Why it works: Pear and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,079 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Stewed Pears
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the pears and leave the skins and stems on.
Place the pears in a porcelain kettle and nearly cover them with water.
Add ½ pound of brown sugar for every pound of fruit.
Stew and store
Stew until the skins of the pears begin to wrinkle.
Store in a jug for later use; it will keep for a few days.
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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Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,079 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pears
- Provide the fruit that softens during stewing and becomes the dish's main body.
- Brown sugar
- Sweetens the stewing liquid and adds a deeper, molasses-like flavour to the fruit.
The step that matters
Stew until the skins begin to wrinkle. Stewing slowly in a shallow amount of liquid softens the fruit and lets sugar dissolve into the syrup. Stopping too early leaves the pears firm, while overcooking causes them to break down and turn mushy.
“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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