Why it works: Lemon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Vienniese Tartlets
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Prepare a short pastry and line deep tartlet tins with it.
Make the filling
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks, grated lemon rind, and lemon juice, then whisk over boiling water until thick.
Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Fold in 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the egg whites.
Half fill the tartlets with the folded mixture.
Bake and finish
Sprinkle the chopped almonds and cherries on top of the tartlets.
Bake the tartlets in the preheated oven.
Mix 1 tablespoon icing sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon into the remaining egg whites.
Pile the icing mixture on top of the tartlets.
Garnish with cherries.
Dry the tartlets in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C).
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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Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the filling a light, tender texture.
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard while whites whisked to stiff peaks lift the filling as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps hold air when creamed with the butter.
- Lemon
- Rind and juice add aroma and acidity to the filling.
- Almonds
- Add nutty flavour and a crunchy texture to the topping.
- Glace cherries
- Add sweetness and colour to the topping.
The step that matters
Whisk the custard over boiling water until thick. Egg yolks begin to set at moderate heat, so overheating can scramble them, while stopping too early leaves the mixture runny and unable to hold its shape in the tartlets.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, almond, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, almond, sugar, egg. 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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