Name: Fruit Tarts
Ingredients: 2 lbs seasonal fruit (e.g., apples, pared and sliced); 3 oz moist sugar; ½ pint water; Pastry for lid; 1 egg white (for brushing); Castor sugar (for dusting); 1 teaspoon sugar (for brushing); 2 teaspoons milk or water (for brushing)

Why it works: Apple and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,104 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Fruit Tarts

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

2 lbs seasonal fruit (e.g., apples, pared and sliced)
3 oz moist sugar
½ pint water
Pastry for lid
1 egg white (for brushing)
Castor sugar (for dusting)
1 teaspoon sugar (for brushing)
2 teaspoons milk or water (for brushing)

Directions

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

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Half-fill a pie dish with the fruit.
Sprinkle the fruit with 3 oz of sugar.
Pour ½ pint of water over the fruit.
Cover the fruit with a pastry lid.
Brush the pastry with egg white and dust with castor sugar. Alternatively, brush the pastry with a mixture of 1 teaspoon sugar dissolved in 2 teaspoons of milk or water.

Bake

Bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes.
Lower the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the fruit.

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.

Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,104 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

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

Seasonal fruit: Forms the filling, providing the main flavour and soft texture once baked.
Moist sugar: Sweetens the fruit and helps draw out juices that form a syrup around it.
Pastry: Encloses the fruit as a lid, holding in juices while the tart bakes and browns.
Egg white: Brushed on the pastry to promote browning and a glossy finish.