Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Compotes of Apples, Pears, Peaches and Apricots
Ingredients
Directions
Pare, core, or stone the fruit and cut it into quarters or halves.
Make a syrup with equal parts sugar and water.
Cook the syrup until it thickens, then add the fruit and cook until tender.
Remove the fruit with a skimmer and arrange it on a serving dish in a circle, overlapping pieces.
Boil the syrup down until thick and pour it over the fruit.
Serve cold.
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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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
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