Why it works: Egg and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,461 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Fairy Fancies
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the pastry
Roll out the short crust pastry thinly and evenly.
Cut out a dozen small sheets using a larger tin cutter.
Use two round cutters to form rings, one about 1 inch in diameter and the other half that size.
Place the rings on the sheets as shown in the engraving.
Moisten each ring with egg white using a camel's hair brush before placing it on the pastry.
Bake and fill
Bake in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C) until crisp and pale.
Fill each section of the pastry with a different color of preserve before serving.
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 + appletop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,461 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Short crust pastry
- Forms the crisp, sturdy base that holds the rings and preserves.
- Egg white
- Helps the ring stick to the pastry and gives a light, glossy finish when baked.
- Preserves
- Provide sweetness and fruit flavor and color for each filled section.
The step that matters
Baking in a gentle oven. A gentle oven dries the pastry through so it turns crisp while staying pale. Too much heat browns or sets the outside before the centre dries, leaving pastry that is soft inside or scorched at the edges.
“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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