Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Raisin Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Boil the raisins in water until softened.
Let the raisins cool.
Add sugar to taste, vinegar, and flour.
Mix well and pour the filling into one pie crust.
Assemble and bake
Cover with the second pie crust and bake.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raisin + vinegartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together769 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raisins
- Provide the main filling, adding sweetness and chewy moisture as they soften in water.
- Flour
- Thickens the raisin liquid into a spoonable filling as it bakes.
- Vinegar
- Adds a sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the raisins and sugar.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness, adjusted to taste against the tartness of the vinegar.
- Pie crusts
- Form the top and bottom that enclose the filling and give the pie its structure.
The step that matters
Let the raisins cool. Cooling the hot raisin liquid before adding flour helps prevent the flour from clumping, so it blends smoothly into the filling. Starch thickens when heated, so an even mix gives a more uniform texture in the baked pie.
“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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