Why it works: Pear and syrup work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 254 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Broiled Pear Compote
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pears
Place the pears on hot coals to broil the skins.
Once done, remove them with tongs and immerse in cold water.
Rub off the skins and any burnt parts with a cloth.
Serve
Put the pears into syrup and serve.
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 + syruptop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together254 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
- Provide the main fruit body, whose flesh softens and sweetens when cooked.
- Syrup
- Adds sweetness and moisture, flavouring the pears as they sit in it.
The step that matters
Broiling the skins over hot coals. The skins must char enough to loosen, but the flesh should not burn. Once charred, cold water shocks the fruit so the skin peels off cleanly without cooking the pear through.
“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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