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Dessert

Yorkshire Curd Cheesecakes

A baked cheesecake made with curd, sugar, butter, eggs, bicarbonate of soda, lemon essence, and currants.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Yorkshire Curd Cheesecakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA sharp oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a sharp oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Mix the eggs, sugar, and butter together until smooth.

  2. Add the curd, bicarbonate of soda, lemon essence, and currants.

Fill and bake

  1. Line the required number of patty tins with short pastry or puff pastry.

  2. Nearly fill each tin with the curd mixture.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.

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.

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. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,856 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Curd
Forms the soft, set body of the filling as it bakes.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown lightly in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender texture to the filling.
Eggs
Bind the filling and help it set as it bakes.
Bicarbonate of soda
Reacts with acidity in the curd to help the filling rise and lighten.
Currants
Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness throughout the filling.

The step that matters

Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes. Baking time is short, so the filling can over-brown or dry out if left too long. Stop when the filling is set but still slightly soft in the centre, since it firms further as it cools.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, lemon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, lemon. 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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