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Grosse -meringue with Pistachios

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Apricot and pistachio match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 188 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Grosse -meringue with Pistachios

Oven, in the book's wordsA very slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

  1. Prepare the meringue paste as directed in recipe No. 1298.

  2. Cut six circular pieces of parchment paper to the size of a dinner plate.

  3. On each piece of paper, draw a thick circle about 5 inches in diameter.

  4. Using a dessert spoon, mold the meringue paste into small elongated ovals and place them closely around the circle to form a wreath.

  5. Repeat for the remaining five pieces of paper.

  6. Cover the meringues with sifted sugar, shake off the excess, and place them on a baking board.

  7. Bake in a very light color in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C).

  8. Once baked, turn the meringue wreaths upside down on plates, sprinkle with sifted sugar, and let them dry in a very slow oven.

  9. Before serving, stack the meringue wreaths with a layer of apricot jam between each and fill the center with whipped cream.

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. Apricot + pistachiotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together188 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  3. Cream + pistachiotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together634 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Sugar + apricottop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,630 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + pistachiotop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

Swap the pistachio

The recipe marks pistachio as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, apricot, cream):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pistachiothe original
  3. Hazelnutfits about as well
  4. Chestnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, apricot, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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