Name: Elderberry Pie
Ingredients: Elderberry conserve; water; cornstarch; butter; vinegar (optional)

Why it works: Butter and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,513 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓

Elderberry Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Dilute the elderberry conserve with water.
Add cornstarch to thicken the mixture.
Place dots of butter on top.
Add a little vinegar if desired.

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.

Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Elderberry + vinegartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Elderberry + buttertop 44% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).