Why it works: Lemon and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 44,316 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Treacle Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the filling
In a bowl, mix the golden syrup, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt.
Beat the egg and add it to the mixture, stirring well.
Pour the filling into the pastry shell.
Bake and serve
Bake for 30-35 minutes until set and golden brown.
Allow to cool before serving.
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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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Syrup + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,235 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Syrup + eggtop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,995 recipes
Lemon and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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
- Golden syrup
- Provides the sweetness and the thick, sticky body of the filling.
- Fresh breadcrumbs
- Soak up the syrup and give the filling its set structure and texture.
- Egg
- Binds the filling and helps it set firm when baked.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and aroma to cut through the sweetness of the syrup.
The step that matters
Bake until set and golden brown. Underbaked filling stays loose because the egg has not coagulated. Overbaking can make the syrup darken too much and turn bitter, so check for a firm centre and even colour.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Raspberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, 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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