Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Orange Tarts
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 the oranges
Grate a little of the orange rind and squeeze the juice into a dish.
Soak the orange peels in water, changing it often for four days.
Boil the oranges in water, changing the water twice to remove bitterness.
Once tender, wipe the oranges and beat them until smooth.
Make the filling
Weigh the orange pulp and use the same weight in sugar to make a syrup, skimming off any foam.
Add the pulp to the syrup and boil until clear.
Let the mixture cool, then fill the tart shells and squeeze in the orange juice.
Bake
Bake the tarts in a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden.
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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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Seville orange
- Provides the bitter, aromatic pulp and juice that flavour the filling.
- Double-refined sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, boiled with the pulp, forms a thick syrup.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the crisp, flaky shell that holds the filling.
The step that matters
Boiling the oranges in changed water. Orange peel is bitter, and repeated water changes draw out bitter compounds. Skipping or rushing the changes leaves the pulp harsh-tasting.
“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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