Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
A Good Apple Tart
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare a tart dish with a border of puff-paste or cream-crust.
Dip the apples in water and arrange them compactly in the dish, higher in the center.
Make the tart
Sprinkle the apples with pounded sugar and add the grated lemon rind and juice.
Bake in the moderate oven for about 30 minutes.
If desired, brush the top with egg white after baking and decorate with almond-paste leaves.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + almondtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,025 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Form the bulk of the filling, softening as they bake and giving the tart its body.
- Pounded sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the acidity of the apples and lemon.
- Puff-paste or cream-crust
- Forms the crisp, sturdy border that holds the apples in the dish.
- Lemon juice and rind
- Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the sweetness of the apples and sugar.
The step that matters
Arranging the apples compactly, higher in the center. Tightly packed apples hold their shape and reduce air gaps, so the tart bakes evenly and does not collapse or sink into a watery base as the fruit releases moisture.
Swap the almond
The recipe marks almond as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, lemon, cream, egg):
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Hazelnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, lemon, cream, 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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