Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Maids of Honour
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.
Make the lemon filling
Rub the rind of the lemons with sugar and scrape it into a basin as it becomes wet.
Add the finely powdered sugar, butter, egg yolks, and lemon juice to the basin.
In a saucepan, beat the mixture with a wooden spoon over moderate heat until it thickens, but do not let it boil.
Set the mixture aside to cool completely.
Assemble and bake
Butter small patty pans and cut the puff pastry to fit, notching the edges with a sharp knife.
Once the lemon mixture is cold, stir in the cream and fill each cheesecake half full.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
Serve
Remove from the tins immediately and keep warm on a cloth.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the lemon mixture as it heats and give the filling a rich, set texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and smoothness to the filling, helping it set silky.
- Lemons
- Provide the sharp acidity and fragrant aroma that flavour the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the flaky, crisp case that holds the filling while baking.
The step that matters
Heating the lemon mixture without boiling. Egg yolks thicken as they warm, but if the mixture boils they can scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy custard instead of a smooth, thick filling.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, cream. 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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