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Dessert

Richmond Maids of Honour

A buttery pastry filled with almond, lemon, and curd mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Richmond Maids of Honour

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

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

  2. Mix the butter and dry curd together until smooth.

  3. Beat the egg yolks and sugar until well combined.

  4. Grind the sweet and bitter almonds finely.

Make the filling

  1. Add the ground almonds, mashed potato, lemon rind, lemon juice, grated nutmeg, and brandy to the mixture.

  2. Mix everything together thoroughly.

Bake

  1. Line patty tins with puff pastry.

  2. Fill each pastry-lined tin with the mixture.

  3. Bake until golden and set.

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. Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Potato + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together337 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dry curd
Forms the body of the filling, giving it a soft, rich, slightly crumbly texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture in the filling.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help it set to a custard-like firmness when baked.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and aids browning as it bakes.
Mashed potato
Adds moisture and body, keeping the filling soft and tender.
Sweet and bitter almonds
Contribute nutty flavor and fat, adding depth and richness to the filling.

The step that matters

Fill each pastry-lined tin with the mixture. Overfilling makes the filling spill and bake unevenly, while underfilling leaves the pastry dry; the filling should fill the tins without overflowing so it sets evenly.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, lemon, egg, sugar, almond, nutmeg, brandy. 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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