Name: Compote of Pears, a LA Princesse
Ingredients: 7 pears; syrup; lemon juice; angelica; strawberries or stoned cherries

Why it works: Lemon and angelica match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 189 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Compote of Pears, a LA Princesse

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pears

Select 7 pears of equal size and scrape the stalks.
Spirally turn the pears from head to stalk.

Poach the pears

Simmer the pears in syrup with a little lemon juice to keep them white.
After simmering, steep the pears in their syrup.

Trim and decorate

Cut off the pointed ends of the pears, leaving about ½ inch of the stalk ends.
Place a ring of angelica on each pear's stalk end.
Top each with a large strawberry or stoned cherry, passed through hot syrup.
Run a strip of angelica through all to imitate the stalks.
Pour some syrup over the compote before serving.

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.

Lemon + angelicatop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together189 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Pear + angelicatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together39 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Pear + lemontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together942 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Pear + syruptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together254 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Syrup + angelicatop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together111 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pears: Form the main body of the compote, softening into a tender texture when simmered in syrup.
Syrup: Adds sweetness and moisture, and carries flavour into the pears as they steep.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that helps slow browning, keeping the pears pale.

The step that matters

Simmer the pears in syrup with lemon juice. Simmering gently cooks the pears through without breaking their shape, and the acid in the lemon juice slows browning so they stay pale.

Swap the pear

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, lemon, angelica):

Orangefits better
Limefits better
Vanillafits better
Pearthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, lemon, angelica. 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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Lemon Ice147 recipes

Lemon Sherbet103 recipes

Lemon Custard64 recipes

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Compote of Pears, a LA Princesse