Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cream Tarts
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the shell
In a saucepan, combine water and butter; bring to a boil.
Stir in flour when boiling and set aside to cool.
Once cooled, add the 5 beaten eggs and mix well.
Pour the mixture into tart pans and bake for 15 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
Make the custard and fill
For the custard, whisk together milk, 2 eggs, ⅓ cup flour, and sugar; add flavoring.
When the tarts are cool, cut a hole in the side and fill with custard using a teaspoon.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and set the custard, giving structure to both the shell and the filling.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the shell, contributing tenderness and flavor.
- Flour
- Provides starch that gelatinizes and builds structure in the shell and thickens the custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding moisture and creaminess.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and contributes to its tender texture and browning.
The step that matters
Cooling before adding the eggs. If the flour-and-water paste is still hot when eggs go in, the eggs can scramble and the dough loses its ability to emulsify smoothly, so cool it before mixing.
“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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