Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Open Apricot Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the pastry
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Grease a tin pastry-ring or cake-ring and place it on a buttered baking sheet.
Line the sides and bottom with short pastry, ensuring it is one piece and about 2 inches deep.
Butter a sheet of paper and line the pastry with it, butter side down, then fill with raw rice to prevent rising.
Bake and fill
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Remove the rice and paper, take off the ring, and return the pastry to the oven to finish cooking.
Once done, transfer the pastry to a rack and fill the center with cooked apricots.
Decorate the edges with royal icing or a wreath of angelica leaves, if desired.
Top with whipped cream if you like.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Apricot + angelicatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together117 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Rice + angelicatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together54 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Rice + apricottop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together353 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
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Butter + apricottop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,458 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Short pastry
- Forms the crisp, sturdy shell that holds the filling.
- Raw rice
- Weighs the pastry down so its base and sides do not puff up while baking.
- Cooked apricots
- Provide the fruit filling and its sweet, tart flavour.
- Whipped cream
- Adds a soft, rich topping that contrasts with the crisp pastry.
The step that matters
Weighing the pastry with rice while it bakes. Without a weight, the pastry base and sides can rise and puff in the heat. Lining with buttered paper and filling with rice holds the shape flat so the shell bakes evenly and stays crisp.
Swap the angelica
The recipe marks angelica as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, rice, apricot, cream):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Peppermintfits about as well
- Angelicathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, rice, apricot, cream. 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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