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Dessert

Plum Tart

A tart made with short crust, plums, and sugar, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Plum Tart

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a good 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 the edges of a deep tart dish with the short crust.

Fill and cover

  1. Fill the dish with plums and place a small cup or jar upside down in the center.

  2. Add the sugar and cover the tart with more crust, decorating the edges.

Bake and glaze

  1. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

  2. For a puff crust, use the puff pastry recipe and glaze the top with beaten egg white.

  3. Sprinkle with sifted sugar and return to the oven to set the glaze.

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. Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,313 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

Plums
Release juice as they bake, providing moisture and a tart, fruity flavor.
Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the plum juices thicken into a syrup.
Short crust
Forms the structure of the tart, and its fat makes the pastry tender and crumbly.

The step that matters

Placing the cup or jar in the center. The upturned cup lets steam escape from the filling while the tart bakes. Without this vent, pressure can push juice out and make the bottom crust soggy.

“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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