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Plum Custard Tartlets

A tartlet filled with a plum custard made from plums, sugar, and eggs, topped with a sweet meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Plum Custard Tartlets

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 the filling

  1. Rub the plums through a sieve.

  2. Whisk the plums, sugar, and egg yolks together until light and foamy.

Bake and fill

  1. Bake the mixture in puff pastry shells until light brown.

  2. Fill the baked shells with the plum mixture.

Top and bake

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add powdered sugar and spread over the plum filling.

  2. Bake the filled shells in a 350°F (175°C) oven for a few moments.

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. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  2. Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,313 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Plum + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together794 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Greengage plums
Provide the main fruit flavor and tartness that balance the sweetness.
Sugar
Sweetens the plum mixture and helps it turn smooth and glossy.
Egg yolks
Thicken the plum mixture into a soft, custard-like set.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff topping that adds lightness and airy texture.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the whipped egg whites and helps them stay smooth and stable.
Puff pastry shells
Form a crisp, flaky base that holds the filling.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites until stiff. Whites beaten to stiff peaks trap air that gives the topping its lift and shape. Underbeaten whites stay runny and can slide or weep on the filling in the oven.

Swap the plum

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Plumthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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