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Potato Tartlets a LA Frangipane

Sweet potato tartlets filled with a lemon‑infused almond‑flavored mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,230 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Potato Tartlets a LA Frangipane

Oven, in the book's wordsA fairly hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Wash, peel, and steam the potatoes until tender.

  2. Pound the potatoes in a mortar until smooth.

Make the filling

  1. Add the eggs, butter, lemon rind, castor sugar, and crushed macaroons; mix well.

  2. Grease small patty pans with butter.

  3. Spoon the mixture into the patty pans.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until set.

  2. Turn out, dust with castor sugar, and serve hot or cold.

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. Potato + lemontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

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

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the smooth, soft bulk of the tartlet filling.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set it firm when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling.
Crushed macaroons
Add sweetness, almond flavour and body to the filling.
Lemon rind
Adds bright aroma that lifts the rich filling.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Baking only until the eggs have set keeps the filling tender and moist. Overbaking causes the egg proteins to tighten, leaving it dry and rubbery.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Potatothe original

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