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 ↓
Pears in Light Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Prick the pears all over with a fork.
Place them in a pan with enough water to cover.
Cook until soft, then transfer to cold water.
Peel the pears carefully to minimize knife marks.
Soak them in cold water again, then blanch in boiling water until a pin can easily pierce them.
Transfer to cold water, drain, and place in a light syrup boiled to a small thread.
Boil the syrup over the pears twice, skim, and transfer to an earthen pan.
The next day, drain the pears and boil the syrup a little more, adding new syrup if needed.
Repeat this process for four days, then drain the syrup and boil it to a great pearl.
Add the pears and boil again, then skim and place in dry pans for storage.
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 + 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
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