Name: Pecan Sundae
Ingredients: 1 disher of ice cream; chopped pecans; vanilla syrup

Why it works: Pecans and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,691 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Pecan Sundae

Ingredients

1 disher of ice cream
chopped pecans
vanilla syrup

Directions

Scoop a dish of ice cream into a bowl.
Sprinkle the top with chopped pecans.
Drizzle a little vanilla syrup over the pecans.

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.

Pecans + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,691 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Vanilla + syruptop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,855 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,301 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Cream + pecanstop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together706 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Cream and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Ice cream: Provides the cold, creamy base that the toppings sit on.
Chopped pecans: Adds a crunchy, toasty texture contrast to the soft ice cream.
Vanilla syrup: Adds sweetness and vanilla aroma that flavours the pecans and ice cream.