Why it works: Currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,256 recipes. The science ↓
Raspberry, Currant and Gooseberry Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the fruit
Combine the fruit and water in a pot.
Cook until the fruit is tender.
Strain the mixture.
Thicken and serve
Add sugar, salt, and cornstarch.
Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Strain again if necessary.
Serve very cold in cups with chipped ice.
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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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
- Mixed fruit
- Supplies the main flavor and, once cooked and strained, the body of the soup.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the tartness of the currants and gooseberries.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the strained liquid as it heats, giving the soup a smoother, fuller texture.
The step that matters
Adding and cooking the cornstarch. Cornstarch clumps if it goes in dry or unstirred, so whisk it into the liquid until smooth. It only thickens fully once the mixture simmers and the starch granules swell and gelatinize, so the extra cooking time matters.
“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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