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 ↓
A Good Apple Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately brisk oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare a tart dish with a border of puff-paste or cream-crust.
Dip the apples in water and arrange them compactly in the dish, higher in the center.
Bake the tart
Sprinkle 3 to 4 ounces of sugar over the apples, adjusting for tartness.
Add the grated lemon zest and strained lemon juice for flavor.
Cover with a thin layer of rolled pastry and bake for about 30 minutes.
For a creamed apple tart, remove the cover while hot, leaving a 1-inch border.
Finish and serve
Pour ½ to ¾ pint of rich boiled custard over the cooled apples.
Optionally, decorate with pastry leaves or serve with whipped cream.
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.
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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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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Apple + creamtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,089 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
- Apples
- Form the bulk of the filling and soften into a tender, moist layer when baked.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and draws out juice, adding flavor and helping the fruit caramelize.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the apples and balances the sugar.
- Puff-paste or cream-crust
- Forms the border and pastry cover that hold the filling in the dish.
The step that matters
Remove the cover while hot for a creamed tart. Lifting the pastry cover while the tart is hot lets the apples and sugar keep their moisture and structure for the custard to be poured over later. Letting it cool first can leave the cover stuck or the apples harder to uncover cleanly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Pearfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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