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Apple-tartlets, with Trellice-work

Apple tartlets filled with thick apple marmalade and topped with a trellis pastry pattern.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Apple-tartlets, with Trellice-work

Oven, in the book's wordsA slack oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slack oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the tartlets

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Line 8 to 10 tartlet molds with short pastry.

  3. Fill the molds with apple marmalade, keeping it thick. Smooth the marmalade with a knife.

  4. Roll out strips of pastry on a floured surface to create a trellis pattern. Attach the strips to the rim of the pastry and pinch to seal.

  5. Brush the surface with beaten egg.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the tartlets on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

  2. Three minutes before removing, sprinkle sugar on top to glaze.

  3. Let cool before serving.

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. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Apple + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,461 recipes

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

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

Short pastry
Forms the crisp, sturdy shell that holds the filling.
Apple marmalade
Provides the thick, sweet-tart fruit filling that sets as it bakes.
Egg
Beaten egg brushed on the surface promotes browning and a glossy finish.
Sugar
Sprinkled near the end, it caramelises on the surface for a glaze and sweetness.

The step that matters

Keeping the marmalade thick. If the filling is too loose, it can seep out and soften the pastry as it bakes, so a thick consistency helps the shell stay crisp and the filling hold its shape.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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