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 ↓
Six Raisin Pies
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine raisins, sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon juice, and butter, and mix well until the ingredients are evenly coated.
Assemble and bake
Roll out the pie crust and place it in a pie dish.
Fill the crust with the raisin mixture.
Cover with another layer of pie crust, sealing the edges, and cut slits in the top crust for steam to escape.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Raisins
- Provide the bulk of the filling and its sweet, chewy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps thicken it as it bakes.
- Flour
- Thickens the juices released by the raisins so the filling sets.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the raisins.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that softens the filling's flavor and mouthfeel.
- Pie crust
- Forms the structure that holds the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Sealing the edges and cutting steam slits. Flour-thickened fruit releases liquid as it heats. Sealed edges keep the juices from leaking, and slits let steam escape so the crust does not swell or burst.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, flour, cinnamon, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applefits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, flour, cinnamon, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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