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Custard Tartlets

A baked custard tartlet with a short crust base and meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Custard Tartlets

Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Custard Tartlets

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the crust

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Line 12 deep patty tins with short paste.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the 4 whole eggs, then add the milk and sweeten to taste.

  2. Fill the patty pans with the custard mixture.

  3. Bake until set, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Add the meringue and serve

  1. Whisk the 2 egg whites until stiff, then sweeten them.

  2. Pile the meringue lightly on top of the tartlets.

  3. Return the tartlets to the oven until the meringue hardens and colors slightly.

  4. Serve cold.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
Set the custard and give it structure as they coagulate on heating.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and moisture that gives the custard its soft, creamy texture.
Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that forms the light, stable meringue topping.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and meringue and helps the meringue stay stable and brown lightly.

The step that matters

Baking the custard until just set. Egg proteins coagulate as they heat; overbaking forces them to tighten and weep liquid, making the custard grainy and watery.

“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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