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Dessert

Custard Tart

A pastry crust filled with a baked custard made from milk, egg yolk, butter, flour, almonds, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Custard Tart

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the crust

  1. Make a short crust with flour, sugar, butter, and cold water.

  2. Line a sandwich tin.

Make the custard

  1. Mix 1 oz flour and 2 oz butter over heat.

  2. Add 1 cup milk.

  3. Bring to a boil.

  4. Cool slightly.

  5. Stir in the egg yolk, chopped almonds, and vanilla essence.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into the crust.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides structure to the crust and thickens the custard base.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crust and a rich, smooth custard.
Egg yolk
Sets during baking and gives the custard richness and body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that sets when baked.
Sugar
Sweetens the crust and adds a little browning.
Almonds
Add texture and a nutty aroma to the filling.

The step that matters

Stir in the egg yolk after the mixture cools slightly. Egg yolk proteins begin to set around 160°F. If the custard is still very hot when the yolk goes in, the yolk can scramble, leaving lumps. Cooling briefly lets the yolk blend smoothly so the custard sets evenly in the oven.

“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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