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Dessert

Apple Tart

A pastry filled with a sweetened apple mixture and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,790 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple Tart

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the apples

  1. Scald the apples, let them cool, then remove the skins.

  2. Beat the apple pulp until fine.

Make the filling

  1. Mix in the egg yolks and egg whites, then beat until well combined.

  2. Add grated nutmeg and sugar to taste.

  3. Melt the butter and beat until thick cream consistency.

Bake and serve

  1. Roll out the puff pastry and line a tin patty pan with it.

  2. Pour the apple mixture into the pastry, leaving the top uncovered.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

  4. Remove from the pan, place on a dish, and sprinkle with finely beaten sugar.

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. Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Apples
Provide the bulk of the filling and its fruity flavour and moisture.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help it set into a tender, custard-like texture.
Egg whites
Add structure and lightness to the beaten apple mixture as it bakes.
Puff pastry
Forms the crisp, flaky crust that holds the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a smooth, creamy body.

The step that matters

Beat the apple pulp until fine. Any lumps or large pieces of apple will stay coarse after baking, so a smooth pulp gives an even, silky texture when the eggs set the filling.

Swap the apple

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, nutmeg, 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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