Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Raspberry Tart with Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Assemble the tart
Roll out the puff pastry and lay it in a tart pan.
Place the raspberries in the pastry and sprinkle with fine sugar.
Cover the pastry with a thin lid of pastry.
Bake and finish
Bake until golden.
In a bowl, mix the warm cream, beaten egg yolks, and sugar.
Pour the mixture into the tart and return to the oven for 5-6 minutes.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Puff pastry
- Forms the crisp, flaky shell and top layer that hold the filling.
- Raspberries
- Provide tartness, fruit flavour and moisture to the filling.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a smooth, soft texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream mixture as they set, giving the filling body.
The step that matters
Returning the custard to the oven. Egg yolks set when heated, but overbaking can make the cream curdle or turn grainy and watery. Watch the custard closely during the short 5-6 minute return to the oven.
“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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