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
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tart
Roll out the thin pastry dough and lay it in a dish or tart pan.
Add the raspberries and sprinkle them with fine sugar.
Cover the dish with a fine crust and bake until golden.
Fill and finish
Once baked, cut open the tart and pour in warm cream mixed with beaten egg yolks and a little sugar.
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
- Raspberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and a tart, juicy filling.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the raspberries and the cream filling, balancing the fruit's acidity.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, soft texture to the filling.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream mixture and add richness and body to the filling.
- Thin pastry dough
- Forms the crust that holds the raspberries and filling.
The step that matters
Pouring the warm cream and yolk mixture. Egg yolk proteins thicken gently with heat but can turn grainy or curdle if overheated. Mix the yolks smoothly into the warm cream and pour gently so the filling stays silky rather than scrambled.
“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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