Name: Tart Prune Pies
Ingredients: 2 cups French prunes, steeped in water overnight; 1 cup sugar; 1 teaspoon lemon extract; 2 tablespoons boiled cider; ⅓ cup water; milk (for wetting the edges of the paste)

Why it works: Lemon and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Tart Prune Pies

Oven, in the book's wordsA rather hot oven

Ingredients

2 cups French prunes, steeped in water overnight
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 tablespoons boiled cider
⅓ cup water
milk (for wetting the edges of the paste)

Directions

The book says “a rather hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Combine the steeped prunes, sugar, lemon extract, boiled cider, and water in a bowl.
Prepare your pie crust and wet the edges with milk.
Fill the crust with the prune mixture.

Bake

Bake for 25 minutes.

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.

Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cider + milktop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together342 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Lemon + cidertop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together986 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Prunes: Provide the main body, moisture, and fruity sweetness of the filling.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the prunes.
Boiled cider: Adds concentrated apple flavor, tang, and extra sweetness.
Lemon extract: Adds a bright citrus aroma that lifts the prune flavor.