Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Raspberry Tart, with Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tart
Roll out thin puff pastry and lay it in a tart pan.
Fill the pastry with raspberries and sprinkle fine sugar over them.
Cover with a thin lid of pastry and bake until golden.
Make the custard and finish
In a bowl, mix warm cream, beaten egg yolks, and sugar.
Pour the mixture into the tart and return it to the oven for 5 to 6 minutes.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Puff pastry
- Forms a crisp, flaky base and lid that hold the filling in place.
- Raspberries
- Add tart flavour and juice that moistens the filling as it bakes.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and set the cream mixture into a soft custard.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the custard.
The step that matters
Returning the custard to the oven. Egg yolks set at moderate heat. Too much time or heat makes them curdle and weep, so the custard should be baked just until set and removed while still slightly wobbly in the center.
“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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