Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Spanish Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the meringue
Pound the sugar until very fine, equal to the weight of the eggs.
Beat the egg whites until very firm. Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat the egg whites.
Bake
Spread the mixture on paper in oval-shaped flat portions of equal size.
Bake in a moderately heated oven at 350°F (175°C) until the outside is light yellow and the inside is crisp.
Assemble and finish
Arrange the baked portions on a dish with preserves between them.
Cover the top with icing.
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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites beaten to a firm foam provide the light, airy structure of the meringue layers.
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the beaten whites to stabilise the foam and add sweetness, helping the layers crisp when baked.
- Preserves
- Add sweetness and fruity moisture between the crisp layers, softening them slightly.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until very firm. Egg whites must be whipped to a stiff, stable foam before the sugar is added. Under-whipped whites collapse during baking, and sugar added too early or too quickly can slow the foam from building.
“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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