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 ↓
Tart Shells
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix warm lard, lukewarm water, beaten egg white, sugar, salt, cream of tartar, flour, and baking soda.
Add enough flour to form a dough that can be rolled out.
Roll out the dough.
Bake
Bake quickly.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Lard
- Fat that keeps the shell tender and helps it stay flaky as it bakes.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten and starch structure that gives the dough its body.
- Egg white
- Adds protein that helps bind the dough and adds structure as it sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the dough to release gas that lightens the shell.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that reacts with baking soda to help the shell rise and stay light.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the shell brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake quickly.. A fast, hot bake sets the crust's structure before the lard melts out fully. A slow bake lets the shell spread, soften, and turn greasy or tough.
“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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