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Meringue Custard Tartlets

A baked tart with custard filling topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Meringue Custard Tartlets

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the pans

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Grease deep individual pie-tins or fluted tartlet pans (about 6 inches in diameter and 2-3 inches deep).

  3. Line the pans with puff pastry.

Make and bake the custard

  1. In a saucepan, stir the beaten yolks of the eggs with flour, salt, and cream until smooth.

  2. Add sugar and cook over low heat, stirring until the custard coats the back of a spoon without boiling.

  3. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and let cool.

  4. Fill the lined pans with the custard and bake in the preheated oven.

Top with meringue and finish

  1. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy, then gradually add ½ pound of sugar and a dash of salt until stiff peaks form.

  2. Spread a thin layer of meringue over the tart and decorate with the remaining meringue using a piping bag.

  3. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top and return to the oven until lightly golden.

  4. Remove from the oven and let cool before serving.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken and enrich the custard, and whites whip into the meringue structure.
All-purpose flour
Starch thickens the custard so it holds its shape when cut.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and moisture, giving the custard a smooth, rich texture.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps stabilize the whipped egg white meringue.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard without boiling. Egg yolks can scramble or curdle when overheated. Stirring over low heat until the custard coats a spoon lets the flour and yolks thicken it smoothly.

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, cream, sugar, butter):

  1. Vanillathe original
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Coconutfits less well
  4. Figfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, cream, sugar, butter. 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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