Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Orange Patties
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Bake the pastry
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Roll out the puff pastry and cut it into rounds.
Use a small cutter to mark a ring in the center of each round.
Place the rounds on a baking sheet and bake until golden.
Remove the centers and let them cool.
Make the orange filling
Rub the sugar onto the orange rind and place it in a pan with the strained orange juice and gelatine.
Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, then pour it onto the egg yolks mixed with cornflour.
Return to the pan and stir until boiling, then cook for 3 minutes and let cool.
Whisk the cream until stiff, then add the cooled orange mixture.
Assemble and serve
Stir until it begins to set, then transfer to a piping bag and fill the pastry cases.
Garnish with small orange quarters and chopped pistachio nuts.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
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 + orangetop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,170 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Cream
- Whipped to stiffness, it gives the filling a light, airy texture.
- Gelatine
- Sets the orange mixture so it holds its shape in the pastry cases.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the orange mixture and add richness when cooked with the cornflour.
- Cornflour
- Thickens the orange juice mixture together with the egg yolks.
- Orange juice
- Provides the main citrus flavor and liquid for the filling.
- Puff pastry
- Bakes into flaky, golden cases that hold the filling.
The step that matters
Cooking the egg yolk and cornflour mixture to a boil. Egg yolks can curdle if overheated, while cornflour needs to reach boiling to thicken fully. Stirring constantly and bringing it to a boil before cooling for 3 minutes helps give a smooth, thick base for the filling.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, 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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