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Meringue Custard Tartlets

A pastry tart filled with custard and topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

Meringue 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Butter deep individual pie-tins or fluted tartlet pans.

  3. Line the pans with puff pastry.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, stir the beaten yolks of 6 eggs with 2 tablespoons of flour, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and ½ cup of cream until smooth.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and cook over low heat, stirring until the custard coats the spoon without boiling.

  3. Pour the custard into a bowl, add a few drops of vanilla extract, and stir until cold.

  4. Fill the lined molds with the custard and bake in the preheated oven.

Make the meringue and finish

  1. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy, then gradually add ½ pound of sugar and a dash of salt until firm.

  2. Spread a thin layer of meringue over the tart and decorate with the remaining meringue using a pastry bag.

  3. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top and return to the oven until lightly golden.

  4. Remove from the oven, let cool, and serve.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth set when cooked.
Flour
Stabilises the custard so it thickens without curdling during cooking.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the custard for a softer, creamy texture.
Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that sets into a firm, stable meringue topping.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and stabilises the whipped egg white meringue.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard without boiling. Egg yolks can curdle and turn grainy if overheated. Cooking over low heat and stirring until the custard just coats the spoon keeps it smooth and thickened.

Swap the vanilla

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

  1. Vanillathe original
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Coconutfits less well
  4. Figfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, cream, sugar, butter. 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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