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German Custard for Tarts, Cakes, Etc.

A lemon and apple custard thickened with sugar and egg, used in tarts and cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,551 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

German Custard for Tarts, Cakes, Etc.

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grate the outer rind of the lemon and the apples.

  2. Mix the grated lemon and apples with sugar in an enamelled pan.

Cook the custard

  1. Stir constantly and boil for about 4 minutes.

  2. Remove from heat, add the egg, and stir until it thickens without boiling.

Finish

  1. Set aside for use.

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. Lemon + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Lemon
Its grated rind adds fragrant, bright citrus aroma to the custard.
Apples
Their natural pectin and tartness help the mixture thicken and add body.
Sugar
Provides sweetness and balances the tartness of the lemon and apples.
Egg
Its proteins set as they heat gently, thickening the custard and giving it richness.

The step that matters

Adding the egg without boiling. Egg proteins set at moderate heat but scramble and curdle if they get too hot. Removing the pan from the heat before adding the egg, then stirring until it thickens, keeps the custard smooth.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, egg. 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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