Why it works: Currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,256 recipes. The science ↓
Red Currant and Raspberry Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Strip the currants from the stalks and place them in a deep pie dish with a small cup upside down in the center.
Add the raspberries and sugar to the dish.
Place a border of pastry around the edge of the dish and cover with the remaining crust.
Decorate the edges.
Bake and serve
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
Sprinkle sifted sugar over the tart before serving.
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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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
- Currants
- Provide tart acidity and a sharp flavor that balances the sweetness.
- Raspberries
- Add juicy fruit body and aroma that softens as the tart bakes.
- Moist sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and helps draw out juice to form a syrup.
- Short crust pastry
- Forms a tender, crumbly crust that encloses the fruit and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Placing the cup in the center of the dish. The upturned cup holds the pastry lid up off the juicy fruit, creating a vent so steam can escape and the juices do not make the crust soggy or burst it.
“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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