Name: Italian Confectioner
Ingredients: 1 pound 6 ounces white bread, dried and ground to coarse powder; 1 pound 4 ounces walnuts, blanched and finely chopped; 6 ounces currants, washed and cleaned; 5 ounces wild pine kernels; 5 pounds 5 ounces virgin honey, clarified; 3 grains ground cinnamon; 1 grain ground cloves; 1 grain ground black pepper; 1 grain ground nutmeg; 2 pounds 8 ounces best wheaten flour for crust paste

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Walnut + pinetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together311 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Pine + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together152 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,147 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

White bread: Dried and ground bread forms the bulk of the filling and absorbs the honey.
Virgin honey: Provides sweetness and moisture that binds the filling together.
Walnuts: Add fat, texture and body to the filling.
Wheaten flour: Forms the crust paste that encloses the filling and holds its shape during baking.
Currants: Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Bake in a slow oven. A slow, gentle heat lets the honey-soaked filling set and the crust cook through without scorching. Too high a temperature would brown the crust before the filling is done.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, walnut, pine, honey, cinnamon, clove, pepper):

Figfits better
Limefits better
Cherryfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, walnut, pine, honey, cinnamon, clove, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

Italian Confectioner