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Dessert

Maids of Honour

A pastry tart filled with an almond custard made from egg yolks, sugar, almonds, and orange‑flower water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Maids of Honour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until well combined.

  2. Pound the blanched sweet almonds and a few bitter almonds, but not too finely.

  3. Mix the almond mixture with the orange-flower water.

Bake

  1. Line patty pans with pastry and fill them with the mixture.

  2. Bake until set and lightly golden.

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. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  5. Egg + almondtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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

Egg yolks
Set the custard as they cook, giving it a rich, smooth body.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps it brown lightly as it bakes.
Sweet almonds
Provide the main almond flavor and a tender, slightly oily texture in the filling.
Bitter almonds
Add a concentrated almond aroma in small amounts.
Orange-flower water
Adds a floral, aromatic scent that complements the almonds.

The step that matters

Pound the almonds coarsely. Leaving the almonds not too finely ground keeps some texture in the filling. Over-grinding can release oils and make the mixture pasty, which changes how the custard sets and feels.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, almond. 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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