Name: Chesnuts in Caramel
Ingredients: chestnuts; sugar; butter (for greasing); whisk (for decoration)

Why it works: Chestnut and sugar work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 647 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Chesnuts in Caramel

Ingredients

chestnuts
sugar
butter (for greasing)
whisk (for decoration)

Directions

Roast the chestnuts in a pan over the fire.
Peel the chestnuts and insert a piece of whisk into each one.
Dip the chestnuts in sugar and place them on a marble surface.
To form a basket, arrange the chestnuts side by side in a lightly buttered mold, raising them progressively.
Use a drop of caramel to hold them together if not using a mold.
Decorate with gum-paste flowers, horns, rings, and wreaths.

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.

Chestnut + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together647 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chestnut + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together965 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).