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Martha Washington Pie

A fruit-topped almond and macaron pie with rum, cinnamon, and orange flower water, baked with a crust and rice weight.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Martha Washington Pie

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.

Make the filling

  1. Pound the almonds with 2 ounces of powdered sugar and 1 raw egg in a mortar until well combined.

  2. Add 2 ounces of powdered sugar, 2 ounces of melted butter, ½ cup of rum, ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 6 drops of orange flower water, and another raw egg.

  3. Pound for 5 minutes.

  4. Mix in 2 ounces of well pounded macaroons.

Prepare and bake the crust

  1. Roll out the pie crust to ⅛ inch thick.

  2. Line a deep pie dish, allowing it to shrink slightly.

  3. Cut the crust 1 inch larger than the dish.

  4. Fold it under.

  5. Create a high twisted edge.

  6. Prick the bottom with a fork.

  7. Cover the crust with a thin paper.

  8. Fill with rice or dry beans.

  9. Brush the edge with egg.

  10. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  11. Remove the rice.

  12. Remove the paper.

  13. Brush the bottom with egg white to ensure a dry crust.

Add the fruit and finish

  1. Peel fresh fruit.

  2. Halve it.

  3. Place it cut side up in the tart.

  4. Add a blanched almond in each half to represent the pit.

  5. Heat the fruit juice (or water) in a saucepan.

  6. Sweeten to taste.

  7. Add 1 teaspoon arrowroot dissolved in cold water.

  8. Cook until clear.

  9. Pour the mixture around the fruit without covering it.

  10. Bake just until the fruit is tender.

  11. Thicken the juice with arrowroot.

  12. Pour it around the fruit without baking.

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. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Cinnamon + orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cinnamon + ricetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

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

  5. Almond + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,456 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

Almonds
Provide the bulk and nutty flavour of the pounded filling.
Raw egg
Binds the filling and gives it structure as it sets.
Melted butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a tender texture.
Macaroons
Add body and a crumbly, sweet almond-like texture to the filling.
Arrowroot
Thickens the fruit juice into a clear, glossy sauce.

The step that matters

Brush the bottom with egg white. Sealing the baked crust with egg white creates a moisture barrier, so the crust stays crisp under the filling instead of going soggy.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar, egg, butter, rum, cinnamon, rice):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, egg, butter, rum, cinnamon, rice. 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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