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Apple Tart with Quince

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Nutmeg and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,746 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Apple Tart with Quince

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.

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

  2. Line the tartlet-moulds with short-paste.

  3. Pound the filberts in a mortar with water to prevent oiliness.

  4. Mix in butter, sugar, white noyau, and egg yolks until well combined.

  5. Fill the tartlet-moulds with the mixture and bake until done.

  6. Remove from moulds and place on a clean baking sheet.

  7. Mix glazing-sugar with white noyau to form a thick icing.

  8. Glaze the tartlets with the icing and let them dry.

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. Nutmeg + orangetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,746 recipes

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

  2. Filbert + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together52 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Swap the filbert

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pistachiofits better
  3. Walnutfits better
  4. Filbertthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, nutmeg, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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