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Transparent Crust for Tarts

A clear, thin crust for tarts made from egg, butter, flour, brushed with water and sprinkled with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Transparent Crust for Tarts

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Beat the egg until thin.

  2. Mix the cooled melted butter with the egg.

  3. Stir in the flour until well combined.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll the paste very thin and line the pattypans quickly.

  2. Brush the tarts with water and sprinkle sugar on top.

  3. Bake in a lightly heated oven at 400°F (200°C) until beautiful.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  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).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Egg
Thins and binds the dough, adding richness and helping hold its shape.
Unsalted butter
Adds richness and tenderness, and coats the flour so the crust stays short.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the thin crust together as it bakes.
Sugar
Sweetens the top of the tarts and helps them brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Rolling the paste very thin and lining the pattypans quickly. Butter softens at room temperature, so a warm, soft dough becomes sticky and tears easily. Working quickly and rolling thin keeps the butter cool and the crust delicate and even.

“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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