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Dessert

Apple Meringue Tart

A tart of apples simmered with sugar and lemon rind, topped with a pink‑sugar meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and lemon 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 ↓

Apple Meringue Tart

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Line a tart dish with the pastry and decorate the edge.

  3. Peel, core, and slice the apples.

Make the filling

  1. Boil the apples with the sugar and lemon rind until tender.

  2. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and mix in the egg yolks thoroughly.

  3. Pour the apple mixture into the lined dish and bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

Top and brown

  1. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and mix in the pink sugar.

  2. Spread the meringue over the baked apples and return to the oven to brown slightly.

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. Apple + lemontop 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. Sugar + lemontop 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

Apples
Provide the bulk of the filling and its tart, fruity flavour once softened.
Sugar
Sweetens the apples and helps them soften into a smooth purée.
Eggs
Egg yolks enrich and set the filling, while whites whip into the meringue topping.
Pink sugar
Sweetens the meringue and adds colour to the topping.
Rich short pastry
Forms the crisp, buttery case that holds the filling.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites need to be fully whipped to hold air for a stable, light meringue. Under-whipped whites collapse and weep, while the sugar added afterward helps keep the foam firm.

Swap the apple

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, 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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