Skip to main content
Dessert

Cheese Tarts

Cheese tarts are pastry shells filled with a mixture of grated cheese, butter, eggs, salt, and cayenne pepper, topped with grated cheese and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cheese Tarts

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

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

  2. Line patty pans with the thin pastry.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mix the grated cheese with warmed butter, salt, and cayenne.

  2. Add the whisked egg yolks and mix well.

  3. Gently fold in the beaten egg white last.

  4. Half fill the pastry cases with the cheese mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake until the cheese mixture is set and the pastry is slightly colored.

  2. Before serving, sprinkle grated cheese and chopped parsley on top.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pastry
Forms the thin crisp case that holds the cheese filling while it bakes.
Cheese
Provides the rich flavor and, with the eggs, sets into a firm custard-like filling.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture in the filling.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help it set into a creamy, cohesive texture.
Egg white
Adds structure and lift, helping the filling set lightly when baked.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the beaten egg white last. Egg white holds air and gives structure; overmixing deflates it, leaving a denser, less light filling once baked.

“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.

You might also like

Cheese BallsCheese Balls97 recipesCheese CakeCheese Cake55 recipesCream CheeseCream Cheese46 recipesLemon PieLemon Pie37 recipes