French · Lyon · dessert

Tarte aux Pralines Roses

Tarte aux Pralines Roses reads richness 5.6, sweetness 5.6 and salinity 3.3 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a French · Lyon dessert, about 5 hr 16 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 3.5 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 5.6 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 0.0 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 0.3 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 5.7 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 0.0 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 5.6 · Sweetness 5.6 · Salinity 3.3 · Umami 1.6

What's in it (10)

• all-purpose flour — 200 g
• cold unsalted butter — 100 g
• powdered sugar — 70 g
• egg yolk — 100 g
• cold water — 30 g
• salt — 1 g
• pralines roses de lyon — 400 g
• heavy cream — 300 g
• unsalted butter — 20 g
• regular milk — 15 g

Time & effort: about 5 hr 16 min (46 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 195.9 kcal, 4 g protein, 19.1 g fat, 19.8 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. Rub the cold butter into the flour, icing sugar and salt with your fingertips, lifting the mixture high and letting it fall, until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs with a few flakes of butter still visible. Work fast and do not let it warm to a paste.
2. Beat the yolk with the cold water, sprinkle it over and bring the dough together with a knife and then one brief press of the hand. Handle it as little as you can bear — every extra minute of working develops gluten, and this pastry should be short and sandy, not chewy. Flatten it into a disc, wrap it and rest it in the fridge 1 hour.
3. Roll it 3 mm thick, line a buttered 24 cm tart tin, and rest it another 30 minutes in the fridge so it will not shrink down the sides.
4. Line the case with paper and beans and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15 minutes, then remove the paper, brush the rim with milk and bake 10 minutes more, until the base is dry, sandy and pale gold right to the centre. A soft base under this filling will never crisp up afterwards.
5. Put the crushed pralines and the cream in a heavy pan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring it to a steady boil and cook, stirring, for 8 to 12 minutes until it reaches 108°C (226°F) on a thermometer. Without one, test on a cold saucer: a spoonful should hold a soft mound and wrinkle when pushed. Below that it will run out of the tart when cut; much above it and it sets to a toffee that pulls fillings out of teeth.
6. The colour will be an alarming fluorescent pink. That is correct — the praline is dyed, and Lyon has never apologised for it.
7. Pour the filling into the baked shell and leave it at room temperature for at least 3 hours to set. Do not refrigerate it; the cold makes the caramel grainy.
8. Cut it in small wedges with a hot knife. This is a very sweet tart, sold by the slice all over the Presqu'île, and it wants strong black coffee beside it.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Hard Dough Bread — Jamaican
• Spoonbread — Southern
• Arepa de Choclo con Quesito — Colombian
• Croissant — French
• Pretzel (Laugenbrezel) — German

Keep reading: what richness, sweetness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.