Why it works: Pistachio and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 431 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Grosse-meringue with Pistachios
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the meringue
Prepare the meringue paste as directed in recipe No. 1298.
Cut six circular pieces of parchment paper to the size of a dinner plate.
Draw a thick circle, about 5 inches in diameter, on each piece of paper.
Mold the meringue paste into small elongated ovals.
Place the ovals closely around the circle to form a wreath.
Repeat for the remaining five pieces of paper.
Bake and dry
Cover the meringues with sifted sugar.
Shake off the excess sugar.
Place the meringues on a baking sheet.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until a very light color.
Turn the meringue wreaths upside down on plates.
Sprinkle with sifted sugar.
Let them dry.
Assemble
Stack the meringue wreaths with a layer of apricot jam between each.
Fill the center with whipped cream.
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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Pistachio + lemontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together431 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Apricot + pistachiotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together188 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Apricot + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,098 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + pistachiotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together634 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meringue paste
- Whipped egg whites and sugar form the airy, crisp structure of the wreaths.
- Sifted sugar
- Sugar dusted on the meringue sweetens the surface and helps it brown lightly and form a crust.
- Apricot jam
- Jam between the layers adds sweetness and fruity acidity and helps the stacked wreaths hold together.
- Whipped cream
- Cream filling adds moisture and richness that contrasts with the dry, crisp meringue.
The step that matters
Bake until a very light color. Meringue baked at too low a heat or for too long can dry out and become chalky, while too high a heat browns it quickly and can make it sticky inside. Stopping at a very light color keeps it crisp yet tender.
Swap the pistachio
The recipe marks pistachio as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, apricot, cream, lemon):
- Pistachiothe original
- Almondfits about as well
- Hazelnutfits less well
- Chestnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, apricot, cream, 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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