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Dessert

Chocolate Tarts

Chocolate tarts with a chocolate filling and meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Chocolate Tarts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate filling

  1. Rub the chocolate smooth in the milk.

  2. Heat the mixture to boiling.

  3. Stir in the dissolved corn-starch.

  4. Cook for 5 minutes until thickened.

  5. Remove from heat.

  6. Pour the mixture into a bowl to cool slightly.

  7. Beat the yolks and whites of 2 eggs with the sugar until light.

  8. Combine the chocolate mixture with the egg mixture and vanilla, stirring until well mixed.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into pastry shells.

  2. Bake the tarts until set.

  3. Beat the remaining egg whites with 2 tablespoons sugar and lemon juice until stiff peaks form.

  4. Spread the meringue over the tarts.

  5. Bake until golden.

  6. Serve cold.

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. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Egg yolks and whites thicken the filling and set it, while whites whipped into meringue give the topping its structure.
Corn-starch
Starch thickens the chocolate mixture as it heats and cooks.
Chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and body of the filling.
Milk
Liquid that melts the chocolate and forms the base of the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps stabilise the whipped egg whites.

The step that matters

Cook the filling until thickened. Cornstarch only thickens fully when the mixture reaches a boil and is cooked for a few minutes. Undercooked starch leaves the filling thin and runny, so it may not hold its shape once cooled and 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.

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