew it until soft.
Mash the stewed rhubarb until fine.
Make and fill the tarts
Line pie plates with a light pie crust and bake until golden.
Once the crusts are cold, fill them with the mashed rhubarb.
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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Rhubarb + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,852 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rhubarb
- Provides the tart filling that is softened by stewing and mashed smooth.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the rhubarb and draws out its juices during stewing.
- Pie crust
- Forms the baked shell that holds the mashed rhubarb filling.
The step that matters
Let the crusts cool before filling. Adding the rhubarb to a hot crust can make the pastry soggy, since heat and moisture weaken its structure, so the crusts should be fully cold first.
“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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