Why it works: Pear and brandy work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 157 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Pears in Brandy
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the pears in halves or quarters.
Soak the pear pieces in acidulated water to prevent browning.
Simmer the pears in syrup until half cooked.
Finish the pears as directed for peaches.
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 + brandytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together157 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,079 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
Swap the pear
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Pearthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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