Why it works: Pear and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,079 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Italian Confectioner
Ingredients
Directions
Prick the pears all over with a fork.
Place them in a pan with enough water to cover.
Cook until soft, checking by feeling them.
Remove and place in cold water, then peel carefully.
Soak the peeled pears in cold water.
Boil them again until a pin can easily pierce them.
Transfer to cold water, drain, and place in a light syrup boiled to a small thread.
Let the syrup boil over the pears twice, then skim and transfer to an earthen pan.
The next day, drain the pears and boil the syrup a little longer.
If needed, add new syrup to replace what the pears absorbed.
Repeat this process for four days, draining and boiling the syrup each time.
On the fourth day, boil the syrup to a great pearl, add the pears, boil again, skim well, and store in dry pans.
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.
-
Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,079 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.